House committee hears bill to create need-based food grants for Georgia college students

Representative Barry, sponsor of House Bill 716, told the House Higher Education Committee the bill would create a need-based tuition-adjacent grant to help postsecondary students afford food. "This bill would...create a need-based financial aid program to provide grants to eligible students ... for the purpose of combating food insecurity among postsecondary students," Barry said.

The bill, called the Hunger Free Campus Act in committee testimony, would direct the Georgia Student Finance Commission to establish the program subject to appropriation. Eligibility in the draft relies on the committee's stated definition of "economically disadvantaged" (an income-based threshold tied to Census definitions and adjusted annually) and current financial-aid rules — students would have to have completed FAFSA or demonstrate a financial-aid gap. The draft caps a grant award at an amount not to exceed the highest meal-plan cost at a recipient school, a figure…