The New Hampshire Department of Education is estimating a 4.5% drop in the number of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch next year. The decline comes as the Trump administration has made it harder for their parents to easily enroll in the program – even if they qualify financially.
Families in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, automatically qualify for free and reduced-price lunch at school. This fiscal year, just over 40,550 students were in the program, according to the state Department of Education’s website. The agency is estimating enrollment to drop by 4.50% in the next fiscal year, to almost 38,770 students.
Meanwhile, overall student enrollment is predicted to decline by just 2.1%.
“It's worrying that there's a downturn in the free and reduced [lunch] numbers,” said Laura Milliken, executive director at NH Hunger Solutions, which advocates on behalf of people receiving assistance. “And I think it's very likely that is part of the effect of the SNAP reductions.”
The federal government began restricting eligibility for SNAP in July 2025.
Non-citizens, including refugees, asylees, and humanitarian parolees who are in the country legally, are no longer eligible. There have also been significant changes to work requirements, which requires “able-bodied” recipients to work, volunteer, or be in a training program at least 80 hours a month.
Veterans, homeless individuals, and former foster youths up to age 24 are no longer exempt from work requirements. Under the prior rules, parents were exempted if their children were between ages 15 and 18. Now it’s between the ages of 14 and 18. And under the new rules parents must work until they are 64, a decade longer than the old rules required.
Jessica Williams, a senior policy analyst with the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, said SNAP enrollment has declined across the country.
Williams said data from the state Department of Health and Human Services shows SNAP enrollment for adults and children in New Hampshire has declined by 3.4% since June 2025. Among only children, it’s down 4.1%, Williams said.
That drop in enrollment results in a drop in state aid to school districts. Schools receive an additional $2,400 for each student in the free and reduced price lunch program to help cover the cost of educating children from low-income families.
“We're worried that there will be people who are genuinely trying to meet all the rules to do the work but whose families will suffer because of the changes in SNAP,” Milliken said.
She said it’s possible some families will still be eligible for free and reduced price lunch based on their income even if they are ineligible to receive SNAP because they cannot meet the work requirements. Those families can apply for free and reduced price lunch through their local school.
Milliken is concerned that some families may not realize they have to apply if they’ve always been automatically enrolled through SNAP.
Some schools make it easier than others for families to apply. The Oyster River School District, for example, posts the application on its website as well as step-by-step directions for completing it. Milliken is concerned for the families that don’t know they need to apply.
“Families who are eligible for SNAP and free and reduced meals are often working multiple jobs and if they have kids, they have enough to do,” Milliken said.
