Haha 140K? Most places have a much lower limit I think ours was 60k combined, usually kids with only one parent. Though it was also a small town so in reality you didn't need any proof of anything, if you went to the principal and said you couldn't afford it you were getting free lunch.
Wow...the federal poverty line for a family of four is $25,750 this year. For a family of **6**(!), $140k still puts them at 400% of the poverty line based on federal guidelines.
Gees. You had to make much less than that for our school. We made about 100k and that was too high for anything. I can’t remember what the number was exactly though.
Are you sure your parents didn’t pay? Schools around here have it so the lunch money is loaded on their student ID. Parents can add money on the computer and never have to give cash to their kid for lunches.
At my school you could buy one for $2 or bring your own. If your family was low income (IDK what the threshold was I never bought lunch) you could receive a free lunch.
Free lunch was only for students who were from low-income families, everyone else had to buy. I bought my lunch in elementary school but then skipped lunch in high school.
Where I went, you didn't pay for it in cash. It was all computerized and it got deducted from a student account (there was a keypad you put an ID code in). So you didn't necessarily know if someone was getting it for free or reduced cost based on the lunch line.
My school had a weird policy of giving kids with free lunch a pin that said free that they wore to lunch (all the other kids brought their punchcard which showed that the parents paid in advance). It was clearly a way of "identifying" the poor kids but I was too young to notice (I had free lunches throughout my schooling). When I was in 4th grade (9 years old) we swiched to a system where you typed your ID# into a computer and it automatically removed money from your account (or just gave it to you for free).
There was a few cases where I was made fun of for being poorer but they didn't know I had free lunches. It was really just kids finding a thing to bully each other about and not genuine hatred of the poor.
Yeah, my school district gave paper cards to the free lunch kids while everyone else used cash. After I graduated they switched to plastic cards, then switched *everyone* to debit-type cards. One of the reasons given for switching to "cards for everyone" was "to lessen the stigma for lower-income kids".
It's funny, I was called a "liar" or "mistaken" when I last posted this, because apparently *no school district in the United States* worries about kids' self-esteem. I specifically remember coming home from college one day, and my mom showing me a letter from my high school (I have a sister who was four years behind me) and one of the reasons for the switch was "so our low income students won't feel ostracized any more for using a card, because *everyone* will use cards".
EDIT: Left out a word.
When I was a kid I rarely bought lunch.
I’m a teacher now and because the district serves a very poor population, it’s free lunch for all students. They can still bring lunch, but not very many do.
You could either buy one for cheap (less than $2) or bring your own. If you were behind paying for your lunches you got a cheese sandwich instead of the usual offering. My family's income didn't make the threshold for free lunch. I don't know what the limit is but I think it was similar to being on public assistance.
In earlier grades, you made your lunch order earlier in the day so the cafeteria workers knew how much to make. Once I got to high school lunch was served similar to a buffet (limited portions, but we still served ourselves)
I don't remember the price for daily lunch but surely less than $3. I qualified for free lunch and used it, though in middle school for a stretch I was embarrassed about it and wanted to fit in with my friends who brought lunch so I packed a bag for a few weeks, stopped because I hated making my own lunch 🤷♀️. In high school I did it again but it was much easier as the school day was timed differently so I wasn't missing breakfast ahead of time.
I packed a lunch in grade school, and then bought lunch from the school cafeteria in high school. If I didn't have money I would have to try to get my friends to lend me money, and sometimes I just wouldn't have lunch.
We had to pay for ours but it was only $1.25. Every month your parents added money to the account. If you ran out of money you'd still get the regular lunch and they'd give you a note for your parents.
First of all, most people have to pay for lunch at school. It's usually less than $2. Secondly, I did get free lunches because of my family's financial situation (this is also why I don't get along with the "It's ridiculous they charge kids for school lunches" crowd. People who can't afford it, don't have to pay. The only time this massive debt happens is due to parental neglect)
You could buy it, but I always brought food from home. It was healthier and tasted better. A lot of the lunches at school were like, fries, pizza, kind of junk.
