UPR Río Piedras Students Struggle with Hunger, Homelessness, and Financial Hardship

One in four students at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (UPRRP) experienced food insecurity between 2023 and 2024, 9% faced homelessness, and 62% survived on less than $500 a month, according to a new study published in January by the Institute of Psychological Research at the school’s Faculty of Social Sciences.

This precarious reality led 40% of the student population at the main UPR campus to consider dropping out of the university entirely.

“The physical and emotional burden on our students with this poverty scenario, with food shortage, is overwhelming. We have top students who can handle this [academic load], but it’s not just about being able to; it’s about why we must endure these circumstances, why we can’t have an optimal learning environment to develop our lives,” said one of the study’s authors, Yarimar Rosa Rodríguez, director of the Educational Research Center at the Faculty of Education.

In addition to the challenges students faced at the Río Piedras campus regarding food, housing, transportation, materials and equipment, and economic security, the study evaluated the service needs for students with functional diversity, health, and psychological well-being. It also examined the students’ relationship with the campus regarding campus security, recreational activities, and a sense of belonging to the university.

The study is being published amid instability in the public university system, including President Luis Ferrao’s resignation on February 3 and discussions about suspending 64 low-enrollment academic programs across the 11 UPR campuses.

Since 2017, the public university system has faced budget cuts, which have resulted in service shortages and reduced student aid.

Due to adjustments imposed by the Fiscal Control Board, the UPR faced the elimination of “the formula” applied by Act 2 of 1966, which granted it 9.6% of the Puerto Rico government’s General Fund. The General Fund allocation for the UPR was slashed from $911 million in 2017 to $466 million in 2022, a 49% decrease. In the fiscal year 2023-24, the General Fund contribution to the UPR was around $441 million, the same amount approved for the 2025-26 budget.

“Campus life has been transforming over time, not only by the impact of COVID-19 but also much earlier. And as campus life has changed, from the systemic and structural point of view, it has impacted student life, which is reflected in statistical data,” explained Rosa Rodríguez.

Expensive Food and Little Money

Although hunger has affected university students for years, recent crises, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, the fiscal situation, and the COVID-19 pandemic, “have exacerbated the food situation of students,” the study found.

“Food insecurity has been a truly alarming problem for years, especially with the closure of cafeterias and food spaces. Right now, we don’t even have the access we used to have to Río Piedras (the college town where the campus is located) via the bridge over Gándara Avenue, where the university community used to safely transit. Many of the existing businesses have closed,” said Astrid Lugo López, president of the General Student Council (CGE) of UPR Río Piedras.

The professors in charge of the analysis explained to the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) that, during the research process, they encountered students who were unaware they were experiencing food insecurity. This type of insecurity occurs when one does not eat but also manifests through reducing or limiting the number of meals per day, nutritional deficiencies, and the quality of what is consumed.

“You just have to visit the faculties at noon, and you see in the faculty lobbies that there are microwaves, students lining up, bringing food from home, but it’s almost always white rice with something on the side,” said David Pérez Jiménez, director of the Institute of Psychological Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The difficulties in acquiring food often lead students to alter their eating habits.

“Students sometimes go hungry all day, sometimes eating only once. It’s very sad because we’ve normalized this,” said Lugo López.

This situation becomes more complex considering that 62% of the students surveyed at the campus survive on less than $500 a month at a time when food prices are rising in supermarkets and places selling prepared foods. According to data from the Chamber of Marketing, Industry, and Food Distribution (MIDA, in Spanish), Puerto Ricans experienced a 2% increase in the money spent at the supermarket each month ($452) in 2024 compared to that expenditure in 2018 ($445).

“I don’t want my students dragging themselves to finish a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate. We shouldn’t have to live like this, [but] that’s how students are living,” lamented Professor Rosa Rodríguez.

Although there are options to buy food on campus, such as snack bars and cafes, the product costs do not necessarily reflect the students’ economic reality, the CGE president acknowledged.

“Those prices create another problem. The IUPICOOP [Café] closes at 4 p.m., and there are classes here until 9 p.m.; some run longer. At a certain time of the day,  you have nothing to eat,” said a Department of Interdisciplinary Studies student at the Faculty of Humanities.

