Use of Upward Bound Applications

A vast majority of Upward Bound programs operate residential camps for their participants. As you know, camps may be reimbursed only for those meals served to income eligible children. Since not all Upward Bound children meet the SFSP free or reduced-price meal eligibility standard, camps may use the Upward Bound application in-lieu of the SFSP meal application to determine the individual child's eligibility.

Enrolled sites (but not residential camps) that exclusively serve Upward Bound participants may be reimbursed at the free rate for all meals served since Upward Bound requires that a minimum of two thirds of its participants qualify as "low income" participants, which exceeds the 50% requirement of the SFSP.

For enrolled sites that serve both Upward Bound and non-Upward Bound participants, applications must be on file for enough children to meet the 50% threshold. For Upward Bound participants, their application may be accepted in-lieu of the traditional SFSP meal application. For non-Upward Bound participants, the traditional SFSP meal application must be collected and reviewed for eligibility. Then, a combination of Upward Bound and SFSP applications may be used to determine the 50% threshold for determining site eligibility. Should 50% of the children be determined eligible, then all meals may be reimbursed.

Yes. We acknowledge the fact that Upward Bound applications are taken on a multi-year basis; however, we believe the potential differences in income eligibility between years is negligible and these differences will have a minimal impact on the overall Program.

We are not aware of any restrictions under Upward Bound legislation that would prohibit a State or Federal reviewer from reviewing Upward Bound applications. However, if an Upward Bound program does not believe it can allow a State reviewer to confirm the information contained in their application, then it will need to continue using the SFSP meal application, as in the past.

This guidance allows an Upward Bound camp to use the Upward Bound application as a replacement for the SFSP meal application. There is no change in the method of reviewing applications, that is, States need to review each Upward Bound application in the same way they would review an SFSP meal application to determine that it was properly classified as approved or denied.

No. All SFSP documentation and record retention requirements remain in effect.