Summer EBT 2025 Opens June 18, 2025
Summer EBT is a federally funded program that provides a one-time benefit of $120 to purchase food for each eligible child in a household. A household will receive a Common Benefits Identification (CBIC) card for each eligible child with the benefit encoded. Households will have 122 days from the date of issuance to spend the $120 benefit.
NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) has identified children who will automatically be eligible to receive Summer EBT benefits without submitting an application. Children who are not automatically eligible can submit an application.
There are no immigration criteria; children qualify regardless of immigration status, including those without documentation. There are no resource requirements.
An application can be filed online or printed and mailed.
Automatically Eligible, No Need to Submit an Application
Children between the ages of 6 and 16 years old in receipt of SNAP, Cash Assistance, or Medicaid are automatically eligible. There is no requirement that this group attend a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) this includes children who may be home schooled or attend a school that does not participate in the NSLP.
Children who are NOT between the ages of 6 and 16 years may be automatically eligible if they:
Are in receipt of SNAP, Cash Assistance, or Medicaid, AND
Are enrolled in a school that participates in the NSLP.
o This includes children who participate or are directly certified for free meals if they are homeless, a migrant, runaway, foster, young child enrolled in Head Start or an eligible pre-kindergarten program or through an income application (have been certified for free meals, income below 185% FPL).
Not Automatically Eligible, Must Submit an Application
Children who are NOT in receipt of SNAP, Cash Assistance, or Medicaid may be eligible if:
They are attending a school that participates in the NSLP, AND
Their household income is below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
Although all NYC public school students (and certain counties in NYS) have access to free school lunch via the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), CEP is NOT in itself an eligibility factor for Summer EBT; therefore the 185% FPL guidelines are used as an eligibility guideline for Summer EBT.
Application
The online application is available in English and Spanish at https://summerebt.ny.gov/en-US/.
Paper applications are available in 12 languages at https://otda.ny.gov/programs/applications/#summer-ebt and must be mailed to the Office for Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA).
The deadline for applying is September 4, 2025.
Benefits Plus Online subscribers can find information on Summer EBT here: https://bplc.cssny.org/pbm/food-programs/nys-summer-ebt/overview.
