Skipping Lunch To Study: Howard’s Starving Elite Hide SNAP Failures With A Smile

Source: Zoe Cummings / Zoe Cummings

EXCLUSIVE: While Washington D.C. politicians celebrated the end of the government shutdown, a DEEPLY DISTURBING reality was unfolding at one of America’s most prestigious Black universities. INSIDE Howard University, students are being forced to STARVE as their federal food benefits were CUT IN HALF—a direct result of political gamesmanship that has left MILLIONS of young Americans scrambling for scraps.

This is NOT a temporary crisis. This is an orchestrated COLLAPSE of the social safety net, with elite institutions turning a blind eye as their most vulnerable students go hungry. Shockingly, more than one million college students nationwide face this cruel uncertainty every month, with HBCU students bearing the BRUNT of the suffering. At Howard, a single, understocked campus pantry is the ONLY thing standing between hundreds of students and outright starvation.

We spoke with senior Morgan Stephens, whose SNAP benefits were SLASHED without warning. “The impact was immediate,” she revealed, now surviving on McDonald’s not by choice, but as a grim necessity. “I’ve been digging in my pockets or asking my mom, ‘Hey, I’m hungry, can you send me $20?'” Her story is not unique—it’s a NATIONWIDE SCANDAL being swept under the rug.

Behind the glossy brochures and historic arches, Howard’s Blackburn Center showcases a cafeteria, a Chick-fil-A, and markets… but ONLY for those who can afford it. For the rest, the “HU Nourish Pantry” offers barren shelves and a humiliating appointment system. Pantry director Eryka Byrd confessed the terrifying truth: “We’re seeing more students who are unsure what support they’ll have from month to month.” The pantry serves 400 desperate appointments monthly, relying on DONATIONS while the university spends millions on vanity projects.

Even more DAMNING: A 2024 government report found that fewer than two in five food-insecure students even QUALIFY for SNAP, and of those who do, 59% receive NOTHING. The system isn’t broken—it’s DESIGNED to fail them.

As nearby restaurants shutter and a Whole Foods becomes the only “fresh” option—completely unaffordable on a student budget—hunger has become a normalized part of campus life. Student Naisha Fletcher describes the quiet horror: “It’s skipping breakfast… realizing at night that all you’ve had is water, or walking past the dining hall knowing you can’t afford anything inside.”

This is the AMERICAN DREAM in 2025: future leaders begging for canned goods while politicians feast in the Capitol. The shelves at HU Nourish are ALREADY thinning, with a single apple and a bag of greens in the fridge. Where is the university’s emergency funding? Where is the national outrage?

As finals approach, students are forced to choose between textbooks and meals, between academic success and basic survival. This is not just a food crisis—it’s a DELIBERATE betrayal of an entire generation. A nourished mind works better, but America has decided these minds aren’t worth feeding. The unsettling question now is: how many more will go hungry before someone ACTS?

When the safety net vanishes, the future starves in silence.