The CPI visited three food purchase options on campus: IUPICOOP Café, Boca a Boca, and the snack bars near the Faculty of Social Sciences, to evaluate the prices offered to students. On average, a student would need at least $12 to afford lunch with a drink at one of these places, which would amount to $48 if they have lunch there at least four times a week. The first level of the Student Center, where several fast-food establishments were previously located, which — although of lower quality — were more economical, has remained closed since (Hurricane María in) 2017, the CPI confirmed.

Although students have microwave options in some faculties, when there is no electricity, something frequent at the university in recent years, that option is unavailable, the academics acknowledged. And there are no options to refrigerate food.

“It bothers me a bit when the administration thinks it’s solving something by putting a microwave when microwaves don’t materialize food. It’s assumed that people bring lunch from home. But what about people who are housed and don’t have a kitchen? What kind of food, if any, can they bring? The truth is that nutrition at the university is very sad,” said Lugo López, adding that another problem is the long lines that form when using these appliances.

In recent years, several initiatives have offered food to UPRRP students. For example, since 2010, Mesón de Amor, a project of the faith-based organization external to the UPR, Corporación Casa Amor, Fe y Esperanza, provides food to low-income university students. In partnership with the campus’s Office of Quality of Life, they deliver 100 monthly food purchases, said Gladys Belkis Ortiz de Moya, founder of the initiative. Additionally, last semester they worked in partnership with the CGE, to whom they provided “the ingredients to prepare 100 lunches a month.”

According to Ortiz de Moya, in exchange for the food, campus students volunteer by helping prepare food, distribute groceries, or clean the space.

No safe shelter, no student housing

Another major challenge UPRRP students face is the lack of housing. The study indicates that 9% of the students interviewed experienced homelessness 30 days before the survey. They reported not having a home and acknowledged having slept at some point in a shelter, trailer, or camper, staying with a relative, a friend, in a hotel or motel, in transitional housing or a residential program for mental health, a treatment center, on the street, sidewalk or alley, in camping areas, parks, beaches, rivers, or under a bridge.

About 325 students (30%) who participated in the survey confirmed that, in the 30 days prior to the study, despite having a roof, financial instability forced them to delay paying rent, essential services such as electricity, water, or gas, or to move constantly.

The researchers conclude that the increase in housing costs in Puerto Rico, coupled with the closure of student accommodations and the few affordable housing options in the urban core of Río Piedras, have forced many students to leave the university. The campus closed two student dorms  — Torre Norte in 2018 and Resicampus in 2020 — which were severely affected after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and have not been repaired.

In the case of Resicampus, a nine-story structure with 61 apartments, it has been under renovation since its closure in 2020, and it is expected to be completed in September. The reconstruction cost $20,030,000. As part of the renovation, the original capacity of 366 students will be reduced to 233 students (-36%).

The Torre Norte residence, across the street from the Río Piedras campus, will be demolished to make way for new housing. The project awaits a feasibility study, which will allow the UPR to release the $18.8 million the Fiscal Control Board holds in reserve until the university meets specific requirements. The UPR needs that money to match state funds for constructing the new student residence. Torre Norte once housed up to 437 students.

Another measure promoted by the campus is the construction of a new student housing project in the nearby Hyde Park Urbanization of Río Piedras through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Housing to access $2,469,854 under the Social Interest Housing Mitigation Program. The project received approval from the UPR Board of Governors on January 30.

“The life that changed at the university impacted the Río Piedras urban center. Not talking about gentrification and displacement would be ignoring the issue. A series of homes that were typically available at affordable prices for the university community are no longer available. What was Río Piedras as a college town ceased to exist precisely because of that relationship with displacement,” Professor Rosa Rodríguez pointed out.

The student council president added that there is a “definite relationship” between the closure of university residences and students who have faced homelessness.

“Closing the residences at the university was disastrous. I have classmates who travel from their towns. For example, I had a classmate in French class who traveled from Mayagüez (158 kilometers) every day because the program he needed was here. If his car broke down one day, he was out of luck that day,” she recounted.

According to data from the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF, in Spanish), the average price of homes in Puerto Rico in 2023 was $193,356, reflecting a 9.6% increase over 2022. According to the organization Puerto Rico Real Estates, monthly rent payments in urban areas range from $700 for a one-bedroom apartment to $2,000 for a two-bedroom one.

