The Minnesota Daily reported this week that Boynton Health is spreading the word about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as SNAP.

You might get an email about it soon. And you could be part of the 17 percent of college students who worry their income won’t pay for groceries.

Other than reading something about Alexander Pope, grocery shopping is the one thing I’m certain to do every week. And yet I’ve become ultra-sensitive at the self-checkout at Target, fearful that my card will be rejected and that my shopping cart is larger than my bank account.

But I know that compared with many on campus, I’m living in the lap of luxury. For many, college is the first opportunity to try out new recipes or each other cuisines. At the same time, finances are a major impediment to such independence. Often budgetary restrictions persist regardless of the various jobs we work.

In the struggle between time, work, basic sustenance, and exploration, an accessible safety net is vital for all. We live, it seems, to accrue coupons in a coffee can in order to fulfill our culinary desires (or sometimes another Jack’s frozen pizza will suffice). Everybody has different wants and all are fine as long as we don’t have difficulty putting a nourishing serving of food in front of the futon.

Though we might be learning adult values like restraint and thriftiness along the way, we need the assurance that there’s a means of support out there in case penny-pinching doesn’t cut it.

In a cuisine-swollen city like Minneapolis, the likelihood that we’re filling our mouths can’t entirely hinge on our income or allowance. Introducing SNAP to students in an accessible way offers help when it’s needed and cements mealtime as a right, not a privilege.