I was amazed when an ex told me she was on food stamps as a part of the financial aid package for the Oregon university she was attending. Don't even believe she was an Oregon resident at the time (or ever), if you reside in a California county bordering a different state they let you attend university in the other state (or the other way around) without paying out-of-state tuition.
> I was amazed when an ex told me she was on food stamps as a part of the financial aid package for the Oregon university
It's Oregon. In southern states, SNAP commonly isn't available to individuals/couples with zero income - and to many families with minor children.
This is irrespective of federal guidelines and sometimes counter what states themselves advertise. I was just saw a FL state site parroting federal guidelines as if they reflected reality for FL residents. They don't.
Why the disconnect between advertised and reality? I don't know.
Individual Floridians and couples (18?)21-63 with zero income and no other overriding factors (eg:SS Disability) are denied. I've seen a few exceptions.
Families with minor children are commonly denied or receive a few tens of dollars. For each needy family I knew received SNAP, I knew many more who didn't.
This is based on (20+yrs) my personal experience, interactions with the local homeless community, church based social work, discussions with other parents and years of feedback from a DCF case-worker friend.
I had 5 kids. They ate at school. Home was often white rice and nothing else. Sometimes there wasn't rice. My wife was disabled (per SS) but that didn't help in our case.
My relatives in VA tell the same story. Income is low, hunger isn't rare and SNAP is impossible to negligible.
https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/students has the details, basically if you're not at least half time in college you'll almost certainly qualify, but there are ways to qualify as a full-time student.
