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Basic page Applying for Free and Reduced Price School Meals

USDA offers prototypes of school meal applications, as well as sample instructional documents intended to assist state and local officials in the design and distribution of their own application materials.

05/11/2023
Resource | Notices Child Nutrition Programs Income Eligibility Guidelines (2022-2023)

This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk for the period from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023. 

02/16/2022
Resource | Notices Child Nutrition Programs Income Eligibility Guidelines (2021-22)

This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk for the period from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.

03/04/2021
Resource | Notices Child Nutrition Programs Income Eligibility Guidelines (2019-2020)

This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk for the period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.

03/20/2019
Resource | Policy Memos | FNS-GD-2019-0004 Flexibility for the Administrative Review Cycle Requirement

In school year 2013-14, FNS introduced the unified administrative review and a 3-year review cycle. Since then, FNS has received feedback about the difficulties of the shorter review cycle, both for the state agencies conducting the reviews, and for school food authorities preparing for and responding to reviews.

SP12-2019
02/22/2019
Resource | Comment Request Food Crediting in Child Nutrition Programs - Extension of Comment Period

The purpose of this Request for Information is to help FNS gather feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders on how FNS' crediting system can best address today's evolving food and nutrition environment, as well as to offer first-rate customer service to those operating and benefitting from the child nutrition programs.

02/20/2018
Resource | Comment Request Comment Request - Determining Eligibility for Free and Reduced Price Meals and Free Milk in Schools

FNS will collect information to determine eligibility of children for free and reduced price meals and for free milk and to assure that there is no physical segregation of, or other discrimination against, or overt identification of children unable to pay the full price for meals or milk.

04/26/2016
Resource | Policy Memos | FNS-GD-2010-0032 Exclusion of Military Combat Pay

This supersedes the Jan. 7, 2010, version of the policy memo, Exclusion of Military Combat Pay. In addition to combat pay and other income received by deployed service members, this memorandum addresses Deployment Extension Incentive Pay.

SP06 CACFP03 SFSP04-2010r
09/15/2010
Resource | Policy Memos | FNS-GD-2008-0014 Sharing Income Eligibility Information between Child Nutrition Programs

The purpose of this memo is to highlight previously issued guidance on the disclosure of eligibility information between child nutrition programs, and to offer clarification on the application of this policy.

 

SP17 CACFP05 SFSP04-2008
02/15/2008
Resource | Policy Memos | FNS-GD-2006-0042 U.S. Armed Forces Family Supplemental Subsistence Allowance – Permanently Excluded from Income Consideration for the Child Nutrition Programs

PL 109-163 made the Department of Defense’s Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance  permanently available.

SP30 CACFP14 SFSP07-2006
08/25/2006
Page updated: October 14, 2021