CHICO, Calif. – Chico State University started its 2023 spring semester on Monday. Student enrollment has decreased over the years for a number of reasons, but food insecurities are increasing among students.
Chico State’s Basic Needs manager Leah Slem told Action News Now about 50% of students deal with food insecurities, and 14% deal with housing insecurities. She said on the first day of the fall semester, the pantry had about 380 visits, and they were expecting to have over 300 visits today.
“From Fall 2021 to Fall 2022, we saw a huge increase in visits. Typically we would see in Fall 2021- 1500 visits in a month, and in Fall 2022, we were seeing 4-5,000 visits a month,” said Slem. “So we do anticipate that that increase continues into the spring as …