California students show appreciation for universal free school meal program

California students are appreciative of universal free school meals and are happy they’ve been implemented, although they have noticed some negative changes due to making school meals free for all, a new study reveals.

The study featured 17 focus groups with 67 middle and high school students from different regions of California and asked them about their experiences with universal free school meals during the 2021-22 school year. The focus groups featured students from varying economic backgrounds, including those who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, those who are just above the cutoff to be eligible for free or reduced-price school meals and those who were well above cutoff to be eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

During the focus groups, students used words such as “thankful,” “grateful,” “helpful,” “good” and “nice” to describe the free meals.  Many also pointed out that the addition of universal free meals has reduced stigma among students and has helped those from families where school meals may be the only meals they have for the day.

“There's a lot of people from where I'm from that's their only meal and if they're forced to pay, then that's getting rid of their only meal,” one student shared during a focus group.

While the students had plenty of positive things to say about the addition of universal free meals, they did note that the food quality has seemingly gone down since schools began to serve meals to all students for free.

“The downside is that now that the lunch is free, it's definitely gotten worse and the quality has gotten worse,”one student said.

They also pointed out that food waste has seemingly gone up, potentially since more students are eating school meals.

“I don't think there's more [waste] now because it's free,” one student shared. “I feel like it's more now because more people are getting it because it's free.”

California is one of a handful of states that that has decided to continue offering universal free meals to students after the expiration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition waivers which allowed schools across the country to feed all kids for free during the height of the pandemic.

States that have implemented universal free school meal programs have seen a jump in school meal participation and school nutrition operators have had to switch up their operations to handle the influx of students coming through the cafeteria line.

See which states currently offer universal free meals via the map below: