Students’ food acquisition struggles in the context of South Africa: The fundamentals of student development

Abstract

This article situates food at the heart of the fundamentals of student development, based on qualitative case study research. Food acquisition and food-related struggles in the context of the South African university are examined. Three overarching themes emerged from the analysis of the data, and are discussed in detail: depletion of food funds, acquiring food on campus, and awareness of others' food struggles. The findings suggest that students struggling to acquire food are dominated by food acquisition issues and that inaccessibility of food on campus has a potentially detrimental impact on student development and involvement on campus.