Half of Native Hawaiian college students cannot afford menstrual products, and the cascading effects are severe

Across the United States, roughly 14% of college students experience period poverty - the inability to afford or access menstrual products. In the University of Hawaii system, a new study finds, that number is nearly double. And for Native Hawaiian students, it reaches a staggering 51%.

The numbers behind the disparity

A study led by PhD candidate Samantha Kanselaar at George Mason University's College of Public Health surveyed 462 students across the University of Hawaii system - three universities and seven community colleges. The findings, published in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, paint a picture of compounding hardship.

One in four students reported experiencing period poverty in the past 12 months. But the averages obscure sharp racial disparities: 51% of Native Hawaiian students and 41% of Filipina students reported period poverty, compared to the overall 25% rate. Among Native Hawaiian students, one in five reported experiencing it monthly.

The affected students were not struggling with menstrual products alone. Among those experiencing period poverty, 42% also reported food insecurity. Forty-five percent reported housing insecurity. Thirty-five percent said it disrupted their academic performance. And 23% reported depressive symptoms.

Not an individual problem

The clustering of period poverty with food insecurity, housing instability, and mental health challenges suggests this is not simply a matter of menstrual product costs. It is a marker of broader financial precarity that affects multiple dimensions of a student's life simultaneously.

Students facing period poverty alongside food or housing insecurity were nearly twice as likely to report depressive symptoms compared to those who experienced material deprivation without period poverty. The menstrual dimension appears to compound the psychological burden of other basic needs going unmet.

Jhumka Gupta, professor in the Department of Global and Community Health at George Mason and senior author on the study, framed the issue in terms of participation: period poverty reduces women's engagement in school and the workplace, making it a structural barrier to achievement rather than a personal inconvenience.

Native Hawaiians: underrepresented in data, overrepresented in hardship

One of the study's contributions is its focus on Native Hawaiian students, a population largely absent from national datasets on period poverty. The 51% rate among Native Hawaiian students is not just higher than the national college average - it is more than three times higher.

Nikki Ann Yee, co-founder of Ma'i Movement Hawaii, the menstrual equity organization that partnered on the research, characterized the findings as evidence of systemic failure rather than individual circumstance. The nonprofit has already successfully advanced legislation requiring Hawaii's public and charter schools to provide free menstrual products, but the university system is not yet covered.

What universities can do

The researchers point to several interventions: free menstrual product availability on campus, coupled with food and housing assistance programs and mental health support. The logic is that addressing period poverty in isolation misses the broader web of needs that these students face.

At the policy level, the findings support legislation like the federal Menstrual Equity for All Act, which calls for expanding access to menstrual products across schools, universities, and other institutional settings.

The study's limitations include its cross-sectional design - it captures a snapshot rather than tracking changes over time - and its reliance on self-reported data. The sample of 462 students, while substantial, represents a fraction of the University of Hawaii system's total enrollment. And the researchers note that the true prevalence may be higher, given that stigma around period poverty could lead to underreporting.

Still, the data make a clear case: for thousands of college students in Hawaii, and disproportionately for Native Hawaiian and Filipina women, the cost of a basic biological necessity is a barrier to education, health, and well-being.