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

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This panel brings together four papers examining how expansions or restrictions in access to the social safety net, particularly nutrition assistance, affect program participation, food insecurity, and educational and economic outcomes. As policymakers reevaluate eligibility rules and work requirements, understanding the consequences of policy design across interconnected programs is critical. Our panel focuses the nutrition safety net and adjacent systems, highlighting how easing access to benefits affects diverse populations – school-aged children, college students, and low-income working adults.

The first two papers focus on the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a federal policy that allows schools with high shares of students who are eligible for free or reduced price lunch to serve free meals to all students in the school.

Michelmore, Pilkauskas and Vasquez exploit a 2017–18 policy change that made Medicaid a direct certification program for school meals (reducing administrative burdens to access meals). This exogenous shock substantially increased the share of directly certified students in many schools, dramatically increasing the take up of CEP. Using a two-stage least squares approach with administrative data, the authors show that CEP participation leads to improved academic outcomes. CEP provides free meals to all students in participating schools; thus, it also benefits students who are not individually eligible for nutrition assistance but may still face unmet needs, generating positive spillover effects for these students.

Ruffini, Öztürk and Pekgün examine how expansions in school-provided nutrition affect use of charitable food aid. Drawing on nationwide administrative data from Feeding America, the authors find that a 10 percent increase in access to free school meals leads to a 0.9–1.4 percent decrease in food bank usage, with the strongest effects in areas previously underserved by federal nutrition programs. These findings highlight the spillover effects of government assistance on community-based support systems, and the potential for CEP to reduce strain on the charitable sector.

The second two papers shift focus to SNAP access and work requirements, assessing how changes in policy and employment volatility affect food assistance participation and downstream outcomes.

Lohner examines the effects of a new CalFresh (SNAP) exemption that allows students to meet the program’s work requirement through academic enrollment. Using a staggered difference-in-differences approach, the author finds that the policy increased CalFresh participation and improved academic outcomes, especially among community college students. The study underscores how administrative barriers and eligibility design can shape food insecurity and educational attainment in higher education.

Finally, Ananat, Gassman-Pines and Howard, consider how unstable work hours in the service sector affects eligibility for safety net programs with work requirements. Using survey and administrative data, the authors show that volatile scheduling leads many low-income parents to fall short of SNAP and Medicaid work thresholds, even while averaging substantial work hours over the year. The findings raise critical questions about the compatibility of rigid eligibility rules with the realities of low-wage work.

Together, these papers underscore how access to food assistance programs can generate positive spillovers across systems and populations, reaching beyond formal eligibility and reinforcing the broader safety net.

Policy Area

• Poverty and Income Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• Education

Chair

• Natasha Pilkauskas, University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Discussants

• Donald Moynihan, University of Michigan

• Brooks Bowden, University of Pennsylvania

Organizer

• Natasha Pilkauskas, University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Individual Presentations

• Effects of Subsidized Meals on Student Outcomes: Medicaid Direct Certification and the Community Eligibility Program - Non-Presenting Co-Author: Katherine Michelmore, University of Michigan Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Natasha Pilkauskas, University of Michigan Ann Arbor; Presenting Author: Brittany Nicole Vasquez, University of Pennsylvania

• In-kind Government Assistance and Crowd-out of Charitable Services: Evidence from Free School Meals - Presenting Author: Krista Ruffini, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Orgul D. Ozturk, University of South Carolina; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Pelin Ozluk, Georgia State University

• Broadening the Safety Net: The Impact of Increased CalFresh Access for California College Students - Presenting Author: Gabrielle Lohner, University of California, Berkeley

• Schedule Volatility in Service Work: Implications for Federal Family Income-Support Policies - Presenting Author: Anna Gassman-Pines, Duke University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat, Barnard College; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Olivia K Howard, Brookings Institution