“We [students] can’t buy houses even if we want to. The conditions aren’t there. What happens is that they think we don’t want to, but we can’t because of the economic conditions,” said Lugo López.

“The lack of access to adequate housing can have severe effects on the mental and physical health, as well as the academic performance of affected students,” said researcher Rosa Rodríguez.

The Corporación Casa Amor, Fe y Esperanza, also offers more affordable housing for university students, said Ortiz de Moya.

“With the Duerme Tranquilo (Sleep Undisturbed) initiative, we house 16 students at the Evangelical Seminary [in front of the campus] and three international students at Mesón de Amor. Each student is asked for a stipend of $200 a month, but the space, in addition to their room, has a living room, shared kitchen, and bathroom. We only ensure that they are college students, show academic progress, and cannot afford housing,” she explained.

The entity established a collaborative agreement with the university to occupy and manage the Puerto Rico Building, at the intersection of University Avenue and José N. Gándara Avenue, to convert it into student housing, added Ortiz De Moya. She hopes the space can start housing students in August of this year.

A Generation on Wheels, But at What Cost?

Due to the lack of student housing or fair-priced housing on the campus’ periphery, most surveyed students opt to drive from more distant points, which involves gasoline expenses and, at times, tolls. In the survey, 802 students (72%) indicated they use their car, and of these, 42% said it takes them up to 30 minutes to reach the university. Thirty-seven percent take an hour, and 15.4% more than an hour between their home and the campus. A basic compact car can cost at least $25,000, the CPI confirmed through several car dealers in San Juan.

“Students stay at their parents’ homes because they can’t afford independent housing. However, this involves other costs of car maintenance, gasoline, tolls, and other expenses that affect the student. They solve an economic issue on one hand, but it leads to other levels of costs,” said Yamil Ortiz Ortiz, assistant researcher at the Center for Social Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The study shows that the rest of the mobility options, such as the Urban Train, buses, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, or Uber, are less used alternatives.

A Discouraging Outlook for Student Retention

The challenges to achieving an optimal quality of life while studying lead one in four UPRRP students (40%) to consider dropping out of their studies entirely, the study concludes.

For the researchers, this reality “represents a high incidence” compared to studies they consulted from universities in the United States, so they warned that “it is essential to address it.” According to data from the campus’s Institutional Research and Assessment Division, the average undergraduate student retention rate is 64%. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, U.S. universities average a retention rate of 76.4%.

“This report provides us with a map that can help us demand that these things be understood urgently and that this is totally linked to retention. Students are thinking of leaving due to the economic conditions of their families, who make extraordinary efforts to have their children here and be able to have a different future. That must be considered when we are talking, for example, about the closure of academic programs,” the CGE president noted.

This reality poses significant challenges to retaining students, as the surveyed students said they feel a “halfway” relationship with the institution, the services and aid it offers, and even with the recreational activities promoted by the university administration. This, according to the researchers, could further reduce enrollment at the Río Piedras campus, which in 2024 saw a 34% decrease in admission applications compared to those the institution had in the 2017-18 academic year (18,427).

“The results in this area reflect that the sense of belonging of the UPR students to their university needs to be strengthened. We believe that the different situations students are currently facing, such as the need to get a job, make it difficult for them to get involved in extracurricular activities, which help foster a sense of belonging,” acknowledged the group of researchers who hope to present the findings to the UPR Board of Governors, Governor Jenniffer González, the Legislature, and even the Fiscal Control Board.

The data was collected between May 2023 and February 2024, with 1,116 students participating, of whom 745 (69%) identified as women, 339 (31%) as men, and less than one percent (0.1%) identified as intersex. The study sample represents 9% of the 12,827 students enrolled at the campus during the 2023-24 academic year.

The researchers have embarked on a second phase of the study to delve deeper into certain areas of concern that will allow them to understand how and why students face these challenges.

“There are several findings that shocked us and truly broke our hearts. For example, the finding that one in four students suffers from food insecurity is a variable we want to delve into in terms of understanding how they cope day-to-day to get their food, and where they get it from, we know many go hungry… we want them to talk to us about that experience,” Pérez Jiménez said.

This story is made possible through a collaboration between the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo and Open Campus.