FSC Manual 2-1-97

1622.2 Applying the Student Criteria

Household members enrolled at least one half time in an institution of higher education who are at least age 18 but no older than the age 50 and physically and mentally fit must meet at least one of the criteria listed in this section. (See FSC 1622.) If not, these members will be considered ineligible students.

The student must be employed at least 20 hours per week at any rate of pay and be paid for such employment. If self-employed, the student must actually work for a minimum of 20 hours per week and must receive weekly earnings at least equal to the Federal Minimum Wage multiplied by 20 hours.

Example: John Q. Student is enrolled in U.A.L.R. He works at a grocery store three hours a day Monday through Friday and five hours on Saturday. He is an eligible student.

The student must be approved to participate in a state or federally financed work-study program.

Example: Jane Q. Student is enrolled at U.A.L.R. She is employed in the school library for 10 hours each week under a state funded work-study program. She is an eligible student.

The student must be approved for the work study program at the time of application even though he or she may not actually be working at that time. A student who is approved for work-study at the time of application and anticipates starting a job later in the school year is an eligible student. Eligible student status will begin the month in which the school term begins or the month work study is approved, whichever is later. Once begun, the student's status as an eligible student continues until the end of the month in which the school term ends or it becomes known the student has refused an assignment. A student who has stopped working during the school year because the work study funding has run out would continue to be classified as an eligible student.

Eligible student status will also be granted to full time students participating in the work incentive program under Title IV of the Social Security Act or its Successors.

The student must be responsible for the care of a dependent household member under the age of six. If there are two parents enrolled in school, the individual who provides the majority of the actual care of the child will be considered the eligible student.

Example: Mr. and Mrs. Joe Clay, who are both enrolled at U.A.L.R., have a three-year old child. Neither of the Clays works. They have arranged their class schedule so that one or the other will always be at home with the child. However, during the course of the interview, Mr. and Mrs. Clay agree that Mrs. Clay provides the majority of the actual care for the dependent child. Therefore, Mrs. Clay is an eligible student, but Mr. Clay is not.

NOTE: If it cannot be determined which parent provides the majority of the actual care of the child, determine which parent provides the majority of financial support to the child. If neither the majority of the actual care nor majority of the financial support can be determined, the household may choose which parent will be classified as an eligible student.

Eligible student status will be granted to students who are responsible for the care of a child above the age of 5 but under age 12 when adequate child care is not available to enable the student to attend class and also to work at least 20 hours per week or to participate in a state or federal work study program. A household's statements about the availability of child care will be accepted.

Also, eligible student status will be granted to full time students enrolled in an institution of higher education if that student is single with the responsibility for the care of a dependent child under age 12 regardless of the availability of adequate child care. For the purpose of this provision, a single parent will be an unmarried or divorced parent of a child under age 12.

This provision applies where only one natural, adoptive or stepparent, regardless of marital status, is in the same food stamp household as the child. For example, if one natural parent and a stepparent are living with the child, neither the natural parent nor the stepparent could qualify for the student exemption. A full-time student who is not living with a spouse may claim the single parent exemption if he or she has parental control of a child and no parent (natural, adoptive or step) lives with that child.

Example 1: Ms. Smith is enrolled at a local junior college as a freshman. She has two children ages 8 and 10. She is the payee for an AFDC grant for her two children, but is not included in the grant due to non-cooperation with the Child Support Enforcement Unit. She is not an eligible student.

Example 2: Ms. Jones is enrolled at the same college. She is also a freshman and the payee for her two children ages 9 and 10. She is, however, included in the grant and is, therefore, an eligible student.

Example 3: Ms. Green is enrolled at U.A.P.B. She has two children ages 13 and 14. She has applied for AFDC. She is not currently an eligible student; however, she will be an eligible student if her AFDC application is approved and she is included in the grant.

Eligible student status will be granted to students assigned to or placed in an institution of higher education through or in compliance with the following:

• A program under the Job Training Partnership Act of 1974 (JTPA);

• An Employment and Training (E&T) Program under the Food Stamp Act,

• A program under the Section 236 of the Trade Act of 1974, (the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program administered by ESD); or

• A program operated by a state of local government for the purpose of employment and training as determined to be appropriate by FNC.

• The JOBS Program under Title IV of the Social Security Act.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Each of the criteria is applied separately. Had Ms. Smith in example 1, criteria 5, been working 20 hours per week she would have been an eligible student even though she was not included in the AFDC grant.

An individual's status as an eligible or an ineligible student changes as his or her situation changes. For example, if an individual who was determined to be an ineligible student begins working at least 20 hours per week, then that individual becomes an eligible student and may participate in the Food Stamp Program.

