Low-Income Students Deserve Free Lunch

All through grade school till high school, low-income students would line up in the cafeteria of their schools for their lunch. Students at the time did not realize these lunches were free. As adult students in college, we are constantly on the hunt for cheap, fast meal options.

Fresno City College has restaurants on and nearby campus, as well as a cafeteria that you can purchase food at. However, the system we know as children of lining up for our free lunch is just a memory at this point. What you pick up and place on your tray you are calculating how much it will cost instead of anticipating enjoying your lunch break.

“My kids get free lunch at their elementary school and I am grateful, but it would be a great stress reliever if City gave us free lunch,” Michelle Gonzalez a student at FCC said while on her lunch break between classes.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program operates in over 100,000 schools, including residential child care institutions, so why should low-income college students not be on this list?

Many students are guilty of not eating proper meals or even skipping meals. This lack of nutrition could lead to lack in performance in students’ school work. Providing low-income students with free cafeteria lunches could be beneficial to their education as well as balancing diets.

Students already fill out a FAFSA form each year, said Michelle Gonzalez . She mentioned the idea of adding free school lunch qualification forms to the application.

Michelle Gonzalez seemed to be onto something with this idea. It makes sense, seems efficient and the majority of students would take the extra minute or two to fill out a form if it benefits them.

This simple addition to the FAFSA application could relieve a lot of stress from students’ daily college lives, allowing as much focus as possible on education. The Free School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program just like the FAFSA is a federal program and is administered by state agencies, meaning this concept is not far fetched.