Meal Accounts
Every actively enrolled student in a school in the Hernando County School District has a student account. Their account number is their student identification number.
We are currently operating under CEP, which means that every student has access to the no-cost meals that are provided by the Food and Nutrition Services department, regardless of their eligibility status. Because of this, student accounts are not “required” in order to eat meals.
However, in order to make A La Carte purchases, a student must have a positive balance on their account, or have cash in hand at the time of sale to make purchases. Students are not allowed to purchase items on credit, and may not bring their account balance negative.
Student account balances are maintained through the Linq Connect Portal.
After creation, your Linq Connect Portal account allows you to manage several areas of your student’s account, including:
- Viewing school-specific menus
- Viewing purchase histories per person
- Linking multiple student and/or staff account(s)
- Set low-balance alerts
- Set spending limits per person
- Transfer funds between family members
- Add funds via:
- A manual, one-time payment
- Recurring, auto-replenishment payments (AutoPay)
- Recurring, cyclical payments (AutoPay)
Please Note:
While there is wording on the main Linq Connect website pages that indicate the ability to fill out applications for Free or Reduced meals, this option is disabled for students and families in the Hernando County School District. We operate under CEP and therefore are required to NOT accept applications for free or reduced meals. For more information about CEP, see the Meals and Pricing page.
How to login
Access to the Linq Connect Portal is done via the link below, or through the Linq Connect app in both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Once there, if you have already created an account, choose the Login option. If not, follow the links and instructions to create a new "Parent" account and link your students and/or staff members to your account.
Experiencing Issues?
If you are having issues connecting your students to your parent account, please verify the information you are entering matches what is on file with the School District’s information system (Skyward).
Common issues are:
- Use of shortened names (entering “Will” instead of “William”)
- Incorrect spacing or hyphenation (“-“) of last names
- Incorrect birthdates.
The information that is on file in Skyward can be verified at your child’s enrolled school by speaking to the person who registers or maintains student data at each site, or via the Skyward parent login link provided by the schools to parents. The kitchen manager and the Food and Nutrition Office has no access to change or update this information if it is incorrect, and must be changed via the school.
Still having trouble? Check the Linq Frequently Asked Questions document below for helpful information:
LINQ Frquently asked questions
If you are sure the information is correct and are still having issues, you can reach out to Linq directly for assistance. They can be reached at (916) 467-4700. Alternatively, you can email them at Support@LinqConnect.com
Abandoned Student Accounts
As per School Board policy po8500, unclaimed meal accounts are considered abandoned 15 days after a student has graduated or withdrawn from the School District. If no refund request has been received within 15 days of a student's withdrawal, the balance may be receipted into the school lunch fund. To ensure your student's account will not be considered abandoned, please submit a refund request by visiting the Refund Request page and filling out the form. As always, you can view your student's current account balance by logging in to your parent account in the Linq Connect Portal or in the Linq Connect app.