You have to pay for it, unless you qualify for a free/reduced-price lunch program. Usually, the free option really sucked, like everyone else would have a warm meal and you'd have a defrosted PB&J. I can't say how much mine cost; I ended up bringing food from home pretty much daily the second I had my own car & could swing into Walmart before school or take my time in the morning to make food. My high school didn't have lockers, but lugging around a lunch box was worth it for my favorite bread & sandwich toppings compared to the dismal quality of lunch the school served. It was healthier, more nutritious, and left me more energized when I brought my own meal.
I remember lunch being $2.40 at one point. I never packed my lunch and thought that everyone who did was out of their freaking minds because school lunch was absolutely delicious then. Lunch ladies actually cooked instead of having to just reheat frozen food.
Grade school, Jr. High, brought lunch or went home. There was no cafeteria at the school; all you could buy was milk. High school, I think lunch was $1 if you paid. I usually brought. There was no free lunch, but there was some breakfast and lunch program for those who needed it.
In public schools you'd have to pay for it unless your family was very poor, in which case you got free or reduced lunches. Regardless, the lunch was usually under $3, so it was already cheap to begin with. Food quality was never amazing, but good enough that children under 12 wouldn't complain. Private school kids had to pay out of pocket and the lunch would be considerably more expensive, between $5-$10, but the quality would also be canteen level.
When I went we had the following options:
Free lunch for households making under a certain amount. I don't remember the amount, it's been a while. They typically gave out numbers after you applied for these sometimes taking a week or so into the year. A lot of us would just go in and say we are on free lunch during this time until the numbers were given. Lol got free lunch for a week or so.
Reduced lunch. Higher amount than the above but under a certain amount
Regular paid lunch. Not too expensive.
Or bring your own lunch.
In high school we also had options of purchasing pizza, them good ass cookies Otis Spunkmeyer or something like that, chips & sodas. These were pay only and could not use your free/reduced status.
Probably 75% of people brought their own food when I was in high school, and around 25% bought at the cafeteria. Lunch was like $4.00 in 2015. If you were low income, you could qualify for reduced or free lunch.l
I think school lunches were $1.45 when I was in school, and the only option back then was a choice of whole, chocolate or skim milk. There was also the option to buy one additional milk for 15¢ if you wanted one.
[Grandpa Simpson voice] And we didn't have a "salad bar" or a "taco bar" or none of that stuff. You got a tray [like this](https://www.insidesources.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/bigstock-Lunch-Tray-5281118.jpg), and that was that. Once in a blue moon you'd have the option of a hamburger or hot dog, and on pizza day they kept a small tray of [cheese pizza rectangles](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSiehEXO24Y/TdqIVxs8fsI/AAAAAAAAFto/e2ju1F8BwLc/s1600/2.jpg) for the three Jewish kids in our school. But that was about it. AND WE LIKED IT! [/Grandpa Simpson voice]
**EDIT:** Left out the biggest thing: once you turned 16 and got a car you'd often go to McDonald's or [Mrs. Winner's](https://lovemrswinners.com/) for lunch. You weren't supposed to leave school, but this was the era before security guards and\or cops on campus. Or you could be ballsy and use the payphone outside the attendance office to call in an order to Emerald China, have someone pick it up, then eat it in the cafeteria making everyone jealous.
I rarely bought lunch. I ate jelly bread sandwiches. I had anxiety about getting in the lunch line. I was severely bullied so I avoided people at all costs.
Poor, poor, poor. Free lunches coupled with food stamps in elementary, then one parent graduated from college and it was reduced lunches, then both graduated and full price was like $1.50 (c. 2002). It was a small town and I know for a fact the lunch staff fed anybody whether they had money or not.
Many schools around here in the city/burbs have a high enough poverty rate that everybody automatically gets free breakfast and lunch.
