The FEED Act of 2025 amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to exclude certain income earned by a household member under 21 from SNAP eligibility determinations. The income must be earned by a student participating in career and technical education (CTE) and living with a parent or under parental control, with earnings arising from an apprenticeship, internship, or work-based learning component of the CTE program.
The Secretary would verify the requirements through established procedures, including documentation of enrollment and confirmation of age and household relationship. The goal is to expand access to SNAP for families with student workers while preserving program integrity.
At a Glance
What It Does
Adds a new exclusion to Section 5(d) of the Food and Nutrition Act, removing certain under-21 student incomes from SNAP means-testing. The excluded income must come from CTE-linked apprenticeship, internship, or work-based learning activities and be verified by the Secretary.
Who It Affects
Households with an under-21 student in a career and technical education program, living with a parent or under parental control, whose income is earned through an apprenticeship or similar work-based learning arrangement.
Why It Matters
This change expands SNAP eligibility for a specific, education-linked income stream, reinforcing the link between workforce education and nutrition assistance while introducing new verification requirements for administration.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill targets a narrow slice of student income to improve SNAP access. It creates a new exclusion for income earned by a student under 21 who is in a career and technical education program and living with a parent or someone who has parental control.
The income must come from an apprenticeship, internship, or other work-based learning experience that is part of the CTE program. To make this exclusion valid, the Secretary would need to verify the student’s enrollment in CTE, the student’s age, and the household relationship using specified procedures.
The overall aim is to ensure that qualifying student earnings do not disqualify households from SNAP benefits while tightening the verification path to prevent misuse. The change sits within Section 5(d) and requires updates to how income is counted during eligibility determinations.
This is a targeted policy adjustment rather than a broad reform of the nutrition program. The bill does not alter benefit amounts or general eligibility thresholds beyond this specific exclusion, but it could affect how many households qualify for SNAP when student earnings are present.
Implementation would require agencies to adopt the new verification practices and integrate them into existing eligibility workflows. The net effect should be more predictable eligibility for families with student workers in CTE paths, while introducing new data and documentation requirements for administration.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill adds a new exclusion for income earned by under-21 students in CTE programs.
The exclusion applies only to income from apprenticeship, internship, or work-based learning within CTE.
The Secretary must verify enrollment, age, and household relationship to apply the exclusion.
The new provision is codified as Section 5(d)(20) by amending the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008.
Households with eligible student income may see changes in SNAP eligibility determinations and potential benefit access.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
This section designates the act as the Food Eligibility for Education and Development Act of 2025 (FEED Act of 2025). It sets the nomenclature for the bill but does not alter program parameters beyond naming.
Exclusion for income of students
Section 2 adds a new paragraph (20) to Section 5(d) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. The income of a household member under 21 who is a student in career and technical education and who lives with a parent (or is under parental control) and earns income through an apprenticeship, internship, or work-based learning component of the CTE program is excluded from SNAP eligibility determinations. The Secretary would establish procedures to verify enrollment in CTE, age, and household relationship. This change directly expands the pool of income considered non-countable for purposes of means testing, altering how some student earnings are treated in eligibility calculations.
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Who Benefits
- Under-21 students enrolled in CTE programs who earn income through apprenticeships, internships, or work-based learning, and who live with a parent or at parental oversight—this policy prevents that income from reducing SNAP eligibility.
- Parents or guardians in households with eligible student workers, who may see improved household food security as student earnings cease to count toward SNAP means testing.
- CTE programs and vocational schools may experience fewer barriers for students to participate in work-based learning, supporting workforce development goals.
- SNAP administrators at state and local levels may gain a clearer, more targeted eligibility rule for a defined student population.
- Employers and sponsors of apprenticeship or work-based learning programs could see continued participation costs balanced by reduced administrative complexity in verifying student income eligibility.
Who Bears the Cost
- State SNAP agencies may incur upfront costs to modify eligibility systems and training to implement the new verification procedures.
- Educational institutions may need to corroborate student enrollment and parental relationships, adding data-sharing requirements and potential privacy considerations.
- Federal agencies (through the Secretary) bear the burden of establishing and maintaining verification protocols, including documentation of enrollment and household status.
- Taxpayers could see budgetary implications if expanded SNAP eligibility leads to higher outlays in the nutrition program.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
Expanding SNAP eligibility through a targeted income exclusion while imposing new verification requirements creates a trade-off between broader access to benefits and the administrative burden and privacy implications of new data collection and tracking.
The FEED Act introduces a targeted income exclusion that relies on robust verification to prevent improper determinations. The main tension is balancing expanded access to nutrition assistance for families with student workers against the administrative overhead and potential privacy concerns of additional documentation.
The act presumes that income from apprenticeship-like arrangements associated with CTE is less likely to reflect household means testing in the same way as unrelated earnings; however, it requires the Secretary to develop procedures that confirm enrollment, age, and household relationships, which could entail data collection and sharing practices across education and welfare systems. The result could improve access for some households while increasing administrative demands and the risk of documentation gaps or misinterpretation of parental control status.
Questions remain about how this would interact with other income-counting rules and whether the verification process could lead to inconsistencies across states or over time.
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