Shutdown-driven pause in federal benefits increases demand at the FIU student pantry.
Jorge Cardona | Staff Writer
This year’s government shutdown has come to an end. On Nov. 9, the Senate reached an agreement to reopen the government, followed by its approval in the House on Nov. 12. At 43 days long, the shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, has become the longest in American history, surpassing the 2018–2019 shutdown, which lasted 35 days.
In the time since, there have been mass layoffs of federal workers across multiple agencies, with as many as 670,000 federal employees on unpaid leave and another 730,000 working without pay.
The shutdown also brought the suspension of several federal government benefits, among them SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which was suspended on Nov. 1.
Benefit suspension caused many concerns among FIU students and the university community as a whole. According to Student Pantry worker Alisa Egorova, many students have expressed worries about the shutdown and how it might affect food availability for students and the student pantry.
There has also been a rise in food orders in the pantry in the past month. Pantry staff added that the amount of food taken in November had increased to around 5,000 lbs, from around 4300 to 4500 lbs in the month of October (as of Nov. 13, 2025, when the interview was conducted).
This increased demand for food among students comes as the government shutdown forced the suspension of SNAP benefits.
Food insecurity among university students is a widespread problem in the US, with an estimated 3.8 million students around the country experiencing food insecurity in 2020, 1.1 million of whom were receiving SNAP benefits, according to a 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
While it is difficult to determine if many FIU students receive SNAP benefits or are eligible, many people in Miami-Dade County receive SNAP, with over 500,000 people in the County having been at risk of losing their benefits at the start of the suspension.
The Trump administration announced on Nov. 13 that all SNAP recipients throughout the country will have to reapply for benefits, stating that this is a measure to eliminate “fraud” in the form of ineligible applicants receiving benefits. This requirement could potentially leave many people without aid due to stricter eligibility requirements passed by Congress this year.
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