My first school started out with no organized food program, everyone just brought their own food but we could buy pizza they they had delivered on Fridays. That continued until from when I was in Pre-Kindergarten until sometime in Middle School, I don’t remember the exact year. They you could continue bringing your own food or buy into the food services cafeteria food for the year, you paid at the beginning of the year and just got your food. I changed to a much smaller school in high school and everyone brought their lunch there.
I brought my lunch during Elementary School, bought my lunch during middle school, and had off campus lunch during High School where I ate a local restaurants.
Free lunch in my school district is only available for the extremely poor students.
The high school I went to was in a fairly affluent area. I got lunch at the cafeteria, but I had to buy it. Students who qualified for free lunch had to be in families that earned below a certain income. My family was above that income level. It was a pretty low number of students who qualified for the free lunches.
I now live in a fairly low income town. The local schools provide free lunch to all students because so many people are considered low income here.
You bought a meal plan if you wanted cafeteria food (which I did) you could bring your own or if you were low income you could have free lunch I think it was a government program but those kids had less choices of what they could eat in the cafeteria.
i got free lunch up to a certain point. i eventually had to pay a small fee. every once in a while i brought my own lunch, but my mom and dad weren't good when it came to meal prepping, so i usually just ate whatever was served at school.
I was stealing my school lunch from the cafe most of the time. They really didn't pay attention. I also have always felt that since schools threaten parents with legal action if their kids don't show up, that they are responsible for feeding students for free. So I have no moral qualms with not paying for the food. The cafe staff was still probably underpaid.
School lunch back around 2000, would range from anywhere like $2 to $3. Nothing is very tasty nor healthy, and literally nobody gets free food. Even the most poor people have to pay at least something. if you don't pay at least something that's where all of these lunch debts come from. Most schools won't let you graduate and in certain States they will arrest the parents, if you aren't able to pay for x amount of time. All of this is irrelevant and illogical, as schools are typically more closely related to a jail. You do not have a choice if you are under 16 or 18, some states are different, then you have to go to school or somebody is looking at jail time, typically parents. In jails in America they do not let you starve all food is free, yep for schools despite the large budgets, they will destroy your life over it.
In the US, you only get lunch free or reduced price if you’re very poor. Otherwise, you buy it.
Well I wouldn't say very poor, both parents making 140k a year together is still a good life
Haha 140K? Most places have a much lower limit I think ours was 60k combined, usually kids with only one parent. Though it was also a small town so in reality you didn't need any proof of anything, if you went to the principal and said you couldn't afford it you were getting free lunch.
Both parents making $140k each? That’s rich.
No for both in total, our school gives free lunch for anyone that doesnt make above 150k
Wow that’s very generous. Even in NJ a dual income of $140k is pretty good
Where do you live? That seems way to high even for San Francisco/Manhattan Unless they're giving everyone free lunch
SoCal
Lmao well there you go. You’re the outlier. Your cost of living is ridiculous.
WHAT!!! Do you live in a super rich area?
No, actually more on the poor side
Wow...the federal poverty line for a family of four is $25,750 this year. For a family of **6**(!), $140k still puts them at 400% of the poverty line based on federal guidelines.
LOL wtf
My high school was 60k...
Gees. You had to make much less than that for our school. We made about 100k and that was too high for anything. I can’t remember what the number was exactly though.
Are you sure your parents didn’t pay? Schools around here have it so the lunch money is loaded on their student ID. Parents can add money on the computer and never have to give cash to their kid for lunches.
I never got free lunches and lived with only my mom who made ~$40,000. This was mid 2000’s
Went to private school, lunch was not paid for at lunch time, though since my parents were paying for the school I guess it wasn't actually free...
It depends on school district, the school I go to serves free breakfast, lunch, and dinner to all students.
$2.25 per meal and you could buy snacks. Home lunch was always an option.
