North Hennepin Community College opens food shelf... for students

By Aaron Rupar Wed., Aug. 29 2012 at 10:58 AM

North Hennepin's Food Cupboard will help students fill their tummies without going further in debt.

SEE ALSO: Economic recovery? What economic recovery? Mpls donut shop hiring... an unpaid intern

On September 4, North Hennepin Community College is opening a food shelf for its students.

While it might seem strange that students who can presumably pay for tuition can't afford $1 a day for PB&J sandwiches, many other colleges and universities throughout the country -- including Bakersfield College, Utah State University, and West Virginia University -- have opened food shelves providing donated eats to money-strapped students in recent years.

The need is particularly acute at Brooklyn Park's North Hennepin, where nearly 67 percent of the 12,00 students are low income.

North Hennepin's Food Cupboard will be run by volunteers, including staff and faculty, and students who have service learning projects as part of their classes.

That sounds like a worthwhile effort, but let's get this straight -- students at North Hennepin can now get themselves through college by filling their tummies with donated food, then graduate and work an unpaid internship with a doughnut shop. Are we sure this Mittens guy isn't on to something?

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North Hennepin Community College

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TheConservativeJerk topcommenter

That's pretty awesome to see the community looking out for the community.

Unfortunately Obama never indicated his presidency would lead to such increase in despair…

North Hennepin has 67 percent of the 12,000 students are low income? (Aaron add a "0" to your figure)

From what I understand, the general tuition and fee rates are set by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees. Under this system, tuition has a invisible "sliding scale". Sliding scale systems offer reduced tuition or "grants" for those who fall under or into certain income levels. The fees or grants are subsidized and adjusted yearly per the level of low income student body state wide.

So in reflection, at this particular school 33% of the student body is respectfully paying slightly higher tuition for the other 67% which is taking a tuition subsidy. Of course this goes unnoticed as per the design of the system. The looser just sees it as they didn’t qualify for the aid grant.