The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 101,000 public and non-profit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to more than 30.5 million children each school day in 2008. In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include children through 18 years of age. The Food and Nutrition Service administers the program at the Federal level. At the State level, the National School Lunch Program is usually administered by State education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with school food authorities. This paper discusses the following: (1) how the program works; (2) the nutritional requirements for school lunches; (3) how children may qualify for free and reduced-price meals; (4) how much reimbursement schools get; (5) the other support schools get from USDA; (6) the types of food schools get from USDA; (7) the number of children that have been served over the years; and (8) the cost of the program.