Food insecurity is not just about skipping meals. For many students, it is about not having the time to get a meal in or having a rushed, non-nutritive one.
This is the reality for 42% of University of California students who reported experiencing food insecurity in 2025.
Students living on the Hill, with dining hall options and ASUCLA-redeemable swipes, have easier access to convenient and healthy meals. But meals can be less predictable for students living off campus.
[Related: Opinion: Students shouldn’t have to skip meals to succeed – UCLA must expand dining hours]
The university must do more to help combat food insecurity for students living off campus. While some student organizations provide support, the responsibility should not be theirs to carry alone.
“A lot of people have the misconception that food insecurity just means that you’re regularly skipping meals or you can’t afford to eat a meal,” said Victoria Tong, a fourth-year biochemistry student and co-internal vice president for Bruin Dine, a food recovery organization on campus.
UCLA Housing and Dining offers the Bruin meal plan, a 7 Premium meal plan – meaning students get 77 meals per quarter that they can use at any time – for students living off campus. But with an average of $15 a meal, it’s easy to understand why the majority of students living off campus do not purchase the plan.
“I mean, the reason that I necessarily wouldn’t get an off campus meal plan is because it’s probably expensive,” said Ramira Mittal, a third-year political science and public affairs student who currently lives on the Hill and plans to live off campus next year.
The swipes on the Bruin meal plan are not redeemable at ASUCLA restaurant locations during lunch periods on campus. Thus, students living off-campus who are enrolled in the dining plan will have to walk up the Hill to get a nutritious meal.
Although Epic at Ackerman is located on campus, most dining halls reside on the Hill. This makes it difficult for students on the plan to get food when pressed for time.
UCLA does not have enough affordable university-instituted programs that help fight food insecurity on campus for its students.
Most food recovery services on campus are run by students. Organizations like Bruin Dine and Swipe Out Hunger work with the university to ensure that food and swipes that would otherwise be discarded are given to those in need.
“UCLA partners with student groups such as Bruin Dine, a student-run food recovery organization,” said a UCLA Housing-Dining spokesperson in an emailed statement. “It collects food that would otherwise be discarded from the dining halls and redistributes it to students and staff in need.”
[Related: Bruin to Bruin: Swiping Out Hunger with Rachel Sumekh]
Reese Martin, co-committee head for Swipe Out Hunger’s swipes drive committee, said that students donated 50,000 swipes in the fall quarter.
Donated swipes go to UCLA’s Economic Crisis Response Team, where students who face food insecurity can apply for emergency swipes, Martin added.
“The pool of swipes that are needed for the emergency fund diminishes very quickly. There’s a very high need for it on campus,” said Martin, a third-year disability studies and psychology student.
Similarly, Bruin Dine, which offers food recovery events every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, recovers around 20-30 trays or around 200 pounds of food on an average night, Tong said.
UCLA has more than enough food to provide meals to students who experience food insecurity, Tong said, but would prefer relying on student intervention to bring that food to those in need.
Conversations on how to battle food insecurity on campus have also emerged within the Undergraduate Students Association Council. In February, USAC rejected the BruinFresh Referendum, which proposed a $9 quarterly fee to instantiate a food benefit program for international and undocumented students fighting food insecurity.
“We (Bruin Dine) serve as the middleman between the excess food and being able to reach more students. And it’s at no extra cost to UCLA Dining,” Tong said. “They would rather just eat that cost of throwing away so much food, than to try harder.”
[Related: ‘Food deserts’ in LA build on systemic factors, create barriers to healthy eating]
If these student-led organizations did not exist, unused meal funds and surplus food would go to waste instead of being given to food insecure students.
Instead of relying on students, UCLA should institutionalize food recovery. This could mean appointing a staff member to manage food recovery events or automatically forwarding unused swipes to ECRT.
UCLA has a commitment to student well-being and therefore a commitment to student nutrition for both on and off campus residents.
With over 40% of students facing food insecurity on UC campuses, the question is no longer about whether or not UCLA has enough food.
It is about the university not doing enough for its students to access it.
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