In East Lansing, data from the U.S. Census Bureau released in 2012 lists 1,417 recipients of SNAP benefits in the last 12 months. The data doesn’t reveal how many of the recipients are MSU students, but director of the MSU Student Food Bank Nate Smith-Tyge said he expects “a slight uptick” in demand for the bank’s services.

Greater Lansing Food Bank Development Manager Kim Gladstone said the cuts will result in institutions, such as hers, requiring more donations to meet demand.

“There’s an increase of individuals in need of food services,” Gladstone said. “It has a marked effect on the community.”

Economics professor Charles Ballard said that the cuts to the program will feel significant to those who are affected.

“There are a lot of people in Ingham County who are in very poor shape financially,” Ballard said. “Any reduction in the amount of support they have is likely to hurt.”

The cuts in assistance come at a time when poverty is on the rise nationally, and in Ingham County, the poverty rate is both higher and increasing more quickly than the national average, according to the Greater Lansing Food Bank.

In a document entitled “Report on the state of hunger in our community,” the food bank said the percentage of the population living below the poverty line increased from 18.1 to 22.6 percent from 2007 to 2012, a 4.5 percent increase compared to the 2.5 percent national increase reported by the census bureau.

It appears MSU students have skewed the data. In East Lansing, the 2012 census bureau data reported that 48.4 percent of all people ages 18 through 64 in the city are living below the poverty line.

Ballard said the figure isn’t an accurate depiction of most students’ financial situation.

“Their income by themselves is probably quite low, (but) the average MSU student comes from a fairly affluent family,” Ballard said. “It can be misleading to include students.”

A census bureau blog post explored what would happen to poverty statistics if the demographic of college students who don’t live with relatives were excluded. When applied to Ingham County, census bureau data decreased the poverty rate from 21 percent to 16 percent.

Both Smith-Tyge and Ballard pointed to regressive federal policies toward social assistance as a major factor in rising poverty and food insecurity since the 1970’s.

“Sixteen percent is still a significant number,” Smith-Tyge said. “It does reflect on our campus and in the larger community that sort of policy shift that have cumulative effects (resulting) in more people … being food insecure.”