Student Meal Accounts

Setting up a Student Meal Account allows parents access to an online account to replenish their child's lunch money, set up automatic payments and monitor what food is being bought.

CPS is accepting cash this year, and will continue using SchoolCafe for Student Meal Accounts.

Cincinnati Public Schools uses SchoolCafe for Student Meal Accounts.

Parents can:

Monitor online what their child eats for breakfast and lunch
Pay for students' meals online any time via computer or phone
Schedule automatic payments online based on account balances; no more worrying about money being lost or rushing to find cash to pay for lunches.
Receive email notification of account balances
Pay with credit cards or electronic checks. For this year only, there will not be a $1.00 transaction fee charged to parents.
Maintain one account for multiple students
Parents who do not choose to use a Student Meal Account for payments can still check to see what their children are buying via a 30-day history of food purchases.
Students whose families do not wish to deposit money into Student Meal Accounts may pay cash for meals in the cafeteria line.

How to Create an Online Student Meal Account

SchoolCafe for Student Meal Accounts is simple, fast, convenient and secure.

To get started, go to SchoolCafe.com and click on "Register Now." Select your state and school district. Follow the instructions to set up an account for your family by creating a username and password. Add your children to the family account. A parent account can be linked to several children, but a child can be linked only to one parent. (The best Internet browsers to use for SchoolCafe are Google Chrome or Safari; Explorer does not work well with SchoolCafe.)

Information about registering for a SchoolCafe account.

Depositing Money into Student Meal Accounts

Parents may deposit money into their children's Student Meal Accounts on a weekly, monthly or annual basis. Parents select the amount of each deposit.

Parents may pay using credit cards or electronic checks, via computer or over the phone; it's available any time. Funds will be added to meal accounts electronically for a charge of $1.95 per transaction. Student accounts are updated nightly, so money is available to children quickly.

Parents will receive e-mail notifications of meal account balances or low balances. Automatic payments can be scheduled.

Any unspent money at the end of the school year will be available the following school year. If a student graduates or leaves Cincinnati Public Schools, any remaining money may be transferred to a sibling's account or a refund can be requested.

Low Account Balances

CPS Meal Charge Procedure

Cincinnati Public Schools' Student Dining Services Department is self-supporting. It receives no money from the district’s General Fund budget, tax levies, or property taxes. Student Dining Services is funded only from federal reimbursement and student payments to cover operating expenses and fees. By federal law, Student Dining Services revenues must meet or exceed expenditures. Therefore, unpaid charges and unlimited alternative meals would affect the ability of the Student Dining Services Department to support itself.

Student Dining Services Department meal charge procedure goals are:

To treat all students with dignity in the serving line regarding meal accounts;
To support positive situations with district staff, district business policies, students and parents;
To establish policies that are age appropriate;
To encourage parents to assume responsibility for meal payments and to promote student self-responsibility;
To establish a consistent department procedure regarding meal charges and the collection of charges.

Process

When a student in the lunch line has no lunch money, they will receive a courtesy meal. Courtesy lunch meals will not distinguish a student to be without money.
No student will be able to receive or purchase a la carte items if they do not have money for lunch.
The Student Dining Services Manager will give a letter to the school secretary to be discretely sent home to the parent/guardian the same day of each courtesy meal stating a courtesy meal was given, how much payment is due for the courtesy email, and information on who to contact for assistance to complete a free/reduced meal eligibility application.
A recurring weekly phone call and email from the Student Dining Services Department will also be placed to any parent/guardian informing them of the total money owed.

Collection of Money Owed

No less than twice a year, Student Dining Services will submit all student meal debt to date to Accounts Receivable for posting on student fee records.
After two school years of a student no longer being an active student at Cincinnati Public schools or a student’s graduation from Cincinnati Public Schools, the unpaid meal debt is declared bad debt.
Per USDA regulations, bad debt is reimbursed to the Student Dining Services account from non-federal source funds by the end of each fiscal year.

October 2019

Self-Supporting Funding

The Student Dining Services Fund differs from other district budgets because it is an Enterprise Fund, which is run like a private business. Revenues need to meet or exceed expenditures. Since Student Dining Services is self-supporting, it depends on prompt payment to maintain the services provided to students.

Student Dining Services does not receive any money from the district's General Fund budget, levies, or property taxes. Student Dining Services is funded only from federal reimbursement and student payments.