South Asian international students most likely to access food bank at Conestoga College: survey

Being able to afford food, rent and tuition can be difficult for all students, especially as the general cost of living continues to rise. For international students, the issue comes with a unique set of challenges. 

To help offset some of the costs, Conestoga Students Inc., a student association at Conestoga College, is offering international students access to the Student Nutritional Access Program (SNAP).

International students like Aastha Pandit said the on-campus food bank helps her make ends meet every month.

"Mentally, you're always on the run when you're [an] international student," she said.

"Juggling part-time work, full-time courses, your commute and the weather here in Canada, especially, is not very predictable. So you have so many things to do: You have to cook for yourself, you have to buy groceries for yourself, everything you have to do on your own," she said.

Tony Sabu, who is also an international student at the college, said he can relate to Pandit's daily juggle.

"There was a period of time where I was jobless," he said. "I was living very frugally. I did not have much money in my account. So I applied to the SNAP program, and they gave me some hampers and gift cards so I could buy food from sellers."

Sabu and Pandit said they experienced food insecurity for the first time after they moved to Kitchener as international students from India.

"Back home, we never had any food difficulties," Sabu said. "I come from an agricultural family, so we never used to buy stuff from outside. So after coming to Canada, it was a new thing for me to buy everything for myself."

He said before finding out about the on-campus food assistance program, he used to spend about $25 a month on groceries. The SNAP program provides students like Sabu with a $125 monthly gift card for local grocery stores.

Sabu said he saves money by cutting down on snacks and eating out.

"We don't get time to cook a proper meal [in Canada]," he said. "[In Kerala], we used to eat staple foods. For breakfast, we had tapioca. Then we had fish curry and beef curry. I can't afford that here — but some days I go to a Kerala restaurant and have that."

In the fall of 2023, 556 students signed up to receive support from the on-campus food bank. According to survey results collected through Conestoga's SNAP program, 400 of those students (72 per cent) identified as South Asian, and 537 of the survey respondents (96.5 per cent) said they were international students.

A little over half of those surveyed (283 respondents) said they were experiencing food insecurity because of a lack of family support.