The Point: Food Insecurity at UMass Boston – Support U-ACCESS

11/25/2025

This week’s edition was written by The Point committee. As always, The Point represents the views of the authors and is not the official position of the FSU.

Dear Colleagues,

As Thanksgiving break approaches, we at The Point write to encourage members with the resources to make a donation to U-ACCESS (while making your students aware of the resource).   Two out of every five UMass Boston Students are food insecure.   U-ACCESS always needs financial support, but right now is a particularly good time to donate as they are trying to provide Thanksgiving meals to UMass Boston students and their families.  Please see the attached to make a donation.  Additionally, there is a U-ACCESS drop box for non-perishable food and toiletries just inside the front entrance of Healey Library.

Food insecurity is not, of course, a problem limited to our students.  We were reminded in a recent Boston Globe article that employees in the UMass System also struggle to afford food because of poor pay.  As one employee at UMass Amherst recounted: “I see less money in my paychecks now because parking premiums have gone up on campus, as have health insurance premiums, and it got to the point where I was choosing between food and keeping the lights on.”  As a result, she has visited the campus food pantry “several times to stock up on protein, fresh produce, canned tomatoes, and rice.”  Put simply, “I can’t tell you the insult it is, to spend six years working a full-time state position” and to still need the food pantry.  Most immediately, the UMass System needs to reach an agreement with the Professional Staff Union – and pay all employees on our campuses a living wage.

Unfortunately, at least in the short to medium term, the problem of food insecurity will only worsen.  The government shut down may be in the rearview mirror, but the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed last July reduces SNAP eligibility in part by tightening work requirements.  It will reduce spending on SNAP by $187 billion dollars through 2034 – the largest cut in SNAP’s history.  More of the costs associated with SNAP are also shifting to the states, which will no doubt lead to eligibility requirements tightening even further as states struggle to make up the funding gap.

All of this will dramatically increase food insecurity, though we will not know by how much because the U.S. government has decided to no longer track it.   Problem solved!

Donations will not solve the problem of food insecurity in the United States.  But supporting U-ACCESS will provide food to the UMass Boston students who need it.

For more information about U- ACCESS, visit: https://www.umb.edu/campus-life/current-students/u-access/