Families can submit applications and surveys to your district directly through Gaia. Most districts run the standard Free & Reduced Price Meals Application, the form that establishes a student's meal eligibility, alongside additional household forms like Alternate Benefits and Income Surveys that collect information for other purposes without affecting eligibility. A district can also run only an Income Survey and turn the standard application off entirely. Ask your Gaia team to activate or deactivate a form for your district.

This article covers submitting and reviewing these forms. For how eligibility status itself works, see Student Eligibility (Free, Reduced & Paid). For USDA's annual verification process, see USDA Verification.

The standard federal application a household completes to be considered for free or reduced-price meals. Families submit it online; approving or denying it sets the student's eligibility status.

Go to Students > Free & Reduced > Applications. If your district runs more than one form, a selector lets you switch between them; with only one active, you land straight on its inbox. The inbox shows every submitted application, labeled by form type. Open one to review the household's answers. Gaia calculates the eligibility status the household's reported income and size support, shown alongside the application, so you're not doing the math by hand. Then approve, deny, or request additional information. Approving or denying updates the student's eligibility status immediately and adds an entry to their eligibility timeline.

Separate from the Free & Reduced Price Meals Application: a family answers a few questions about household size and income, and the survey never sets or changes a student's meal eligibility. Ask your Gaia team to activate it for your district.

LCFF submissions appear in the same Students > Free & Reduced > Applications inbox as the standard application, labeled by type. Gaia matches named students to your district's records automatically; adjust a match by hand if needed. Because a survey never sets eligibility, there's no approve or deny step, only Mark reviewed once you've looked it over. A matched survey also appears on the student's profile.

Families get a direct link to the application or survey. They list the students it applies to, answer questions about household assistance programs, size, and income range, sign, and submit. No login is required.