Early this morning, the House Agriculture Committee advanced the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, a proposal for what is commonly known as “the Farm Bill,” which governs the nation’s agriculture and nutrition programs including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
On the heels of the devastating cuts to SNAP in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and in the midst of skyrocketing food prices, it is essential that the Farm Bill addresses rising rates of hunger and food insecurity, especially among students in higher education.
Unfortunately, the House bill falls far short of that requirement, and will do little to help students, families, institutions of higher education, and community resources that are already stretched far too thin.
“The House’s Farm Bill proposal neither recognizes nor repairs the policy choices that have led to over four million college students going hungry.” said Mark Huelsman, The Hope Center’s Director of Policy & Advocacy. “At a time when food and other essentials are increasingly unaffordable and financial aid is inadequate, our nation’s largest and most successful anti-hunger program is too often unavailable to students due to outdated rules and red tape. Investing in student food security is both a moral imperative and essential to student success and upward mobility.”
Specifically, the House Farm Bill keeps the $187 billion in cuts to SNAP from OBBBA in place—including limits to future benefits, new harsh work reporting requirements, and other eligibility restrictions—which will force over 5 million families to lose at least $25 in benefits, while maintaining provisions that place new cost-sharing and administrative burdens on states that are already forcing budget cuts, including across public higher education. While OBBBA did not directly amend the SNAP student rules, the broad eligibility cuts in that law are already negatively impacting students who are enrolled in higher education less-than-half time, especially older students and parenting students. Families across the country are also reeling from the disruptions caused by the November 2025 government shutdown, during which the Administration attempted to withhold, halt, and delay SNAP benefits for tens of millions of food-insecure households.
Additionally, the House Farm Bill bill does nothing to fix the antiquated, harmful, and overly bureaucratic student rules in the SNAP program, which prevent two-thirds of likely eligible students from accessing benefits, and lock out millions more students with low incomes from being eligible for benefits altogether. Roughly 4.3 million students in higher education have low or very low food security, and current SNAP rules prevent them from obtaining the skills and education that employers demand, while simultaneously creating onerous costs and burdens for states and local governments.
As Farm Bill negotiations continue, The Hope Center calls on both the House and Senate to repeal harmful SNAP provisions enacted in OBBBA that will force more students to go hungry, and force states into dire budget circumstances and reduce their ability to fund higher education and human services.
Simultaneously, we call on Congress to commit to a long-overdue modernization of SNAP student eligibility by reforming the current student exemptions, simplifying eligibility and reducing red tape, treating postsecondary enrollment and training as meeting activity requirements for income-eligible students, and committing to robust outreach that ensures all eligible students receive the support they need.