Millions of additional students eligible for no-cost breakfasts, lunches

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a rule change Tuesday that will allow 3,000 more schools to receive free breakfasts and lunches for students. 

The USDA is making a change to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows all students in a school district to receive free food without applying if a certain percentage of students are in households that use particular income-based federal assistance programs. 

The USDA is lowering that percentage from 40 percent to 25 percent, allowing millions more students to receive breakfast and lunch at school at no cost.

“Today’s announcement comes as we approach the one-year anniversary of the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, where the Biden-Harris Administration promised to advance a pathway to healthy school meals for all students,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. 

“USDA has taken an important step toward fulfilling that promise by expanding access to CEP. Increasing access to free, healthy school breakfast and lunch will decrease childhood hunger, improve child health and student readiness, and put our nation on the path to better nutrition and wellness,” Vilsack said. 

The rule change comes after eight states have already moved to make free school breakfast and lunches universal for every student in the state.

The USDA said the rule change has numerous benefits, such as increasing food security, cutting out school meal debt and reducing stigma against students who receive free lunches.