Objective: To investigate what factors are associated with food insecurity (FI) among freshman students and identify potential solutions.
Participants: 73 freshman students.
Methods: Cross-sectional, Internet survey-based study. Fisher's Exact tests examined factors associated with food security (FS); Cohen's Kappa assessed the agreement between FI scores and self-assessment; thematic analysis used Nvivo 12.
Results: FI was 54.2% among the diverse students (65% non-white). Factors associated with FS included mother with a college degree (p = .018); father employed full-time (p < .001); identifying one's family financial situation as better than others (p = < .001); not obtaining personal student loans (p = 0.022). Students with FI tended to overestimate their FS status. Suggested solutions for FI included: improved finances, improved food accessibility, improved cooking skills.
Conclusions: Future interventions should target freshmen who obtain personal student loans or have parents with less than a college degree or unstable employment status. (148).
Keywords: Food insecurity; disparities; food security; freshman college students; hunger.