At the University of Prince Edward Island, student visits to the campus food bank have surged nearly 60 per cent in recent years.
The pantry logged nearly 2,900 visits in 2022 and close to 4,600 in 2024, according to student leaders. They say more classmates are turning to free groceries to stretch budgets as costs climb, another sign the affordability crisis is hitting campus life hard.
"It's not just affording food. It's also paying rent, paying tuition, paying for textbooks, paying for your phone bill, electricity. There are so many expenses," says UPEI Student Union (UPEISU) president Luciana Quiroa. "Unfortunately, students are the first ones to cut expenses on food. They'd rather skip a meal to afford different things."
The UPEI Campus Food Bank is in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre and run by university administration. While the student union doesn't yet have a full 2025 tally, its own initiatives - including free Friday lunches - have also seen growing demand, suggesting the need is only getting deeper.
"It's very hard to see students lining up 30 to 40 minutes before we start meal distribution," she says, adding there are more faces every week. "We used to have 60 people... a few weeks ago we had 120. That data really shows you this is an invisible epidemic."
It's a snapshot in a wider pattern. One in five post-secondary students reported some level of food insecurity, according to the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey's fall 2024-winter 2025 edition.
Sometimes, the issue is dismissed when it's seen at the university level, says Jennifer Taylor, a UPEI professor and food insecurity researcher.
"They say it's temporary, you're paying tuition and you're not working yet, and it'll go away. But it's very real when they're living it," she says. "I've certainly talked to students over the years, and we've collected data as well which say that it's very traumatic and it interferes with them getting ahead."
Taylor says another challenge for teenagers and young adults is that wages have not kept pace with inflation. International students are affected more than others, she adds.
"I know some international students in particular who are working three jobs because they're just trying to keep a roof over their head," Taylor says. "It's really clear that we have a significant problem."
To help address hunger, the P.E.I. government recently launched a new Community Food Fund. The program offers up to $10,000 in financial assistance to eligible individuals, organizations or coalitions that promote access to nutritious food for Islanders.
While it offers important emergency support, it doesn't fix the underlying issue, Taylor says.
"We've been doing the stopgap approach since 1981, when the first food bank opened in Canada," she says. "We just know that it isn't effective because we've seen so many increases in food insecurity over the years."
Ultimately, Taylor says lasting progress on food insecurity will take putting more money in people's pockets.
She points to Newfoundland and Labrador, where a 2006 poverty reduction plan that raised and indexed social assistance benefits, as well as improved other income supports, helped reduce food insecurity among social-assistance households by almost half between 2007 and 2012.
Back at UPEI's food bank, boxes and cans on the shelves remain a safety net, but Quiroa says she'd like to see more funding for free daily meals on campus, expanding from weekly lunches.
"It seems like it's small, but it can really provide students with a little bit more support," she says, "and maybe $10 or $15 less that they're not spending on that meal that's being provided."