A PRiMER On Free and Reduced-Price Lunch

By : Courtney Vahle, Ed.D. and Abigail Medler, MPA

Published On: March 28, 2025

Free and Reduced-Price Lunch (FRL) can be a bit of a buzzword in the education space. In today’s blog post, we dispel common misconceptions about the program, and answer some FAQs.

What is Free and Reduced-Price Lunch (FRL)?

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federal program signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1946 to provide no- or low-cost meals to millions of children each school day. The program is popularly thought to be a function of the U.S. Department of Education, funding for FRLs are provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Are all school-aged children eligible?

Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, schools were providing free meals to all public school students with federal dollars. Despite the public support for free meals for all students, regardless of income, and the supplemental evidence supporting it, the program was set to expire in 2022 due to Congress cutting much of the pandemic-era spending projects. 

Currently, free and reduced-price lunches (FRLs) are provided to children based on a set of income criteria, despite the heavy support from likely Missouri voters for meals to be available to all students regardless of income (62% support in February 2025). Reinforcing this support are findings that suggest more students receiving free meals will lead to improved educational outcomes, educational attainment, and earning potential, as well as improved health outcomes and decreased health inequities.  

What are the “income criteria”?

Students can be deemed eligible for FRL through two avenues: categorical eligibility or income eligibility.

Categorically eligible students are automatically eligible or “directly certified” for free meals through their household’s participation in federal assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or their status as homeless or as a foster child.

Income eligible students are eligible for Free or Reduced-Priced lunches based on household income and must apply to receive FRL. To be eligible for free lunches, the student’s household income must be less than 130% of the federal poverty level ($41,795.00 for a family of 4 in 2025). To be eligible for reduced-price lunches, the student’s household income must be less than 185% of the federal poverty level ($59,477.50 for a family of 4 in 2025).

Okay, but all students in my home district receive FRL…how is that possible? Is every family in my school directly certified or meeting the income criteria for application?

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a federal program that allows schools to provide free lunch to all enrolled students if at least 25% of the student population is identified categorically eligible based on the criteria described above (see a full list here). Thus, if a student attends a school with a high enough percentage of directly certified students, they may also receive FRL, regardless of household income, resulting in many schools showing 100% of students as receiving FRL.

As of November 2024, almost 48% of Missouri students are eligible for FRL and 20% are directly certified. The maps below plot the percentage of students who are directly certified alongside the percentage of students receiving FRL by district. You will notice that the FRL percentage is much higher due to the expanded access afforded by household applications and the CEP. Find this data and more at www.primecenter.org/data .

Why is FRL important to understand?

Studies suggest more students receiving free meals will lead to improved educational outcomes, educational attainment, and earning potential, as well as improved health outcomes and decreased health inequities. 

However, as elaborated on in this blog post, using the percentage of students receiving FRL is also frequently as a proxy measure for poverty when making policy decisions and can have unintended consequences. Policymakers and school leaders should think carefully about socioeconomic measurements in schools. Relying on FRL as a proxy for family income can lead to overestimating need and may result in resources being distributed inefficiently.

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