Higher Education - Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program - Alterations
HB774 makes several changes to Maryland’s Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program, which supports public colleges and regional higher education centers in addressing student food insecurity. The bill keeps the program focused on public institutions, but it expands and clarifies how campuses qualify, how grants are awarded, and how the Maryland Higher Education Commission administers the program. It also updates the state funding schedule, requiring a $150,000 appropriation for fiscal years 2023 through 2026 and increasing that amount to $225,000 beginning in fiscal year 2027.
Under the bill, the Commission must designate qualifying public 4-year institutions, 2-year institutions, and regional higher education centers as hunger-free campuses if they meet requirements such as creating a hunger task force, designating staff to help students access SNAP, offering food pantry or stigma-free food access, conducting annual surveys, and reporting on anti-hunger efforts. The bill also requires 4-year public institutions to maintain meal-sharing programs and make information about them public, while 2-year institutions are exempt from the meal-sharing and campus retailer SNAP-access requirements. The Commission may retain up to 15% of each grant for administration, and it must incorporate a plan for addressing basic needs insecurity into the 2026–2030 State Plan for Higher Education.
The bill’s main legal effect is to amend Title 11 of the Education Article governing the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program. It changes eligibility and administration rules, sets minimum grant amounts for first-time recipients, allows grant funds to be used flexibly for emergency assistance, staffing, and operations, and requires more detailed reporting, including demographic data on students served and best practices from other programs. It also bars private 4-year institutions and private nonprofit regional higher education centers from receiving grant funding, even if they are designated as hunger-free campuses.
The overall sentiment around the bill appears strongly supportive, as reflected in its passage by wide margins in both chambers. The votes suggest broad bipartisan agreement that student hunger and food insecurity are important issues for higher education policy. No committee transcript was provided, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate to indicate substantial opposition in the available materials.
The main point of contention in the bill itself is the exclusion of private institutions from grant eligibility. The bill allows only public institutions and public regional higher education centers to receive funding, which may be seen as limiting support for students at private campuses even though those campuses can still be designated as hunger-free under the subtitle. Another possible issue is the added administrative and reporting burden on institutions and the Commission, but the bill’s text and vote totals do not show that these concerns generated major resistance.
HB774 amends the Education Article provisions governing the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program by tightening eligibility, expanding reporting, and revising funding levels and administrative authority. It requires the Maryland Higher Education Commission to designate qualifying public institutions and regional higher education centers as hunger-free campuses, sets a higher future appropriation level, authorizes the Commission to retain up to 15% of grants for administration, and limits grant eligibility to public institutions and public regional centers. The bill also requires first-time grants to fall within a specified range, permits flexible use of funds for emergency assistance and staffing, and adds new reporting and planning requirements for state higher education policy.
The bill appears to have enjoyed broad support. It passed the House and Senate by comfortable margins, indicating general agreement with the goal of reducing student food insecurity and strengthening campus-based hunger response efforts. The absence of committee transcript material limits insight into detailed debate, but the voting history suggests the measure was not highly controversial overall.
The most notable substantive issue is the bill’s decision to exclude private institutions of higher education and private nonprofit regional higher education centers from receiving grant funding, even though some private campuses may still be designated as hunger-free campuses. That distinction could be viewed as inequitable by supporters of private-sector student aid, while proponents likely see it as a way to focus limited state dollars on public institutions. A secondary area of concern is the added compliance burden from task force, survey, reporting, and meal-sharing requirements, though the available record does not show significant organized opposition.