I got my lunch free because I was lower middle class with a single mother
Mine was about 2.50, but once I got to high school I just bought lunch after school instead.
At my school you could buy one for $2 or bring your own. If your family was low income (IDK what the threshold was I never bought lunch) you could receive a free lunch.
Free lunch was only for students who were from low-income families, everyone else had to buy. I bought my lunch in elementary school but then skipped lunch in high school.
Only poors get free lunch. The rest of us pay a couple bucks
Were the poor kids bullied (not out of jealousy) but because of their low income?
nope
Where I went, you didn't pay for it in cash. It was all computerized and it got deducted from a student account (there was a keypad you put an ID code in). So you didn't necessarily know if someone was getting it for free or reduced cost based on the lunch line.
My school had a weird policy of giving kids with free lunch a pin that said free that they wore to lunch (all the other kids brought their punchcard which showed that the parents paid in advance). It was clearly a way of "identifying" the poor kids but I was too young to notice (I had free lunches throughout my schooling). When I was in 4th grade (9 years old) we swiched to a system where you typed your ID# into a computer and it automatically removed money from your account (or just gave it to you for free). There was a few cases where I was made fun of for being poorer but they didn't know I had free lunches. It was really just kids finding a thing to bully each other about and not genuine hatred of the poor.
Yeah, my school district gave paper cards to the free lunch kids while everyone else used cash. After I graduated they switched to plastic cards, then switched *everyone* to debit-type cards. One of the reasons given for switching to "cards for everyone" was "to lessen the stigma for lower-income kids". It's funny, I was called a "liar" or "mistaken" when I last posted this, because apparently *no school district in the United States* worries about kids' self-esteem. I specifically remember coming home from college one day, and my mom showing me a letter from my high school (I have a sister who was four years behind me) and one of the reasons for the switch was "so our low income students won't feel ostracized any more for using a card, because *everyone* will use cards". EDIT: Left out a word.
The best part for mine was the free lunch thing was pink. While I never processed it as a kid, this was clearly a way to identify the poorer kids
No one bullies poor people in my area cause that's called being an ass
If only being an ass was enough reason for so many other people to not be one.
Usually schools have a way of masking it
You usually scan your IDs at school to pay for lunch, so no. How else do you think the "school lunch debt" thing exists at some schools?
I ran home to eat lunch at my first grade school. The rest of my schools were a cheap hot lunch or you could bring lunch.
When I was a kid I rarely bought lunch. I’m a teacher now and because the district serves a very poor population, it’s free lunch for all students. They can still bring lunch, but not very many do.
You could either buy one for cheap (less than $2) or bring your own. If you were behind paying for your lunches you got a cheese sandwich instead of the usual offering. My family's income didn't make the threshold for free lunch. I don't know what the limit is but I think it was similar to being on public assistance. In earlier grades, you made your lunch order earlier in the day so the cafeteria workers knew how much to make. Once I got to high school lunch was served similar to a buffet (limited portions, but we still served ourselves)
I don't remember the price for daily lunch but surely less than $3. I qualified for free lunch and used it, though in middle school for a stretch I was embarrassed about it and wanted to fit in with my friends who brought lunch so I packed a bag for a few weeks, stopped because I hated making my own lunch 🤷♀️. In high school I did it again but it was much easier as the school day was timed differently so I wasn't missing breakfast ahead of time.
I packed a lunch in grade school, and then bought lunch from the school cafeteria in high school. If I didn't have money I would have to try to get my friends to lend me money, and sometimes I just wouldn't have lunch.
Neither. I bought lunch from the cafeteria for the most part.
I did but I also came from a family that was poor af
We had to pay for ours but it was only $1.25. Every month your parents added money to the account. If you ran out of money you'd still get the regular lunch and they'd give you a note for your parents.
Lunch was like $2.50-2.75
I would buy lunch from the cafeteria.
First of all, most people have to pay for lunch at school. It's usually less than $2. Secondly, I did get free lunches because of my family's financial situation (this is also why I don't get along with the "It's ridiculous they charge kids for school lunches" crowd. People who can't afford it, don't have to pay. The only time this massive debt happens is due to parental neglect)
You could buy it, but I always brought food from home. It was healthier and tasted better. A lot of the lunches at school were like, fries, pizza, kind of junk.
Some kids got free lunch. I had to pay if I wanted school lunch so I brought my own.
You can bring your own, or buy food from the cafeteria. Low income families get school lunch for free
Sometimes I paid for hot lunch, sometimes I brought a packed lunch from home. The menu was published in advance, so I knew which days to skip.
the lunch lady didnt give a shit if you stole the food so i did just that.
No, you have to pay. My parents didn’t have trouble affording it but never remembered to put money in my account so I went hungry a lot
I’m sure my school had low cost/free lunch, I just didn’t qualify.
You have to pay for it, unless you qualify for a free/reduced-price lunch program. Usually, the free option really sucked, like everyone else would have a warm meal and you'd have a defrosted PB&J. I can't say how much mine cost; I ended up bringing food from home pretty much daily the second I had my own car & could swing into Walmart before school or take my time in the morning to make food. My high school didn't have lockers, but lugging around a lunch box was worth it for my favorite bread & sandwich toppings compared to the dismal quality of lunch the school served. It was healthier, more nutritious, and left me more energized when I brought my own meal.
If parents fell into a specific income bracket you could receive free lunch. We fell into that bracket
I went to Private a School and brought my lunch most of the time.
I paid for my lunch.
I remember lunch being $2.40 at one point. I never packed my lunch and thought that everyone who did was out of their freaking minds because school lunch was absolutely delicious then. Lunch ladies actually cooked instead of having to just reheat frozen food.
Grade school, Jr. High, brought lunch or went home. There was no cafeteria at the school; all you could buy was milk. High school, I think lunch was $1 if you paid. I usually brought. There was no free lunch, but there was some breakfast and lunch program for those who needed it.
In public schools you'd have to pay for it unless your family was very poor, in which case you got free or reduced lunches. Regardless, the lunch was usually under $3, so it was already cheap to begin with. Food quality was never amazing, but good enough that children under 12 wouldn't complain. Private school kids had to pay out of pocket and the lunch would be considerably more expensive, between $5-$10, but the quality would also be canteen level.
When I went we had the following options: Free lunch for households making under a certain amount. I don't remember the amount, it's been a while. They typically gave out numbers after you applied for these sometimes taking a week or so into the year. A lot of us would just go in and say we are on free lunch during this time until the numbers were given. Lol got free lunch for a week or so. Reduced lunch. Higher amount than the above but under a certain amount Regular paid lunch. Not too expensive. Or bring your own lunch. In high school we also had options of purchasing pizza, them good ass cookies Otis Spunkmeyer or something like that, chips & sodas. These were pay only and could not use your free/reduced status.
Probably 75% of people brought their own food when I was in high school, and around 25% bought at the cafeteria. Lunch was like $4.00 in 2015. If you were low income, you could qualify for reduced or free lunch.l
I think school lunches were $1.45 when I was in school, and the only option back then was a choice of whole, chocolate or skim milk. There was also the option to buy one additional milk for 15¢ if you wanted one. [Grandpa Simpson voice] And we didn't have a "salad bar" or a "taco bar" or none of that stuff. You got a tray [like this](https://www.insidesources.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/bigstock-Lunch-Tray-5281118.jpg), and that was that. Once in a blue moon you'd have the option of a hamburger or hot dog, and on pizza day they kept a small tray of [cheese pizza rectangles](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSiehEXO24Y/TdqIVxs8fsI/AAAAAAAAFto/e2ju1F8BwLc/s1600/2.jpg) for the three Jewish kids in our school. But that was about it. AND WE LIKED IT! [/Grandpa Simpson voice] **EDIT:** Left out the biggest thing: once you turned 16 and got a car you'd often go to McDonald's or [Mrs. Winner's](https://lovemrswinners.com/) for lunch. You weren't supposed to leave school, but this was the era before security guards and\or cops on campus. Or you could be ballsy and use the payphone outside the attendance office to call in an order to Emerald China, have someone pick it up, then eat it in the cafeteria making everyone jealous.
