School Breakfast Program

The School Breakfast Program (SBP) provides low-cost or free breakfasts to children and typically operates in about 90,000 public and nonprofit private schools (grades pre-kindergarten–12) and residential child care institutions. In fiscal year (FY) 2023, the program provided 2.4 billion breakfasts at a total cost of $5.2 billion.

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USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers the SBP and reimburses participating schools and residential child care institutions for the meals served to students. Any student in a participating school can get an SBP breakfast. Students from households with incomes:

  • At or below 130 percent of the Federal poverty line can receive a free breakfast.
  • Between 130 and 185 percent of the Federal poverty line can receive a reduced-price breakfast.
  • Above 185 percent of the Federal poverty line can receive a low-cost, full-price breakfast.

The onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the second half of FY 2020 disrupted the provision of meals through the program by forcing schools to limit their operations. In response to these disruptions and to meet rising food needs during the pandemic, USDA issued waivers allowing for flexibilities in the implementation of the SBP and expanded the scope and coverage of the program’s Seamless Summer Option (SSO). These waivers expired in June 2022. USDA also created the temporary Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program to reimburse families with children eligible for free or reduced-price school meals for the value of school meals missed due to pandemic-related disruptions to in-person instruction at schools. This program expired at the end of FY 2023. To learn more about pandemic-era changes to the SBP, please see:

One of the waivers that expired in June 2022 allowed schools to serve meals for free to all students, regardless of income. The reintroduction of prices for some students after the waiver expired may have increased hardship at a time when many households were still struggling with the economic consequences of the pandemic and its aftermath, such as inflation. A USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) report found that nearly a third of households with school-age children that paid for school meals in December 2022 reported that doing so made it difficult for them to pay for other usual expenses. To learn more, please see:

A USDA, ERS-sponsored 2009 study found that elementary school-age students were more likely to participate in the SBP when they came from lower income or time-constrained households. Other ERS research found that the share of students receiving a free breakfast had increased over the prior decade. To learn more about participation in SBP, please see:

Meals served through SBP must meet Federal nutrition standards, which were updated in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) to more closely match the Federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Children with access to the SBP are more likely to eat breakfast in the morning, and ERS-sponsored studies found that, by increasing the likelihood that children would eat breakfast, SBP was associated with children having a lower body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight status. Other ERS-sponsored studies found that school meals contributed positively to the diet quality of participating students. To learn more, please see:

Additionally, participation in USDA’s child nutrition programs, including SBP, has been found to reduce food insecurity. To learn more about the impact of SBP on food insecurity, please see:

ERS has also investigated factors associated with a school's ability to serve healthy, appealing breakfasts within its cost constraints. To learn more, please see:

All values and figures are based on data available as of December 2023 and are subject to revision.

For the latest information on updates to the program during the COVID-19 pandemic, see FNS Responds to COVID-19.

Additional studies and information about program eligibility requirements, benefits, and application processes are available from the Food and Nutrition Service Child Nutrition Programs web page.