Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) - Purpose, Eligibility Criteria, and Structure

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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Chrisetta E. Green
American Military University
Professor Spulick

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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Introduction
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which was formerly known as
Food Stamp Program is a food-based program that offers nutrition assistance to low-income
households(Collins & Klerman, 2017). The program supports people by increasing their
purchasing power of obtaining more nutritious diets. SNAP is administered by the United States
Department of Agriculture through Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) as approved by the Food
and Nutrition Act of 2008(US Department of Agriculture, 2016). SNAP is the country’s first line
of defense against food insecurities and it is eligible to all individuals who are at 130% or below
the poverty level(US Department of Agriculture, 2016). This study intends to evaluate the
purpose of SNAP, the data the program collects, program data interpretation and analysis, SNAP
structure, the stakeholders involved, program benefits, possible program changes and the current
status of the program. In addition, the study will provide a list of possible recommendation that
can be used to improve SNAP in future.
SNAP Purpose and Worth
The major purpose establishment of SNAP in the United States was to provide the first line
of defense against hunger(J L Pomeranz & Chriqui, 2015). On average, SNAP helps more than
45 million Americans who have income below average line. The program helps families and
households with low income to purchase high nutritious food for each month using a limited
budget(Leung, Musicus, Willett, & Rimm, 2017). Eating healthier foods enables families and
communities to have a healthy life thus they are able to perform their daily actives(Caswell et al.,
2013). This, in turn, helps to promote the economy of the country as people are productive and

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have less nutrition-related diseases. SNAP take about half of the budget of the United States
Department of Agriculture. In 2017, SNAP total budget amounted to almost 70$ billion(Steven
Garasky, Mbwana, Romualdo, Tenaglio, & Roy, 2016). All members of the household get an
average of 126 dollars a month or about 4.5 dollars a day from the program(Steven Garasky et
al., 2016). The benefit formula of the program assumes that families and households spend about
30% of their income on food only.
SNAP Data collection and Analysis (Eligibility Criteria)
SNAP eligibility criteria are based on the guidelines provided by the Food and Nutrition Act
2008. The Act has provided standards that guide the eligibility of households and families(US
Department of Agriculture, 2016). There are basic components of data that the government uses
to recruit participants for the program(Taillie & Poti, 2017). These include the household and
household categories, income eligibility standards, and other non-financial standards. The
households’ income is the most important determinant of eligibility(Mabli & Worthington,
2014). Most of the household income must meet two of the most income eligibility criteria which
include net and gross income(Taillie & Poti, 2017). For instance, in 2016, the following data was
to be collected from each household that applied for SNAP.
 All households must have an income that is at 130% or below the approved federal
poverty line.
 The net income for each house was to be below 2,628 dollars monthly income.
 All households that had an elderly person were not subjected to gross monthly
income.

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 All houses that were having a net income below 100% of the poverty line as defined
by federal governments were included.
In addition to income eligibility, the net income was calculated using the SNAP
eligibility criteria by subtracting the deductions from the monthly gross income(Caswell et al.,
2013). The deductions depended on the following data; a number of the family members, the
state the household is, depended on care, medical expenses, earned income, child support, and
excess shelter provided(Collins & Klerman, 2016). The restricted nonfinancial eligibility data
include people who are institutionalized, unauthorized immigrants, drug felons, nonimmigrants
visitors and fleeing felons. The lawful nonfinancial individuals data included the following;
individual living for more than five years in the U.S , children under 18 years, blind and disabled
persons, non- citizen who were dependents of the service or armed forces, lawful residents with
qualified working history, all individuals over 65 years and refugees(Kim & Shaefer, 2015). In
addition, all individuals are permitted to SNAP if they are mentally unfit, physically unfit,
individuals employed over 30 hours a week, people caring for a depended child under 6 years,
persons receiving unemployment compensations and patients in alcohol or drug addiction
program(Jennifer, Pomeranz & Chriqui, 2015).
Other data collected by SNAP include household resources. The household resources
must be the limit of 2,250 dollars in a normal household or 3,250 dollars in a family that has an
elderly person(Kim & Shaefer, 2015). Countable resources include cash, materials that can be
easily be converted to liquid money, and other liquid items(Sayers, 2014). There are various
resources that are not counted, This includes education saving accounts, family houses, business
property, and retirement cash. All cars are counted as resources except those that have prices of
less than 1500 dollars or are used for business(Sayers, 2014). All data obtained is analyzed in

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accordance with the eligibility criteria and only houses that fit the eligibility criteria are
permitted for participation.
SNAP program usually support various States to perform studies regarding the feasibility
of operating SNAP in the regions. A pilot study is usually done before SNAP start operating in a
given area. Only up to 30.5 million dollars can be used for a SNAP pilot study(Chang,
Chatterjee, & Kim, 2017). There are various aspects of SNAP that are usually assessed during
the pilot studies. These include households’ eligibility criteria and benefits, SNAP
implementation systems, how benefits will be issued using the electronic benefit transfer,
program integrity, implementation work requirements and administrative cost that will be used.
SNAP usually uses contemporary data collection methods during their pilot studies(Mabli &
Ohls, 2015). This include meeting with administrators and agents, performing a literature review
and data analysis using the already available information, reviewing SNAP procedural manuals,
policies , costs and plans, sites visits, and use of qualitative interviews with the participants,
including all other stakeholders like food retailers, employers, community organisations and
farmers market operators(Nguyen, Shuval, Njike, & Katz, 2014). There are various analytic
methods that are usually used during SNAP pilot studies. These include system change analysis,
comparing SNAP with other food programs, stakeholder analysis to identify barriers to
implementations of the program and its benefits, alternative assessment to check program
modification models, development of a simulation model to check the estimated level of
participation and establishment of an administrative cost model(Racine, Delmelle, Major, &
Solomon, 2018). A pilot study forms the basis for any SNAP program in a given region.
SNAP Structure

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SNAP is part of extensive federal nutritious and food programs under the Department of
Agriculture monitored by Food and Nutrition Service as provided by the law. The program is
unique in both structure and size. First, the program is the largest nutrition program in the U.S in
both participation and also in size(USDA, 2012). In, 2015 there were about 42 .1 million
individuals participating in the program(Steven Garasky et al., 2016). The cost of the program
was about 68 billion dollars. Comparing, SNAP and another nutrition program like the National
School Lunch Program, in which serve 30 million students who are roughly 44% of the total
schools only spend 12.2 billion dollars (USDA, 2012). Secondly, the eligibility criteria for the
SNAP program are based on assets and income limits unlike other government
programs(Nguyen et al., 2014). Other than that, all individuals applying for the program must be
of low incomes and occupying a household. The eligibility guidelines require a house to have
specific requirements for it to be allowed for participation.
To check eligibility, SNAP has developed an online pre-screening tool where individuals
feeling to participate can test themselves(Thorndike & Sunstein, 2017). The FNS SNAP pre-
screening eligibility tool contains the general information where benefits are requirement are
determined but does not act as an application form. FNS has established local offices where
individuals can go and apply for SNAP. All application forms vary by State the person is living
in. The local administrative offices are headed by the State Agency. If a person is not able to
contact the State Agency, FNS has established a way in which an authorized representative can
act on your behalf. Once the individual submits an application, the local Agency usually sends a
notice after 30 days. During those 30 days, an applicant will need to pass eligibility interview
and give a proof that the data provided is collect.