Community eligibility: free meals for every student

What the provision is

The community eligibility provision, or CEP, is described in § 245.9(f) as an alternative reimbursement option for eligible high-poverty local educational agencies. A district can elect it for all schools, a group of schools or one school. Participating districts must offer free breakfasts and lunches to all children attending those schools for the length of the cycle, up to four successive years, and are reimbursed using claiming percentages instead of counting meals by each child’s eligibility category.

A district may start another four-year cycle after the first, and may recalculate sooner if it chooses. A residential child care institution is excluded from the eligibility test, and a school that cannot feasibly serve both meals may elect CEP with FNS approval.

Who counts as an identified student

The percentage that drives everything is the identified student percentage: identified students divided by enrolled students, times 100. Enrolled students are those attending a participating school with access to at least one meal service a day. Identified students are those with access to a meal who are approved for free meals based on documented receipt of SNAP, TANF or FDPIR benefits, or Medicaid where USDA has approved matching. The definition also includes homeless, migrant, runaway and Head Start children, and foster children certified without an application.

The term does not include students who are categorically eligible based on submitting a free and reduced-price meal application. The percentage can be figured for one school, for a group, or for the whole district if every school takes part, following FNS guidance.

The threshold and the grace year

To qualify, the district, group or school needs an identified student percentage of at least 25 percent as of April 1 of the school year before it starts. In a group, individual schools may fall below 25 percent as long as the group average is at least 25. It must run both the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program for the whole cycle.

A grace year exists for those that slip. If the percentage is under 25 but at least 15 on April 1 of year four, the cycle can continue for a fifth year. If it climbs back to 25 percent on April 1 of the grace year, the State may authorize a new cycle; if not, the school returns to collecting household applications the following year.

The 1.6 multiplier, step by step

Reimbursement is based on a free claiming percentage and a paid claiming percentage applied to the total reimbursable lunches and breakfasts served each month. To get the free percentage, multiply the identified student percentage by 1.6. The result cannot go above 100 percent. The paid percentage is the difference from 100. Reduced-price students are folded into the free percentage, so no separate reduced-price figure exists.

Take a school at 40 percent: 40 times 1.6 is 64 percent free and 36 percent paid. If it served 10,000 reimbursable lunches in a month, 6,400 are claimed at the free rate and 3,600 at the paid rate, even though every student ate at no charge. At 62.5 percent or more the product reaches 100 percent. The 1.6 factor stays fixed for the whole cycle. In years two to four the district can use the higher of the percentage from April 1 of the prior year or the one from before the cycle began. The calculator does this arithmetic for one month.

Costs and applications

If serving everyone at no cost costs more than the federal assistance provides, the district pays the difference from non-federal funds; no extra spending is required if the federal funds cover all operating costs. A CEP school must not collect free and reduced-price applications. A district that wants income data for other purposes must gather it separately and fund it separately, not under the meal programs.

Deadlines and state notices

A district intending to elect CEP for the next year submits documentation of its identified student counts and enrollment as of April 1 to the State agency by June 30. The State reviews it, confirms the 25 percent minimum, participation in both programs and a record of running meals properly based on the most recent administrative review.

By April 15 each year districts send the State a list of schools at or above 25 percent, schools from 15 up to 25 percent, and schools in year four with a percentage in that range, unless the State already collects it. By the same date the State notifies districts about their status, including the estimated cash assistance and how to participate.

What this page does not decide

Whether a particular school should elect CEP depends on its local costs, its State’s data and FNS guidance. The calculator tells you the claiming split the rule produces, not the dollar reimbursement, and not whether your State has additional tools or rules. Your State child nutrition agency can tell you your school’s status.

Sources

• 7 CFR 245.9, Special assistance certification and reimbursement alternatives: eCFR text current through the October 29, 2026 issue date. Read November 2, 2026.

Edition read: 7 CFR 245.9 (eCFR, current through the October 29, 2026 issue date). This page summarizes the rule and does not replace it.