32% of families struggle to afford school lunches, report finds

A recent study finds that 32% of all households with children in school who paid for school lunches said doing so made things financially difficult for their family during the end of 2022. This percentage remained consistent for the rest of the 2022–2023 school year and slightly increased to 35% in the period from April 16 through May 8, 2023. If you’re feeling the pinch of paying for school lunches amidst the high cost of food and inflation, you’re far from alone. 

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National School Lunch Program offers free and reduced-price meals depending on household income levels. During the pandemic, all meals were provided completely free regardless of household income. But that waiver expired in June 2022, and most schools then went back to charging families for meals. (Though several states made free lunches permanent.) The expiration of free school lunches led to concerns about its impact on families’ ability to pay for other expenses.

The recent USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) study used new data from the Household Pulse Survey (HPS) to gauge the effect of paying for school lunches. Data was collected from Dec. 9, 2002 until May 8, 2023. 

The study revealed variations in financial hardship across households by race and ethnicity during the period from December 9 to 19, 2022.

White households reported a 32% contribution to financial hardship, non-Hispanic households reported about 33%, Black households reported 46%, non-White, non-Black households reported 36%, and Hispanic households reported 39%.

The report authors note that further research is needed to assess the extent to which the burden of paying for school meals contributes to financial hardship as compared to other factors. 

“Without similar data from pre-pandemic years, it is unknown how the share reporting that paying for school meals contributed to their financial hardship in the 2022–2023 school year compares with a typical school year,” a recent USDA statement said. 

But it’s clear that many families continue to face ongoing economic challenges after the pandemic—and reducing the cost or fully subsidizing the cost of school meals for students should be an important factor to consider in policy discussions.