Only students approved for free or reduced meals by meal application or that attended a CEP school are eligible for P-EBT. Students that were approved for free or reduced meals via meal application or attended a CEP school in the 2022-23 school year, will be paid benefits in late July 2023. Students that are approved for free or reduced meals via meal application between the end of school and August 15th, will be paid P-EBT benefits in late September 2023.
Cards will be mailed to the address in PowerSchool for each student. If that address is not current, please correct it now at the school level to expedite the mailing of P-EBT cards.
There is not an application for P-EBT. Eligibility for P-EBT is solely based on free and reduced meal applications and attending a CEP school. For meal applications, please reach out to the school/school district the student attends.
Parents or guardians can check the status of 2023 summer payments after July 15th here, https://benefitsportal.dss.sc.gov/#/pebt/benefitinquiry. DSS will not make any further changes or payments for past school years or summers. If the address in PowerSchool is not corrected prior to cards being issued and a new card is needed or an address changed, please call 1-800-554-5268. If that does not work, please email DSS at [email protected].
Address Update and Requesting Replacement P-EBT Card:
- Dial 1-800-554-5268 (Customer Service)
- Select Option 1 for English or Option 2 for Spanish
- The system will ask caller to enter the card#, they will not enter anything, after a few seconds it will take them to the Retry Menu
- From this menu they should Press 4
- The system will then take them to the get SSN/DOB/PIN validation
- It will ask them to enter their SSN; here they should make up a social security number.
- After that it will ask them to enter their DOB as MM/DD/YYYY, here they should make up a DOB, for example 02/12/2012
- After this it will ask them to enter their PIN, as they do not have a PIN, they will enter 1234
- It will take a few seconds and then it will say that we could not validate your information
- It will again ask them to enter their SSN, enter same made up SSN used earlier, it will say the number you entered, if this is correct Press 1, they should press 1
- After that it will ask them to enter DOB as MM/DD/YYYY, enter the made up DOB, for example 02122012, it will say you entered February 12 2012, if this is correct Press 1, they should Press 1
- After this it will again ask them to enter their PIN, they will again enter 1234, the system will take a few seconds and say that we could not validate your information, please wait while we transfer you to a representative
- Here they will be transferred to a CSR where they can tell them that they never received their PEBT card and would like a replacement card to be sent to them.
- The representative will ask them for their DOB, SSN, they give 000000000 for SSN and Childs DOB. CSR will ask them to verify their address, if the address is incorrect they should give the new address to the CSR, which the CSR will update and will replace the card. The CSR will tell them that they will get their card in 7 to 10 business days.
For questions regard P-EBT for children younger than school age please direct questions to the DSS website or the DSS email box at [email protected].
https://dss.sc.gov/; https://dss.sc.gov/media/3000/pebt-childcare-faq_9-17-21.pdf
For South Carolina residents any question that is not answered above, please email SCDE at, [email protected].