Reflection on the Groceries to Graduate scholarship program at Missouri Southern State University

Abstract

In recent years, myriad universities have sought measures to alleviate the burden of nutrition inse­curity among undergraduate in order to improve student health and academic success, as the preva­lence of nutrition insecurity on college campuses has gained attention from researchers. At Missouri Southern State University (MSSU), faculty launched the Lion Co-op Center for Nutrition Security (LCCNS) in 2018, which focused on research and included a free food and personal hygiene pantry that all students, staff, and faculty were eligible to use. In 2020, the LCCNS piloted the Groceries to Graduate (G2G) scholarship program, which provides advanced undergraduate students (those who have earned 60+ credit hours) in good standing and with finan­cial need with scholarship tokens that can be used as currency at the Webb City Farmers Market, located three miles north of campus. The objective of this program was to increase low-income under­graduate access to fresh produce and reduce their financial burden of purchasing high quality food, therefore improving academic outcomes. This reflective essay examines the preliminary findings we obtained about the first two years of the schol­arship program. It assesses the methods of com­municating with students about the scholarship program, token usage, availability of fresh produce, and student academic success. The initial findings suggest that while the model needs improvement, the scholarships are meeting student needs for access to nutritional food. This market-based solu­tion gives students currency (tokens) so that they can buy directly from local merchants, a model that with some revision may provide a workable model for small universities to address nutritional insecu­rity among students.