Food Security for College Athletes: How do colleges handle the cost of being a student athlete

The cost of living is rising for everyone right now. This is also affects student athletes at Division III colleges. This study shows that student athletes may not have enough food to maintain their play and involve food security, which means they need more support from their colleges and communities. Figure out if the student athlete food habits play a part in their food security. This could also impact their food knowledge and theirhealth habits. The study gathered information from 222 Division III athletes to figure out what factors make up for food security or insecurity. It also looked into how well athletes know about sports nutrition and their overall health habits. This can help them figure out if any of these factors play a big part in food security. It was found that factors like high food costs, limited access to nutritious food, short food outlet hours, lack of food preparation facilities, reliable transportation, and location of food outlets play a big part in affecting the food security of Division III athletes. This suggests that actions taken by colleges can greatly impact the food security of student athletes. This shows that colleges maybe need to do more to tackle this issue. Although, the study didn't look into other factors that might affect food security, such as family income, academic stress and work commitments, or other financial stressors. The main point of the study is to show colleges that they need to do more to help its student athletes by adding more resources to the budget. More food resources and food outlets need to be available. Colleges should try to provide opportunities for athletes to access healthy food at a low cost. Also, colleges should offer more job opportunities that accommodate athletes' busy schedules. Given the importance of good nutrition for athletic performance, it is clear that colleges need to step up and provide better support for their Division III athletes. This is a way to ensure that they have access to the resources they need to perform at their best. How can colleges think about the well-being of their athletes? They should consider supporting their athletes by giving them food resources, helping them with their nutrition costs, and providing a way for them to get a good meal. Colleges should make sure that they provide the best possible support for their athletes, both on and off the field.