Food stamps offer lifeline

Aid may keep some in college

A single mother of two young children, Hadassah Sylvester works per diem at a nursing home as she studies at Roxbury Community College to become a registered nurse.

In class or on her clinical rotation several hours a day, she has limited time to work, and money is tight.

"If I'm in school, who is going to give me a shift?" said Sylvester, a 26-year-old who lives in East Boston. "It's rough."

Without the $463 she receives in food stamps each month, Sylvester said, she could not afford to stay in the intensive two-year nursing program. Now advocates for the poor, citing a college degree as a springboard to self-sufficiency, are launching an aggressive campaign to let working students know they may be eligible for the federal assistance program.

Some 1,700 Massachusetts college students receive food stamps, but advocates believe thousands more may qualify.

"The downturn in the economy is affecting all populations. We mustn't forget that full-time students are also feeling today's hardships, including the recently unemployed returning to school," says Shatilla Shera De Leon, a le gal assistant with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a Boston nonprofit leading the effort. "Low-income students have the fundamental right to apply for federal food-stamp benefits just like everyone else. Yet we find many students who simply do not realize they are eligible."

Advocates at the institute, which has successfully pushed for expanded access to food stamps in recent years, plan to run columns in college newspapers, hold workshops on campuses, and urge financial aid officers at state and community colleges to spread the word. A draft flier that outlines eligibility guidelines reads: "College is stressful and expensive. Don't let food be another financial worry."

The legal group is timing its campaign so that college students can renegotiate financial-aid packages for the spring semester to include a federal work-study job that helps them qualify. Work-study jobs are mainly reserved for financial-aid recipients.

"Work-study students have gone through the financial litmus test already," said Patricia Baker, senior policy analyst for the institute.

Baker said the group will focus on getting the word out to low-income college students who are supporting themselves, and often a family, as they work toward a degree. More than 40,000 students at the state's public colleges and universities receive financial aid, and advocates believe most are unaware that they could also qualify for food stamps.

Students must meet specific guidelines to be eligible for benefits. They must either work 20 hours a week without a gross income of more than approximately $1,100 a month or have a work-study campus job. Those with a child under age 13 or who are disabled are also eligible.

The unusual push to publicize food-stamp eligibility on college campuses comes as the recession has made students' situations more precarious, threatening their ability to stay in school. Independent, older students working their way through college, often while raising children, are especially likely to drop out for financial reasons, college officials say.

A major new study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that rising college costs are pricing out many low-income students. For the bottom 40 percent of earners, with a median annual income of $21,130, college costs are especially onerous. A year of community college, for example, can cost about $8,500 after financial aid, about 40 percent of their earnings.

State education officials said the government needs to subsidize low-income students' college costs and has proposed eliminating tuition at community colleges. Just 50 percent of community college students return for their second year, down from 59 percent in the early 1990s.

College officials believe expanded participation in the program could improve graduation rates by easing, even marginally, the financial burden of attending college.

"So many students have to withdraw because of finances," said Rosemarie Freeland, who coordinates the women's resource center at Greenfield Community College. "This could make a significant difference."

Randy Albelda, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, said she welcomes the campaign, saying the program's strict requirements and bureaucratic hurdles are steep barriers.

"The need is so high and the rules are so antiquated," she said. "It's a program that's not meeting its original goals."

Advocates are targeting three groups of low-income students: those who qualify for work-study, those who work part-time and have high housing expenses, and parents of young children.

Traditional college students may also qualify. For instance, childless students who live off-campus and hold work-study jobs, which do not count toward income thresholds, could be eligible. Students who live in dormitories could also receive benefits if they buy more than half their meals on their own.

Phuoc Cao, who directs the state's food-stamp program, said he supports the push to sign up students for benefits whether they are older students on their own or traditional students whose parents are helping pay for their education.

"I think it's a good use of the benefit," he said. "For low-income students, any kind of assistance would be very helpful. And it's fully federally funded, so there's no cost to the state."

Cao said a recent change in policy that eliminates assets such as cars and savings in determining eligibility is likely to increase the number of college students who would qualify for assistance. The office has previously reached out to underrepresented groups such as the elderly to encourage them to apply, but has not targeted college students.

Earlier this decade, Massachusetts had the lowest percentage of eligible residents on food stamps, but now has one of the nation's fastest-growing participation rate, with nearly 550,000 beneficiaries, according to state officials.

Supporters of the campaign say that food stamps are no different than other public assistance for college students, such as financial aid and subsidized loans.

Sylvester says she is grateful for the help as she pursues a lifelong dream of becoming a nurse.

"I want to help people who need it," she said. "It's a way to give back."

Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com