Description/Abstract
Over 20 million students nationally attend schools that offer universal free meals (UFM). Advocates argue that UFM increases school meal participation, decreases stigma, and reduces administrative costs for schools. Similarly, Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) distributes breakfast to students after the bell, which increases participation and potentially decreases stigma. However, student participation remains far from universal. This brief summarizes the findings from a study using data from New York City (NYC) public schools between 2011-2014 to analyze the effectiveness of UFM and BIC at increasing student school breakfast and lunch participation in capacity-constrained schools. The authors find that both UFM and BIC increase school meal participation, but UFM is less effective in schools that share buildings with other schools. Conversely, BIC is just as effective in such schools. Neither programs’ effectiveness appears to be compromised in overcrowded schools.
Document Type
Research Brief
Keywords
Administrative burden, school co-location, school meal participation, universal free meals, Breakfast in the Classroom
Disciplines
Education Policy | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Policy
Date
1-21-2025
Language
English
Acknowledgements
We thank the NYC Department of Education Office of School Food for providing data and their support. We also thank Amy Ellen Schwartz for advice and suggestions throughout this project. Opinions expressed are those of the authors alone.
Recommended Citation
Rothbart, Michah W., Han, Jeehee, and Reeves, Zac. (2025). Do Schools Have the Capacity to Provide Free Meals to Every Student? Lerner Center Population Health Research Brief Series. Research Brief #126. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.14305/rt.lerner.2025.2.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
