Effects of Subsidized Meals on Student Outcomes: Medicaid Direct Certification and the Community Eligibility Program

• In Event: Expanding Access, Easing Burdens: Interactions Across the Nutrition Safety Net

Abstract

In 2023, nearly 30 million U.S. students received free and reduced-price lunch. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows schools to offer free meals to all students if they have a high share of students already receiving subsidized meals. Students typically qualify for subsided meals by applying for meals at the start of the school year, or through a process called “direct certification” whereby students are automatically enrolled through other public assistance programs (like SNAP or TANF). In 2017–18, Michigan expanded direct certification to include students enrolled in Medicaid. This administrative change nearly doubled the number of students newly identified as eligible for subsidized meals. As a result of this exogenous policy change, many schools became newly eligible for CEP and the financial attractiveness of participation increased (as a higher share of students’ meals are covered by federal funding). We use this policy shock to study the effects of school participation in CEP (school-level universal free meals) on student’s math and reading scores.  

Our study builds upon prior research that considers the roll out of CEP, by leveraging an exogenous policy change that allows us to better address the non-random selection of schools into CEP participation. This paper addresses important policy-relevant questions. First, it allows us to consider the effects of free meals on student outcomes, a growing area of policy interest as many states implement universal meal policies. Second, it contributes to research that considers the effects of reducing administrative burdens – in this case Medicaid direct certification – on meal take-up. As of 2024, 43 states have implemented Medicaid direct certification policies; thus, understanding the implications of this policy change is important. Finally, in a time when significant funding cuts threaten the viability of school meals programs more generally, understanding their impacts is key.

Using state-level administrative education data from the state of Michigan that is matched to Department of Health and Human Services administrative Medicaid data, we investigate the causal impacts of gaining access to subsidized meals through CEP on student achievement. We employ an instrumental variables approach, using the Medicaid direct certification policy as an instrument for take up of CEP. We consider heterogeneity in effects by school level (elementary versus middle) and other characteristics.

Following Medicaid direct certification, the number of schools newly adopting CEP rose from roughly 50 per year to over 340 – a nearly sixfold increase. We find that the newly participating schools served students who were slightly more economically advantaged than those in earlier CEP cohorts. Preliminary analyses show that schools adopting CEP after the Medicaid expansion experienced improvements in academic outcomes, particularly in math. These gains may reflect the direct benefits of increased meal access and indirect effects of universal provision, such as reduced stigma, increased participation, and a more supportive school climate. Because CEP provides free meals to all students in participating schools, it may also reflect benefits to students who are not individually eligible for nutrition assistance but may still face unmet needs.

Authors

• Katherine Michelmore, University of Michigan Ann Arbor
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Natasha Pilkauskas, University of Michigan Ann Arbor
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Brittany Nicole Vasquez, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author