The second eligibility standard for participation in the WIC program—income level—also allows for much subjectivity. In theory, to qualify for WIC services, a family must have an income of no more than 185% of the current federal poverty level. While this definition seems straight forward, Besharov and Germanis describe many instances in which WIC participants with incomes above this level still received services. This could be due to the rapid growth of WIC in the past 30 years. Many WIC staff members have reported that because of the rise in funding, local income testing procedures have become less thorough (2000).