New Eligibility Guidelines for Free and Reduced School Meals Announced for the 2025-26 School Year, Helping More Students Succeed by Ensuring They Receive Nutritious Meals at School (July 8, 2025)

On July 8, 2025 the Pennsylvania Department of Education(PDE) announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released federal income eligibility guidelines for free and reduced-price school meals and free milk for July 2025 to June 2026.

Schools, and other institutions and facilities, use the guidelines to determine eligibility for the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Milk Program for Children, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program.

The Shapiro Administration has made it a top priority to ensure Pennsylvania students can start the day with a full stomach, ready to learn. In his 2025-26 budget proposal, Governor Josh Shapiro included funding for universal free breakfast in schools across the Commonwealth for the third year in a row, helping to ensure Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million students continue to receive free breakfast at school, regardless of income. As a result of universal free breakfast, more students are able to start the day with a nutritious, filling breakfast in the morning to kickstart their day and get their minds ready to learn. In 2024, more than 90 million breakfast meals were served in schools – that’s nearly 10 million more meals than were served the previous school year.

To apply, households receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) need only include the SNAP or TANF case number on their application. Households enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) or Medicaid may qualify for free or reduced-price school meals based on income and should complete a Household Meal Benefit Application. Other households can find more information on the commonwealth’s COMPASS website.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To view the annual income eligibility guidelines that are effective July 1, 2025, click here.