To Apply for Free/Reduced Meal for the 2025-2026 school year:
Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) Program
The Free & Reduced Meal (FARM) program helps ensure your children receive healthy breakfasts and lunches at school at no or low cost. This program is designed to support student success by providing the nutritious meals they need to learn and thrive. An eligible family can save over $950 per child during the school year!
Ready to see if your family qualifies? Click on the LINQ logo below to submit an application. Once your application is submitted, you'll receive an eligibility letter from LINQ School Nutrition within 3-5 business days to the email address you provided or the primary guardian email on file.
Online Portal opens August 11, 2025
Automatic Enrollment for Free & Reduced Meals
The Direct Certification process for the 2025-2026 school year is currently on pause, per VDOE.
All students who participated in the Free and Reduced-Price Meal (FARM) program during the 2024-2025 school year are granted a 30-day grace period for 2025-26. Benefits end in October for all 2024-25 benefits.
To ensure uninterrupted benefits, families who have not received a new 2025 eligibility letter by September 30,2025 please complete and submit a new FARM program application.
If your household receives SNAP or TANF benefits, your children may be automatically enrolled in the Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) program.
For students who are Medicaid recipients, automatic enrollment is possible if your household income aligns with the USDA National School Lunch Program (NSLP) guidelines for free or reduced-price meals. For more information about direct certification please click here.
If your student is automatically enrolled in the FARM program, the primary guardian will receive an eligibility letter from LINQ School Nutrition. If you receive the eligibility letter stating you have been directly certified with all your student(s) name please do not submit an application.
Important Note: If your student(s) is not automatically enrolled into the FARM program through their SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid federal benefits, you'll need to submit an application for them to be part of the FARM program for the current school year
Important Program Details
Loudoun County Public Schools administers the Free and Reduced Meal Program in strict adherence to Federal and State regulations. For your student to receive a free or reduced-price meal through the FARM program, they must choose a complete meal. This program covers a complete breakfast and/or lunch. However, it does not cover a la carte items, second meals, or any extra purchases.
These additional items will be charged directly to your student's account. You can find more details on what constitutes a complete meal in the "Complete Meal Components" of our website.
Please remember that applying for the FARM program won't remove any charges that were on your child's account before your application was submitted and approved.
Complete Meal Components
Students eligible for free or reduced meals can receive a free Breakfast Meal and a Lunch Meal per Day. Students under the FARM program need to choose a complete meal for their meal to be free of charge.
A complete lunch meal includes at least three meal components, with one required to be a fruit and/or vegetable.
Components of the meal: Grain + Protein + Fruit + Vegetable + Milk
***** All entrées include both a grain and a protein. If a student selects an entrée, they must also take at least one additional component—either ½ cup of fruit or ½ cup of vegetables—as required by the USDA.
If a student chooses only one or two components, they will be charged the full price for those item(s).
