Bill > SB97

This bill updates Virginia's existing "Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program"—which provides state grants managed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to help colleges combat student hunger—by renaming it the "Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program" and adding a new requirement for colleges seeking these funds and the official "Hunger-Free Campus" designation. In addition to maintaining a free on-campus food pantry where students only need to show a school ID to receive food without proving financial need, any participating public or eligible nonprofit private college that offers a traditional meal plan must now also create a student meal credit sharing program. This new sharing program allows students to voluntarily donate their unused meal plan credits (often called "meal swipes") so they can be distributed to fellow students in need for use at campus dining halls or the food pantry, or used to directly support the pantry's operations. Furthermore, the bill specifies that grant money awarded through the program must be used by the colleges to maintain and operate both their food pantries and these newly required meal-sharing initiatives, with priority given to schools that enroll the highest percentages of low-income students who qualify for Federal Pell Grants, which are federal financial aid awards for undergraduate students that do not need to be paid back.