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Millions of children losing SNAP benefits face risk to free school meal eligibility

Confirmed1 source · Sep 3, 2026

The expiration of pandemic-era food assistance is threatening to sever a critical link between SNAP enrollment and automatic access to free school breakfasts and lunches.

Millions of children losing SNAP benefits face risk to free school meal eligibility
Image via NPR

What happened

Millions of children are losing SNAP (food stamp) benefits, and experts are observing that this loss is beginning to break the connection between SNAP enrollment and eligibility for free school meals. Food stamps have a direct link to free breakfast and lunch at school.

Context

SNAP benefits have served as a gateway to other essential resources for low-income families, particularly free school meals. The link between these programs is breaking, which threatens a critical nutritional safety net for vulnerable populations during both school days and outside school hours.