Student Meal Applications-SNPLearning Support :

Student Meal Application and Eligibility Information

Schools that participate in School Nutrition Programs accept applications for free and reduced-price school meal benefits at any time. The form used to apply is titled the Application for Educational Benefits.  Approval for free or reduced-price meals is based on comparison of the household’s income to current U.S. Department of Agriculture household income guidelines. Schools distribute the Application for Educational Benefits form to the households of all enrolled children at the beginning of each school year.

Families use the Application for Educational Benefits form to apply for free or reduced-price school meals. The Household Letter explains about school meal benefits and how to complete the Application for Educational Benefits. These forms are available in English and the additional eight languages shown below:

Application for Education Benefits and Household Letter - Click on the desired language:  English, Arabic, Hmong, Khmer-Cambodian, Laotian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese

For the complete memorandum in English including guidelines for approval, refer to the document below titled “2008-09 Income Eligibility Guidelines and Application.”  Some of these translations are available in Word format – contact the Food and Nutrition Service to request them.

Notification of Approval/Denial Letter - Click on the desired language:  English, Arabic, Hmong, Khmer-Cambodian, Laotian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese

Additional Languages -  In addition to the eight languages listed above, the USDA website has a prototype application and household letter, approval/denial letters, and verification letters available in the following languages: Chinese (Mandarin), Farsi, French, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Polish, Portuguese, Samoan, Serbo-Croatian, Sudanese, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu. Visit the USDA Translations page

Households that have already been approved for the following public assistance programs can complete an Application for Educational Benefits with case number(s) instead of household income information:
- Food Stamps,
- Minnesota Family Investment Plan (MFIP),
- Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).

Children who have already been approved for these programs may also be “directly certified” for free school meals, without an Application for Educational Benefits, based on data supplied to the Minnesota Department of Education from the Minnesota Department of Human Services as authorized by federal and state law for this purpose.

Information on individual students' approval for free and reduced-price meals is private data that is used only for school programs as authorized by law.

To view or download the USDA publication explaining how to determine and verify students' eligibility for free and reduced price meals (updated January 2008), click on * Eligibility Manual for School Meals.

* Links to third-party sites are provided as a service to Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Website visitors. See our disclaimer regarding these sites in our copyright information linked at the bottom of this page. Links will open in a new browser window.

To view or download Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) materials, click on the following PDF or Word icons below: