Abstract: Food insecurity affects a substantial proportion of college students, yet limited research explores how students experience and navigate on-campus food assistance. This qualitative study examines food-insecure students’ lived experiences with campus retail food pantries through the lenses of social identity, social exchange, and face-saving theories. Seventeen in-depth interviews reveal a central tension in which “two things are true”: students simultaneously experience stigma and acceptance, as well as shame and pride, in relation to food insecurity and pantry use. These cognitive and emotional tensions produce two distinct student segments that include those who resist pantry use to protect identity and those who accept resources with reduced stigma. Findings further demonstrate how pantry marketing, naming, and access policies can unintentionally reinforce stigma and deter utilization. This research contributes a conceptual framework that highlights the social and emotional dimensions of food insecurity and offers practical implications for designing more inclusive, discreet, and effective campus food support systems.
Childs et al. (Fri,) studied this question.