SUN Bucks (Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer [EBT])

SUN Bucks Resources

• https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sunbucks.asp

• https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/dc/edcs.asp

• https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/calpadsupdflash307.asp

• https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/calpadsupdflash301.asp

• https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/calpadsupdflash297b.asp

• https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/calpadsupdflash292.asp

• https://www.cdss.ca.gov/sun-bucks

Student Eligibility

Streamline Certified: Streamline certified students automatically receive SUN Bucks benefits if they are school-age (ages 6 – 18 at any point during the eligibility period) and regardless whether they are enrolled in a school participating in a federal meals program. Streamline certified students do not have to apply their LEAs and are automatically eligible for SUN Bucks benefits if they are:

• Participating in CalFresh, CalWORKs, or Medi-Cal at or below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL); or

• Categorically eligible based on their homeless, migrant, or foster records in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS).

Non-Streamline Certified: Non-streamline certified students may be eligible for 2025 SUN Bucks benefits if they are ages 0 – 22 (inclusive) and were enrolled in a school participating in a federal meals program during the eligibility period. Eligible students must have:

• A Universal Benefits Application (UBA) or National School Lunch Program (NSLP) application that has been approved by the LEA; or

• Benefits extended by the LEA based on the direct certification of another member of the student’s household.

Note: Not all children enrolled in Medi-Cal are automatically eligible for SUN Bucks. Children who receive Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment, or the Adoption Assistance Program may be enrolled in Medi-Cal but they may not meet the 185 percent of the FPL threshold to be eligible for SUN Bucks. Children that fall into this category may need to submit an NSLP meal application or a UBA with their LEA to determine their eligibility for SUN Bucks.

SUN Bucks Application Requirement

The new Universal Benefits Application (UBA) has been added to the SchoolWise Online Registration forms library. Our forms library also includes an NSLP application form and several alternate income forms (AIF). Beginning in School Year 2025-2026, an AIF can no longer be used to determine SUN Bucks eligibility.

To determine eligibility for SUN Bucks benefits, a NSLP application or a Universal Benefits Application must be submitted for students aged 0-22, enrolled in a school participating in a federal meals program who are not streamline certified. The LEA must evaluate applications submitted within a school year (July 1 – June 30), based on the Income Eligibility Guidelines (IEG) for that school year. The type of application required is dependent upon their school of attendance’s school meal participation.

Supplemental SUN Bucks Collection (SSBC) Reporting Requirements

SchoolWise has added the capability to track Supplemental SUN Bucks Collection (SSBC) data in the Desktop App Student Accounting form and export SSBC data. Click here for SchoolWise SSBC export instructions.

CALPADS does not collect all the information necessary to identify whether non-streamline certified students are eligible for SUN Bucks benefits. Therefore, LEAs must upload the relevant data in the Supplemental SUN Bucks Collection (SSBC) to the Educational Data Collection System (EDCS) for these students to be identified as eligible for SUN Bucks benefits.

LEAs participating in federal meal programs will need to submit the following records to the Education Data Collection System (EDCS), in the Supplemental SUN Bucks Collection (SSBC), for most of their students who are non-streamline certified:

• The student’s Statewide Student Identifier (SSID)

• The student’s Local Student Identifier; and

• At least one of the following:

• The date the LEA-approved UBA was submitted to the LEA; or

• The date the LEA-approved NSLP application was submitted to the LEA; or

• The date the LEA extended benefits to the student based on the direct certification (for CalFresh, CalWORKs, Medi-Cal at or below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level) of another member of the student’s household; or

• For students ages 0 – 5 and 19 – 22 (inclusive), the date the student was directly certified through a local matching process conducted between the LEA and their county welfare department. Note: LEAs should not submit any students directly certified through CALPADS

Note: The dates for the SSBC records imported to EDCS must be within the 2025 SUN Bucks eligibility period, July 1, 2024 – September 2, 2025; any dates outside of this range will trigger a fatal error.