School Meal Program Common Questions and Answers

• All children in households receiving benefits from NJ SNAP or NJ TANF/WorkFirst-NJ.
• Foster children that are under the legal responsibility of a foster care agency or court.
• Children participating in their school's Head Start program.
• Children who meet the definition of homeless, runaway, or migrant.
• Children may receive free or reduced price meals and Summer EBT if your household's income falls at or below the limits on this chart.

FEDERAL ELIGIBILITY INCOME CHART For School Year 2024-2025

Do the members of your household lack a permanent address? Are you staying together in a shelter, hotel, or other temporary housing arrangement? Does your family relocate on a seasonal basis? Are any children living with you who have chosen to leave their prior family or household? If you believe children in your household meet these descriptions and haven't been told your children will get free meals and Summer EBT, please call or e-mail your school, homeless liaison or migrant coordinator.

No. Use one School Meals and Summer EBT Application for all students in your household. We cannot approve an application that is not complete, so be sure to fill out all required information. Return the completed application to one of your children's schools.

No, but please read the letter you got carefully and follow the instructions. If any children in your household were missing from your eligibility notification, contact your school immediately.

If available, you are encouraged to complete an online application instead of a paper application. The online application has the same requirements and will ask you for the same information as the paper application. Contact your school if you have any questions about the online application.

Yes. Your child's application is only good for that school year and for the first few days of this school year. You must send in a new application unless the school told you that your child is eligible for the new school year.

Children in households participating in WIC may be eligible for free or reduced price meals and Summer EBT. Please send in an application.

Yes. We may also ask you to send written proof of the household income you report.

Yes, you may apply at any time during the school year. For example, children with a parent or guardian who becomes unemployed may become eligible for free and reduced price meals and Summer EBT if the household income drops below the income limit.

You should talk to 

Hearing Officer Name: Kathleen Allen

Address: 4 Moore Road, DN 704, Cape May Court House, NJ - 08210

Yes. You, your children, or other household members do not have to be U.S. citizens to apply for free or reduced price meals and Summer EBT.

List the amount that you normally receive. For example, if you normally make $1000 each month, but you missed some work last month and only made $900, put down that you made $1000 per month. If you normally get overtime, include it, but do not include it if you only work overtime sometimes. If you have lost a job or had your hours or wages reduced, use your current income.

Household members may not receive some types of income we ask you to report on the application, or may not receive income at all. Whenever this happens, please write a O in the field. However, if any income fields are left empty or blank, those will also be counted as zeroes. Please be careful when leaving income fields blank, as we will assume you meant to do so.

Your basic pay and cash bonuses must be reported as income. If you get any cash value allowances for off-base housing, food, or clothing, or receive Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance payments, it must also be included as income. However, if your housing is part of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative, do not include your housing allowance as income. Any additional combat pay resulting from deployment is also excluded from income.

List any additional household members on a separate piece of paper, and attach it to your application.