Free & Reduced Meals

• All children in households receiving benefits from Food Assistance, or the Family Investment Program (FIP), are eligible for free meals.
• Foster children who are under the legal responsibility of a foster care agency or court are eligible for free meals.
• Children participating in their school’s Head Start program are eligible for free meals.
• Children who meet the definition of homeless, runaway, or migrant are eligible for free meals.
• Children may receive free or reduced-price meals if your household’s income is at or below the limits on the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines below. (Requires submitting an Application for Free and Reduced Price Meals/Milk.)

If your school participates in the Special Milk Program for half-day kindergarteners, your kindergarten child may be eligible for free milk. Children who buy extra milk with a meal or if they eat breakfast or lunch and have an afternoon milk break, are not eligible to receive free milk.

Do the members of your household lack a permanent address? Are you staying together in a shelter, hotel, or another 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, please call the Nutrition Department at 515-987-2719.

Households with foster and non-foster children may choose to include the foster child as a household member, as this may help other children in the household qualify for benefits. If the foster family is not eligible for free or reduced-price meal benefits, that does not prevent a foster child from receiving free meal benefits.

No. Use one Free and Reduced Price School Meals 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.

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 nutrition services immediately at 515-987-2719 as eligibility for free meals is extended to all school-age children in a household.

Yes. All applications will be processed online with the online registration process or at any time during the year. The online application has the same requirements and will ask you for the same information as the paper application.

Yes. Your child’s application is only good for that school year and the first few days of the current school year. You must send in a new application unless the school tells you your child is eligible for the new school year. When the carry-over period ends, unless you are notified that your children will receive free meals, the children must pay full price for school meals.

Children in households participating in WIC may be eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Please complete the application.

Yes. We may also ask you to send written proof of the household income you report. You are not required to provide proof of your application.

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 or reduced-price meals if the household income drops below the income limit, if your household size goes up, or if you start getting Food Assistance, FIP, or other benefits.

You should talk to school officials. You also may ask for a hearing by calling or writing to the Chief Financial Officer, 560 SE University; Waukee, IA 50263; 515-987-5161.

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

List the amount that you normally receive. For example, if you normally make $1,000 each month, but you missed some work last month and only made $900, put down that you made $1,000 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 0 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. There are currently no active Military Housing Projects in Iowa as found on Active Military Housing Projects. Any additional combat pay resulting from deployment is also excluded from income.

If a child has a disability, as determined by a licensed medical professional, and the disability prevents the child from eating the regular school meal, the school will make substitutions prescribed by the licensed medical professional. If a substitution is needed, there will be no extra charge for the meal. Please note, however, that the school is not required to make a substitution for a food allergy unless it meets the definition of disability.