There’s a running joke that college students eat instant ramen noodles to save money on food, but this joke has become a harsh reality for many students today.

I know how hard it can be to afford college; I’m at Cal State Long Beach thanks in part to Cal Grant, the state’s financial aid program for low- and moderate-income students. Throughout my courses, I’ve heard shocking stories of students struggling to make ends meet.

One classmate my freshman year was a parent working 40 hours a week to feed her family while also taking a full load of classes in pursuit of a STEM degree. When I worked on a research team studying food insecurity in the Cal State system, I pored through years of emergency aid applications from students; one unexpected expense like a car accident could unleash a domino effect that pushed a student to the brink of homelessness.

The current student food and housing insecurity crisis began with the 2008 recession when families were hit hard financially and state budget cuts reduced funding for public universities. Surveys at UC reported about 4 in 10 undergraduate students experienced food insecurity — defined by the USDA as limited availability or ability to access nutritious and safe foods. Five percent of students overall experienced housing insecurity — defined by the McKinney Vento Act as lacking a stable or appropriate place to sleep. In the California State University system, another 4 in 10 students faced food insecurity, and 1 in 10 experienced homelessness over the course of a year. The numbers are highest at California’s community colleges, where half of the students reported food insecurity over a 30-day period and almost 1 in 5 faced homeless in a year.

The Hope Center conducts the largest national study of basic needs insecurity in higher education; its research demonstrates that students who have food and housing insecurity have lower grades, work the highest number of hours each week and are less healthy than other students, with health problems potentially lingering into the future.

But it’s not as if university and state officials haven’t been paying attention. This year Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed higher education budget includes $4 billion to create affordable housing at public colleges and universities and another $30 million through Proposition 98 to create basic needs centers at every community college. And the state Assembly passed a bill this year to simplify and expand the Cal Grant financial aid program; that measure is awaiting action in the Senate.

For many California residents like myself, access to the Cal Grant provides the necessary financial aid for us to attend higher education. But the current Cal Grant program is confoundingly complex for parents and college students, offering multiple different types of aid. Assembly Bill 1456 would pare it down to one grant for students at four-year colleges and another for those at two-year schools, while also eliminating the age limit for grantees and lowering GPA requirements. With the potential to double the amount of community college students who receive financial aid, the bill offers crucial relief and needs to be enacted.

For community college students who pay $46 a unit, tuition is less of a barrier than is the total cost of living. A 2016 study revealed that in six out of nine regions in California, community college students were paying more for food, transportation and housing than CSU and UC students.

Ensuring that students are also matriculating through college is an important part of ensuring our state’s economic future. Research from the Public Policy Institution of California in 2015 predicted that if trends continued, by 2030, the state would have a deficit of 1.1 million college-educated workers.

As lawmakers finalize the state budget, they need to increase funding for the California Student Aid Commission more than the modest 5% currently proposed. CSAC is limited to issuing 41,000 competitive awards each academic year despite the far greater demand for aid; a 2016 study showed that there are 280,000 eligible students each year who do not receive an award. By increasing the number of awards, many low-income students who receive Cal Grants could also qualify for $200 a month for food expenses falling under the special eligibility rules for Cal Fresh.

Financial hardship used to be considered a rite of passage for college students, but the issue here isn’t having to resort to the occasional cup of ramen. It’s the ability to go to and succeed in college without having to skip meals or sleep on a friend’s couch because you can’t afford food or housing.

Jireh Deng is a 2021 summer Editorial Pages and Op-Ed intern at the Los Angeles Times. © 2021 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.