Economic insecurity is part of many college students' daily lives. In this dissertation, I investigate food insecurity as a key manifestation of student economic insecurity. I study both individual experiences of food insecurity and institutional responses to student food insecurity through the adoption of on-campus food pantries. I specifically focus on food insecurity because it illuminates both student economic insecurity and the response of colleges to vulnerability on campus. My focus on food insecurity also allows me to develop a theoretical underpinning around institutions' indirect facilitation of students' short term economic security projects, wherein institutions may seek to mitigate students' lack of familial or government safety nets through the provision of security buffer services, such as an on-campus food pantry. In doing so, I speak not only to the issue of individual student food insecurity, but also to institutional responses to this insecurity. I compiled the data for this dissertation through extensive original data collection combined with existing data, from sources that included college websites, Barron's measures of college selectivity, data from the College Scorecard and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and a survey module on student food insecurity that I administered at 44 public two-year and four-year institutions to random samples of undergraduate students (n = 15,252 students). I am able to leverage these unique data sources in tandem to build and expand on the prior research on food insecurity among students. These data allow me to investigate institutional responses to food insecurity across the higher education sector, including for-profit institutions and private non-profit institutions, which have not yet been explored in the existing literature. Additionally, I develop estimates of student food insecurity in differing institutional contexts, providing further confirmation of food insecurity as an issue for many students across a diverse range of colleges. First, I study the provision of on-campus food pantries in seeking to understand how institutions may serve as short term economic security project facilitators for their students. Using an original dataset constructed from IPEDS and data gathered from college websites, I analyze the institutional characteristics associated with the presence of an on-campus food pantry. I investigate the existence of on-campus food pantries in a random sample of higher education institutions in the United States. I find that for-profit institutions in my sample are less likely to have an on-campus food pantry than are non-profit private or public institutions. I also find that institutions in small cities and suburbs are most likely to have an on-campus food pantry and that institutions with more than 10,000 students have much higher odds of having an on-campus food pantry than small institutions. No previous research has examined the existence of food pantries among a random sample of higher education institutions, and thus my contribution to the existing literature here is an essential expansion to include all types of institutional control. Then, in the next chapter, I investigate how individual student demographic and academic characteristics correlate with experiences of food insecurity. I also examine the relationship between food insecurity and academic achievement, specifically GPA. I find that, on average, and net of many controls, students experiencing food insecurity have lower GPAs than their food secure peers. I also find that student demographic characteristics such as gender, first generation status, and residence location are associated with the likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. This chapter expands on the work of other research by incorporating institution-reported GPA, as well as demographic characteristics such as non-binary gender identities that have not been included in previous research. Last, I explore the intersection of individual characteristics and institutional contexts to investigate correlations between individual food insecurity and the institutional provision of security buffer services (i.e. food pantries). I seek to understand if student vulnerability to food insecurity may be increased or ameliorated in varied contexts. I find that there may be associations between food insecurity and on-campus food pantries at different types of institutions. This has interesting implications for understanding how levels of individual food insecurity may shape institutional responses to students' experiences. Additionally, it provides nuance to conversations about how institutions may or may not facilitate students' individual short term economic security projects through the provision of social service resources. I seek to shed light on the overarching question, how does economic insecurity, specifically food insecurity, impact students and their institutions? Overall, this study adds depth and breadth to the literature on food insecurity among college students, deepening researchers' understanding of individual-level food insecurity, while also expanding the scope of research beyond the individual to include institutional research questions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. 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