FNS Documents & Resources

FNS is issuing this memorandum in fulfillment of the commitment made in the preamble of the SNAP: Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 final rule to provide additional guidance for state agencies on how to carry out the exclusion of certain military combat-related pay from income for purposes of SNAP eligibility determinations.

This study develops standard methodologies that might be used to construct standard utility allowances, which are used by States as part of the SNAP eligibility and benefit determination.

This memorandum provides the fiscal year 2018 Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA) to the SNAP maximum allotments, income eligibility standards, and deductions. Under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 COLAs are effective as of Oct. 1, 2017.

The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, as amended, limits the amount of resources that a household may have and still receive SNAP benefits. Resources can include, but are not limited to, cash and funds in checking or savings accounts.

The purpose of this memorandum is to extend to the at-risk afterschool component of the Child and Adult Care Food Program the flexibility to take certain food items offsite.

This memorandum is a follow-up to the FNS memorandum dated Aug. 1, 2013, announcing the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Sunset (ARRA Sunset) Impact on Allotments.

Many Americans living in poverty do not have access to healthy food at a reasonable price, compelling them to make unhealthy food choices. The goal of SNAP is to increase food security and access to a healthy diet among low-income households. 

The purpose of this study was to examine how to define “adequacy” of SNAP allotments objectively in the context of program goals to improve food security and access to a healthy diet, existing data sources that could inform an assessment of the adequacy of existing and potential alternative SNAP allotments, and new data requirements to strengthen the evidence-base and allow for further rigorous analyses.