Students who have a meal plan that provides more than 50% of three meals daily are considered residents of an institution and are ineligible for SNAP even if the meal plan is being paid for by the student or a third party. If the meal plan pays for less than 50% then they would be eligible for SNAP if other criteria including student policy are met. For the purposes of figuring out if the student is receiving more than 50% of meals we consider 3 meals a day or 21 a week. If a student has 10 meals or less on their plan they would not be considered institutionalized.
Meal plans vary from student to student so they should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. If the meal plan is a dollar amount instead of a specific number of meals, clients can be asked how many meals they usually buy with their meal plan each week and about how much they spend per week. If it can’t be verified with the school how much a particular meal plan covers, the client’s statement can be used to determine how many meals are covered.
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