More than two-thirds of U.S. schools say they’re unable to afford the cost of student free lunch—and MAHA’s dietary guidelines may make it worse

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sits at a cafeteria table with schoolchildren. (Credit: Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman—Getty Images)

As more than two-thirds of U.S. public schools say they already can’t sustain free meals for their students, one economist is sounding the alarms and says the Trump administration’s updated dietary guidelines may make these financial troubles even worse.

For the 2023-2024 school year, the government provided 4.8 billion lunches to the nearly 29.4 million students belonging to the National School Lunch Program, at a cost of $17.7 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Part of this sum takes the form of cash reimbursements to schools serving free or reduced-cost food to students, with free lunch costing roughly $4.70 per student per meal.