To ensure program integrity, school districts must sample household applications certified for free or reduced-price meals, contact the households, and verify eligibility. This process (known as household verification) can be burdensome for both school officials and households. Direct verification uses information from certain other means-tested programs to verify eligibility without contacting applicants. Potential benefits include: less burden for households, less work for school officials, and fewer students with school meal benefits terminated because of nonresponse to verification requests.
This report compares spending patterns across consumption categories for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households, eligible nonparticipating households, and ineligible households with incomes between 130 and 300 percent of poverty. It also estimates how small increases in income are allocated across consumption categories, analyzes how SNAP eligibility might change under an expenditure-based poverty threshold, and explores the use of savings and credit across the three participation and eligibility groups.
This report explores the feasibility and potential cost of enabling EBT systems to differentiate between program-eligible and ineligible items. It considers the cost of upgrading systems in stores that now have scanners and the cost of installing new systems in stores without scanners. The report also examines the potential for the purchase of ineligible items even with the introduction of new technological controls.
This report inventories technological approaches to portable on-line authorization and reports on their technical and cost feasibility, advantages/disadvantages and potential impacts.