Free/Reduced School lunches

[Joyto5]

Anyone know how long it takes for the paperwork to go through? I'm going to have to pay for kids lunches come Monday and wondering if I should go weekly until the paperwork goes though to find out if we qualify.

[jessiehannan]

DD's didn't take long, less than a week. I *think* that it takes a week or two. I would pay for it on a weekly basis.

[ammtimes3]

Anyone know how long it takes for the paperwork to go through? I'm going to have to pay for kids lunches come Monday and wondering if I should go weekly until the paperwork goes though to find out if we qualify.

Here in the Weber school district it takes about 2 weeks. I would pay for lunches weekly. In our school when you are on free/reduced lunches it also counts for breakfast so your son could still breakfast at school if that was what you wanted. I would check into it since he likes the schools breakfast so much.

[Monkeytoes]

It was approved by the 2nd week.

[Sadalsuud]

It takes less than a week here. Our lunch lady didn't charge us for dd's lunches or breakfasts because she knew we'd qualify for free lunches. I think it helps that our school district is very small and I know/remember all of the teachers at dd's school.

[Joyto5]

Here in the Weber school district it takes about 2 weeks. I would pay for lunches weekly. In our school when you are on free/reduced lunches it also counts for breakfast so your son could still breakfast at school if that was what you wanted. I would check into it since he likes the schools breakfast so much.

That is one of the main reasons I looked into the program. I would like him to be able to do it. It will be .40 per lunch for each child. Without it it's $1.50 for elementary and $1.75 for Jr. High. Breakfast will be .30 instead of .85 I think we can put some extra in his account if he wants breakfast on some days.

We qualify by $334.00 under for a family of 7. (And since we will be 8 in early February.. May as well start now)

DH isn't going to like this. He's not one to take handouts from the government. I look at it as a program we qualify for. Aren't our taxes paying for it anyway? His job is to bring the money home, mine is to try and make it stretch as far as possible! Well.. this falls under my part of the finances.

Am I doing this right? $24 a month for all 3 of my kids to each lunch? I think I'm going to cry! DH is going to have to swallow his pride.

[jessiehannan]

I personally think that if you qualify for help, and if it would make a huge difference in your life, that you should go ahead and use it. From an earlier post, I take that it would quite a chunk of money that you wouldn't be spending on lunches. Your hubby may not like it, but just ell him how big the savings would be, and a couple of things that you could do with the extra money.

[Teresa64]

I was told that qualifying for free/reduced lunches acually helps the school. The more parents qualify the more money the gov. gives the school.

[Joyto5]

I was told that qualifying for free/reduced lunches acually helps the school. The more parents qualify the more money the gov. gives the school.

I think that little tidbit of information will help easy DH's mind. Our schools are so under funded it's not even silly!

[Joyto5]

I personally think that if you qualify for help, and if it would make a huge difference in your life, that you should go ahead and use it. From an earlier post, I take that it would quite a chunk of money that you wouldn't be spending on lunches. Your hubby may not like it, but just ell him how big the savings would be, and a couple of things that you could do with the extra money.

Ohh you can bet I will! I've got a list of things I've been trying to save money up for from Socks for the younger kids to stocking up on diapers for our newest little one. 2 more months and we can start to get on top of things again. The Midwife will be paid off.

[jessiehannan]

I'm sure giving him a list of things that you could do with it will help change his mond. It always works with my DH. :)

[EvilAmy]

If you live in Planet Utah it does help the school when you qualify even when you don't use it. They encourage everyone to at least fill it out and send it in, the school will recieve extra money for every child that qualifies. I actually qualified for reduced due to the fact I had another baby, which was a bit of a nice suprise. I would pay weekly even if it changes to free or reduced that money will be in your account. I sent the kids each 40 (I have one Jr. High and one Elem.)and when I qualified the money has just lasted longer.

It took a week from when I sent the form back to school to the time I was notified but it didn't kick in for another week.

[Joyto5]

Thanks Amy! I will see about getting the money to the kids on Monday. Hopefully, it will kick in before it runs out. Yes, I like the way you say "Planet Utah". In many ways it does feel like a different planet. Some things I like, others I could do without.

[Just_Peachy]

The same here. They want us all to fill out the paper work since it does help the school. The more people that get it the more funding they get.
Our lunch lady had everyone fill them out at open house and would tell us there if they would get free or reduced.

[EvilAmy]

LOL, Actually Hidesome is the one that coined Planet Utah here.

[hidesome]

LOL, Actually Hidesome is the one that coined Planet Utah here.

Listen, if Texas is like a "whole other country", Utah is at least like "a whole other planet". (H)