College students will be on holiday break this week, so I wanted to talk a little about college student hunger.

No one thinks about this, but college hunger is prevalent in the Lehigh Valley and throughout the country. Many local college students are living at home and commuting for classes.

This article is to inform you this type of food insecurity does exist and how the students can possibly obtain some relief through SNAP benefits.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps, helps low-income people and families buy the food they need for good health. SNAP benefits come in the form of a debit card that can be used to buy food at most grocery stores and even some farmers markets. During the past year, Pennsylvania increased the income allowances for families, seniors and the disabled to qualify for SNAP from 130 percent of poverty to 160 percent.

The information below is coming from fns.usda.gov/snap/students, along with some additional information from me. Please share this information.

Most SNAP eligibility rules apply to all households, but there are some special rules for students attending an institution of higher education that are described here. If you are not a student, you should read the general SNAP eligibility rules.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 temporarily expanded student eligibility to new groups from Jan. 16 through the end of the public health emergency. We are still in this emergency period.

The new, temporary change to student eligibility means certain students who were not eligible for SNAP before may now be eligible.

Under SNAP regular rules, only students who actually participate in state or federally financed work study are eligible. The new, temporary exemption expands SNAP eligibility to students who are eligible to participate in work study during the regular school year, without the requirement that they actually participate.

For the purposes of this temporary exemption, states may consider all students eligible if they are eligible for work study and attend an institution of higher education that participates in a state or federal work study program (including the FFWS program). The institution of higher education makes the determination as to whether a student is eligible to participate in a work study program.

Students must have an expected family contribution of zero in the current academic year to meet this exemption. The EFC is calculated for award years on a July 1-June 30 calendar, but institutions of higher education may have academic years that vary from this specific time frame.

For purposes of this temporary exemption, the EFC of 0 must be for the current academic year, as defined by the institution of higher education, in which the individual is enrolled.

Unfortunately, it is estimated up to one-third of those eligible for SNAP are not receiving benefits. This includes college students, adults with or without children and seniors. To help more people apply for SNAP benefits, Second Harvest Food Bank operates a food stamps over the phone outreach service.

To find out if you are eligible for and to actually apply for SNAP benefits, contact Kathryn Hoffman, SNAP outreach coordinator, at Second Harvest Food Bank at 484-821-2406 or khoffman@caclv.org.

Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative needs the following food items: Jif peanut butter pods, oatmeal packets, shelf-stable milk, pancake syrup, jelly, cereal and fruit snacks. Please drop off or mail to my RE/MAX Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall, 18052.

Thank you for helping the residents of Whitehall and Coplay.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!