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Department of Food and Nutrition Services > Meal Prices & Payment Procedures

MEAL PRICES & PAYMENT PROCEDURES

Meal Prices at Non-CEP Schools

Meal Prices for School Year 2025–2026

Breakfast for All Schools      $1.30
Elementary Lunch $2.55
Secondary Lunch $2.80

MCPS cafeterias use a computerized Point of Sale (POS) system. Students use either an ID card with a specialized barcode or their student ID number to access their account at mealtime.

Meal Payment Procedures

Please read the full Meal Payment Procedures here.

Parents/guardians are responsible for school cafeteria account balances incurred by their student(s) and MCPS must collect unpaid school cafeteria charges.

  • Payment can be made via cash, check, or money order to the cafeteria manager at any time, or in cash at the time of purchase. There is no transaction fee associated with these payments.
  • Payment can be made through MySchoolBucks. There is a transaction fee to use MySchoolBucks.
  • Incremental payments can be made towards the balance at any time.
  • Within each current school year, no repayment shall be sought for students who accumulate meal charges before qualifying for Free And Reduced-price Meals (FARMS). These negative balances are financially supported by MCPS’s Education Foundation Dine with Dignity Campaign.

 Negative Account Balances

  • Carry Forward: Negative meal account balances of -$10.00 or less carry forward into the next school year.
  • Invoices: Negative meal account balances greater than -$10.00 will be invoiced to parents/guardians and must be paid through MySchoolBucks. DFNS will absorb the transaction fee associated with paying a prior year invoice.

 Positive Account Balances

  • Carry Forward: Positive meal account balances carry forward into the next school year.
  • Students leaving MCPS may transfer positive account balances to another child, request a refund, or donate to support MCPS school nutrition programs. Refund, transfer, and donation requests can be emailed to DFNSHelpDesk@mcpsmd.org.
  • If a refund or transfer is not requested within three years from the end of the school year following graduation or withdrawing from MCPS, the remaining balance will be considered unclaimed property and may be donated to MCPS school nutrition programs.

 Meal Payment Communication

Schools and DFNS will communicate in the following ways to collect payments from families and to reduce the overall debt as much as possible.

MySchoolBucks 

MCPS - My School Bucks

MySchoolBucks

  • MySchoolBucks is an optional service for parents to view recent purchases and make prepayments to a student's school meals account for breakfast, lunch, and à-la-carte items online, using a credit or debit card.
  • MySchoolBucks allows parents to set automatic regularly scheduled payments based on balances, or a time frequency.

How to Enroll in MySchoolBucks

  • Go to www.myschoolbucks.com and click on "Sign up today!"
  • Create an account for yourself, and add your children. You will need the student’s name (exactly as it appears on their report card), school, grade, birth date, and six-digit student ID number.
  • (OPTIONAL) Provide credit or debit card information to set up prepayments or recurring payments. 

Explanation of Fees

  • There is no cost to set up an account and check your child’s spending history or receive low-balance notifications.
  • There is a $2.49 convenience fee for each payment transaction for school meals. All fees are displayed at the time of payment.
  • Neither the school nor the Department of Food and Nutrition Services receives any income from providing this service. Fees are associated with processing online credit and debit card payments.
  • This service is optional.  Funds can continue to be added to student meal accounts at no charge by bringing cash, checks or money orders directly to school cafeteria managers. 

Support

Call the MySchoolBucks toll-free customer support center at 1-855-832-5226 for assistance with enrollment or questions about your account. MySchoolBucks support staff are available Monday to Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Check Acceptance Policy

  • Checks can be provided to the cafeteria manager.
  • Write the student's name, address, phone number, and student ID number on the front of the check and make it payable to the school cafeteria.
  • Checks can include multiple children enrolled in the same school.  Be sure to write each student's name and ID number on the check so that it can be credited properly.
  • Please indicate the deposit amount for each student next to the name. 
  • Post-dated checks are not accepted.
  • Returned checks are subject to recovery for the face value and a fee of $25, through an electronic debit or paper draft to the same account.
  • Payment by check constitutes your acceptance of these terms. If you have questions concerning our check acceptance policy, please call CHECKredi at 1-800-239-1222.

Manage School Cafeteria Account Balances

  • Parents can review their child's school meal purchases and activity using MySchoolBucks.
  • If your child will not return to MCPS, you should request a refund.  You can request a balance transfer if you have another child currently enrolled in an MCPS school.  Email refund and balance transfer requests to DFNSHelpDesk@mcpsmd.org.