School meal prices vary widely across the country. Prices are set by local school districts, usually with school board oversight. The following table lists typical prices for paid meals during the 2023-24 school year. The data was collected in SNA’s2024 School Nutrition Trends Survey, which included responses from 1,343 SNA member school districts nationwide.
| Lunch | Breakfast | |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary | $2.83 | $1.75 |
| Middle | $3.00 | $1.75 |
| High | $3.05 | $1.80 |
Unpaid Meals and Charge Policies
No one wants a child to go hungry or feel shame—especially those working in school cafeterias. School nutrition professionals work throughout the year to enroll struggling families in the free and reduced price meal program and to make the cafeteria a welcoming, safe space for students.
School meals are as critical to learning as textbooks and teachers. To ensure every student is nourished and ready to learn, SNA advocates for providing all students school meals at no charge. Unfortunately, federal school meal funds only cover the full cost of meals served to students eligible for free meals. Schools must charge all other students to cover food, labor and other costs.
USDA regulationsrequire schools to implement unpaid meal policies clarifying what happens when a student cannot pay for a meal. School policies may limit the number of times students can charge a meal or offer students a free, lower-cost alternate meal, such as a cheese sandwich, fruit and milk. USDA requires schools to work to collect any debt incurred from meal charges and prohibits them from using federal funds to pay off unpaid meal debt. When families can’t or don’t pay for meals served, unpaid meal debt can rapidly accumulate, forcing schools to use education funds to cover losses.
However, in SNA’s2024 School Nutrition Trends Survey, 92.8% of districts that must charge for meals reported that unpaid meal debt is a challenge for their school meal programs, with 58.1% reporting a significant challenge. The overall reported median unpaid meal debt continues to climb compared to prior surveys, with median debt at $5,495 in November 2023 compared to $5,164 the year prior, up from $3,400 at the end of SY 2017-18.
School nutrition professionals work to support families and prevent or minimize student meal charges. Schools assist families completing free and reduced price meal applications, provide online payment and monitoring of account balances, and send low balance notifications through automated phone calls, texts and emails. Many schools also offer financial support through charitable donations.
Other Strategies to Curb Unpaid Meal Charges
Eliminating the reduced price copay
Some low income families, particularly those with multiple school aged children, struggle to afford the daily reduced price copay for school breakfast (30 cents) and lunch (40 cents). Some school districts and states have elected to cover the cost of the reduced price copay to ensure these students receive healthy school meals at no charge. This tactic can reduce unpaid meal charges and increase school meal participation among students from low income families.
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a federal program that allows the nation’s highest poverty schools or districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.
Research shows school meals contribute to the health, attentiveness, behavior and academic success of students. Allowing all students to receive free meals ensures students have equal access to the benefits nutritious school meals while reducing program administrative costs.