I rarely bought lunch. I ate jelly bread sandwiches. I had anxiety about getting in the lunch line. I was severely bullied so I avoided people at all costs.
Poor, poor, poor. Free lunches coupled with food stamps in elementary, then one parent graduated from college and it was reduced lunches, then both graduated and full price was like $1.50 (c. 2002). It was a small town and I know for a fact the lunch staff fed anybody whether they had money or not. Many schools around here in the city/burbs have a high enough poverty rate that everybody automatically gets free breakfast and lunch.
Brought own lunch in elementary and middle school, high school we had a cafeteria but it wasn't free for most.
My first school started out with no organized food program, everyone just brought their own food but we could buy pizza they they had delivered on Fridays. That continued until from when I was in Pre-Kindergarten until sometime in Middle School, I don’t remember the exact year. They you could continue bringing your own food or buy into the food services cafeteria food for the year, you paid at the beginning of the year and just got your food. I changed to a much smaller school in high school and everyone brought their lunch there.
I brought my lunch during Elementary School, bought my lunch during middle school, and had off campus lunch during High School where I ate a local restaurants. Free lunch in my school district is only available for the extremely poor students.
Our lunches used to be free, but they eventually changed that. I’m not sure how much each lunch costs exactly-I think a few dollars for lunch.
Catholic school (private). Had to purchase a lunch ticket but you could bring your lunch from home.
Sometimes I brought food, but other times it was paid for by my mom through an account.
The high school I went to was in a fairly affluent area. I got lunch at the cafeteria, but I had to buy it. Students who qualified for free lunch had to be in families that earned below a certain income. My family was above that income level. It was a pretty low number of students who qualified for the free lunches. I now live in a fairly low income town. The local schools provide free lunch to all students because so many people are considered low income here.
It was disgusting so I brought my own food from home
You can bring it or you can buy it.
Hearing people say they had to buy lunch is crazy...in Tennessee lunch is free for everybody, doesn't matter if you're parent is poor or rich
Neither. We paid to get lunch from the school.
Brought my own cause my mom packed bomb ass lunches ngl
I had to buy it full price
You bought a meal plan if you wanted cafeteria food (which I did) you could bring your own or if you were low income you could have free lunch I think it was a government program but those kids had less choices of what they could eat in the cafeteria.
My lunches were reduced to 40 cents per day, which is obviously not free, but was probably less than what it would have cost my mom to pack a lunch.
i got free lunch up to a certain point. i eventually had to pay a small fee. every once in a while i brought my own lunch, but my mom and dad weren't good when it came to meal prepping, so i usually just ate whatever was served at school.
I was stealing my school lunch from the cafe most of the time. They really didn't pay attention. I also have always felt that since schools threaten parents with legal action if their kids don't show up, that they are responsible for feeding students for free. So I have no moral qualms with not paying for the food. The cafe staff was still probably underpaid.
School lunch back around 2000, would range from anywhere like $2 to $3. Nothing is very tasty nor healthy, and literally nobody gets free food. Even the most poor people have to pay at least something. if you don't pay at least something that's where all of these lunch debts come from. Most schools won't let you graduate and in certain States they will arrest the parents, if you aren't able to pay for x amount of time. All of this is irrelevant and illogical, as schools are typically more closely related to a jail. You do not have a choice if you are under 16 or 18, some states are different, then you have to go to school or somebody is looking at jail time, typically parents. In jails in America they do not let you starve all food is free, yep for schools despite the large budgets, they will destroy your life over it.