College student food insecurity (FI) is a public health concern. Programming and policies to support students have expanded but utilisation is often limited. The aim of this study was to summarise the barriers to accessing college FI programming guided by the social ecological model (SEM) framework. A scoping review of peer-reviewed literature included an electronic search conducted in MEDLINE, ERIC, and PubMed databases, with a secondary search in Google Scholar. Of the 138 articles identified, 18 articles met eligibility criteria and were included. Articles primarily encompassed organisational (17/18) level barriers, followed by individual (15/18), relationship (15/18), community (9/18), and policy (6/18) levels. Individual barriers included seven themes: Knowledge of Process, Awareness, Limited Time or Schedules, Personal Transportation, Internal Stigma, Perception of Need, and Type of Student. Four relationship barriers were identified: External Stigma, Comparing Need, Limited Availability Causes Negative Perceptions, and Staff. Ten barrier themes comprised the organisational level: Application Process, Operational Process, Location, Hours of Operation, Food Quality, Food Quantity, Food Desirability or Variety of Food, Marketing Materials, Awareness of the Program, and COVID-19 Restrictions. Two barrier themes were identified at the community level, Public Transportation and Awareness of SNAP, while one barrier theme, SNAP Eligibility and Process, encompassed the policy level. Higher education stakeholders should seek to overcome these barriers to the use of food programmes as a means to address the issue of college FI. This review offers recommendations to overcome these barriers at each SEM level.

Food insecurity on college campuses is a major public health problem and has been documented for the last decade. Sufficient food access is a crucial social determinant of health, thus campuses across the country have implemented various programmes, systems and policies to enhance access to food which have included food pantries, campus gardens, farmers markets, meal share or voucher programmes, mobile food applications, campus food gleaning, food recovery efforts, meal deliveries and task force/working groups. However, little is understood about how to best address food insecurity and support students who are struggling with basic needs. The impact of food insecurity on students academic and social success, in addition to their overall well-being, should be investigated and prioritised at each higher education institution. This is especially true for marginalised students, such as minority or first-generation students, who are at heightened risk for food insecurity. In order to create a culture of health equity, in which most at-risk students are provided resources and opportunities to achieve optimal well-being, higher education institutions must prioritise mitigating food insecurity on the college campus. Higher education institutions could benefit from adopting comprehensive and individualised approaches to promoting food security for marginalised students in order to facilitate equal opportunity for optimal scholastic achievement among students of all socio-demographic backgrounds.