USDA to ban online transaction fees on school lunch payments for low-income families

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 352 points – USDA to ban online transaction fees on school lunch payments for low-income families
nbcnews.com

Summary

A new USDA rule will prohibit schools from charging transaction fees to low-income families depositing funds in student lunch accounts, effective in the 2027-2028 school year.

This change benefits students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, sparing families extra costs when adding money to accounts.

Advocates and lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, support the ban, calling it a victory against “greedy” fees.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack praised the move, stating that USDA aims to eliminate fees for all families regardless of income level.

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Hang on, does this say "schools charge transaction fees when you pay for lunch online"??? As in, a parent puts $20 on their child's tab for lunch and the school taxes it so the kid only gets $18? That's wild.

Yep! $2.25 for the "convenience" every transaction on the shady new app my school district picked this year. I'm supposed to be grateful they moved to an app this year that processes the payments quickly instead of the 1 school day lag the last app had.

Could you use cash?

Yes and no? You can't buy the food at school with cash. So just opting out of the system isn't possible.

Cash has to be taken to the cafeteria before lunch to be entered into the system so the kids need a special pass to run down and take care of it. Mine are really bad at remembering this and at the start of the year when every family is trying to put cash in, there can be massive delays.

The most interesting boggle about the new system is they didn't include any way to transfer lunch balance between kids in the family and apparently that was a big issue for a lot of families. Seems that many people would give the cash deposit to the oldest kid and then use the old system to redistribute the money to the younger kids in the family later.

Dang sounds like such a pain, I remember in elementary just going down the lunch line and at the end would be a old lady on a stool and little cash box you paid, if not she would write you up and send you home with a note that you owed money haha. In high school we had the free lunch line in a building and the outside had some containers that sold food like chicken sandwiches or cup noodles for cash.

Well that just sounds unprofitable. No what we need to do is complicate the whole process where we'll get transaction fees and late dues.

What are you some type of commie.

Welcome to America. First time?

Well, I'm not American.

In Australia you either bring your own lunch or you bring cash for the school shop. If you have no lunch then the school feeds you from the shop and charges the parents later.

Yes, but you also don't live in a country that you think was directly blessed by Jesus.

What are you talking about? He's literally right here blessing it every day, are you blind?

For Jesus so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son...

To break character real quick: I apologize for just making you vomit in your own mouth.

Correct!

Thankfully my kids school will also just load it up from cash, so we drop a $20 in when needed. I make lunch every day, but if she is still hungry or wants a milk its there, and every Friday we let her get a dessert.

There are also fees to pay online for school trips, the book store, etc.

One of those things where it was completely unacceptable to ever exist.

I cannot believe that's even a thing. It's bad enough they take my tax dollars and don't feed the kids with it, but an online charge on top?! Bullshit

Yet again, grateful to live in California, where school breakfast and lunches are free to all students. Hands down, best use of my taxes (public libraries are a close #2).