Lack of Funding and Resources to Basic Needs Center is Detrimental to Students in Need

With the deadline to spend carryover money from Assembly Bill 132 looming over the Beaver Cares Basic Needs Center, the food pantry and other resources are experiencing the effects of budgetary restraints.

Editorial Staff

May 7, 2026

A point value is applied to each item in the food pantry based on how much money is spent to bring an item in. Students are allowed 15 points a week, and with the rising grocery prices, these points can add up quickly. (Photo by Kelly McCrystle)

In 2021, California passed Assembly Bill 132, a budget act that required every California community college to establish a basic needs center on campus. Through these basic needs centers, students are able to receive aid for items and services ranging from housing and transportation, to technology support.

With the funding provided by AB 132, American River College created Beaver Cares, the basic needs center at ARC. Beaver Cares offers support to students by providing them with resources on and off campus in order to aid with essential needs. Perhaps the most important of these resources is its food support program, which provides CalFresh assistance, emergency meal support, and access to the on campus food pantry.

However, with a deadline approaching for basic needs centers to spend the money allotted to them through the budget act, and no other clear options to obtain funding at a similar level, Beaver Cares is scrambling to find a way to continue to deliver the crucial services they provide at the same level they have been since they opened. The basic needs center needs more support from the college and the community in order to continue to help people at the same capacity, especially with state funding running out. ARC should prioritize funding the Beaver Cares Basic Needs centers so that students can prioritize their education.

Not providing the Beaver Cares center with the funding it needs to continue to operate at the same level would be detrimental to the student population of ARC that relies on its many resources.

According to the Community College League of California, approximately 67% of community college students experience at least one form of basic needs insecurity, and 46% of students experience food insecurity. The Beaver Cares food pantry works to combat this by easing the cost of food for students by providing access to free, healthy groceries and pantry staples for students.

However, a lack of funding and resources is causing the price of food to go up for students. ARC’s food pantry serves between 250-300 people every single day, according to Valerie Adger, the student support supervisor for Beaver Cares. The basic needs center at ARC has a $1.2 million dollar yearly budget and almost half of that budget comes from the AB 132 roll out. Without this supplementary funding, the budget for the entire basic needs center is $670,000. At the moment, ARCis spending roughly $320,000 a year to run the food pantry.

The only reason that the food pantry is able to operate at the level it is currently is through the carryover funding from AB 132, however with the deadline to spend the rest of that money coming up, the food pantry and the basic needs center must find a way to address the needs of the hundreds of students it supports.

Adger estimates that, on average, food costs have roughly gone up 30% since last year, putting a strain on the budget for the basic needs center.

“Our budget is such that we have to keep some constraints,” Adger says. “The only thing that’s donated in our food pantry right now is bread. We pick that up from Bimbo Bakeries twice a week, and we get one small shipment from Sac Food Bank every month. I wish it was more but that’s what we get. The rest of it we buy wholesale.”

The food pantry runs on a point system; each student gets 15 points per week, and can spend those points to “purchase” food items. However, once they run out of those points, they can no longer get items from the food pantry for the rest of the week. The problem is, grocery prices are rising. Because of this, students are getting less items for the same amount of points. What once cost one point now costs two, and while this may not seem like much, with a limited amount of points and a limited amount of food, students’ options are getting cut in half.

AsiaRose Sumang, a STEM homebase worker, uses the food pantry weekly to get pantry basics such as butter and avocado. However, with the rising point cost of the food pantry, stocking up on these basics is getting difficult.

“It’s almost like a cash value that you have, and you only get, like, $15 to spend. And for the butter to be five points, that’s a third of my [points],” said Sumang.

The budget constraints combined with the increasing demand for the basic needs center services is detrimental to ARC students that depend on the food pantry to help ease their grocery bills.

With the deadline to spend carryover dollars from AB 132 coming up at the end of this school year, the college needs to allocate more funds to the basic needs center so that they can continue to meet the rising demands from students without compromising the care that they are receiving. While the point system that the food pantry employs keeps the food pantry stocked it is restrictive, forcing the people that use the pantry to have to make decisions on what they’ll have to give up in order to stay within the point limits. With a larger budget, the food pantry could continue to stock their pantry throughout the week and meet the increasing needs of students without the limitations that the point system creates.

The community can also help. By donating critical items like hygiene products and non-perishables like canned goods, to the food pantry community members can help keep shelves stocked and lessen the weight of grocery costs on the pantry’s budget. Any items can be dropped off at the pantry, and monetary donations can be made here.