Using Food to Encourage College Student Attendance

College students are perennially hungry and broke. They will flock to free food like moths to a flame. So how do you use food to lure them in without going broke? How do you make sure they aren’t just coming for the free food?

Money, Money, Money

Create a small food budget.
Take turns bringing in food. Have a sign-up sheet and make sure everyone brings food in for a meeting.
Have a potluck and make everyone bring something.
College students love home cooked meals. Invite everyone over for dinner and a discussion. Everyone can chip in or you could make something.
Go out to dinner together. Plan on meeting up at an inexpensive restaurant.

Are We Recruiting Quality Members?

Remember that you may not be drawing in the most dedicated people when you use food. However, you are advertising your group in a sense. You may expose some one new to your ideas, trigger a latent interest in an unsuspecting student, or at least make a good impression. Maybe someone will remember the meeting they attended and mention it to a friend a year down the road.

Alternate food nights, or do them randomly to make sure you are recruiting quality members. I suggest advertising food when you have a big event planned and want to draw in a lot of people. It is also useful at the very beginning of the academic year when you want to draw in new recruits.