Conversely, that same individual will be considered an ineligible student and removed from the Food Stamp Program if he or she loses that job and does not meet another eligible student criteria.

FSC Manual 8-1-94

1622.3 Educational Income

Educational income is financial assistance received by students from sources such as, but not limited to, the following sources.

1. Programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act.

2. Programs authorized under the bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Student Assistance Programs.

3. Programs authorized under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act.

4. Jobs Training Partnership Act (JTPA)

5. Scholarships or other grants funded through private and publicly funded education programs.

Educational income funded either in whole or in part under Title IV of the Higher Education Act will be excluded entirely as income and as a resource. See FSC 1622.8, Chart 1, for a list of programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act.

Education or training assistance funded either in whole or in part under any BIA Student Assistance Program will be excluded entirely as income and as a resource. See FSC 1622.8, Chart 2, for a list of programs funded as a BIA Student Assistance Program.

Except for certain types of on the job training payments, income received under the Jobs Training Partnership Act (JTPA) is excluded entirely. See FSC 5405 for a full explanation of the treatment of funds received through JTPA.)

Other types of educational income are listed below. (This list is not intended to be all-inclusive.)

1. Educational income authorized under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Educational Act, Section 501, 507 and 701. See FSC 1622.8, Chart 3 for a full list of income paid under the Perkins Act. (This does not apply to Federal Perkins Loans authorized under Part E of Title IV of the Higher Education Act. These loans will be excluded entirely as income and as a resource.)

2. Publicly and privately funded scholarships. This includes scholarships awarded under the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Program.

3. State and federally funded work study programs and fellowships not paid under Title IV.

4. VA student benefits.

This income will be excluded to the extent it meets both the conditions shown below.

First, the income must be awarded to a person enrolled at a recognized institution of post-secondary education, (including any institutions of higher education), at a school for the handicapped, in a vocational education program, or in a program that provides for completion of a secondary school diploma or its equivalent (GED).

Second, the income exclusion will be limited to the portion of the income used for allowable educational costs.

Allowable educational costs are listed below.

• Tuition.

• Mandatory fees (including the rental or purchase of any equipment, materials, and supplies related to the pursuit of the course of study involved).

• Books

• Supplies.

• Transportation.

• Miscellaneous personal expenses (other than living expenses) of the student incidental to attending such school, institution, or program.

• Origination fees and insurance premiums on educational loans.

The exclusion will be based on amounts earmarked as made available by the institution, school, program or other grantor for an allowable educational cost. If educational assistance is not earmarked for specific educational costs, students may verify the amounts actually used from the assistance for allowable educational costs. The actual verified costs will be excluded from the educational assistance.

Should a student's actual allowable educational costs exceed the earmarked amount, the student will be allowed to verify the actual costs. The actual verified costs will be excluded from the educational assistance.

Ordinary living expenses such as room and board, food other than board, rent and personal hygiene items will not be excluded as an allowable educational cost. Amounts actually used by the student from educational income for normal living expenses will not be excluded as an educational cost.

Dependent care will be excludable from student income only to the extent it is earmarked by the institution, school, program or other grantor for that expense. Other dependent care costs paid by eligible students will be deductible as explained in FSC 6400.

Student households are specifically prohibited from receiving a deduction for any portion of an expense that has been an allowable educational cost and excluded from educational income as such.

A reimbursement received by a student will be excluded when both conditions below are met.

Condition A - The assistance is received from a non-federal source (state, local or private) such as, but not limited to, educational grants, scholarships or veteran's programs.

Condition B - The assistance is specifically earmarked by the grantor for educational expenses such as travel or books, but not for living expenses such as food, rent or clothing. (Reimbursements provided for normal living expenses will not be excluded as an allowable educational cost.)

If the reimbursement does not meet both criteria, then no portion may be excluded as a reimbursement. However, all allowable educational costs may be excluded.

FSC Manual 8/01/94

1622.6 Verification of Educational Income

The household that contains the eligible student will be primarily responsible for obtaining verification of all factors relating to educational income and expenses. The student must verify the type of educational income received.

If the income is not to be excluded entirely, the student must also verify the total amount of educational income received and the educational costs. Acceptable sources of verification of educational costs could include school budget sheets, receipts, collateral contacts or other forms of reasonable verification. In some instances, the student may not be able to present identifiable receipts for each and every expense. In this case, the caseworker may accept the student's statement about the expense if the statement seems reasonable.

EXAMPLE: A student uses public transportation to and from school. The costs for transportation may be based on public transportation rate charts.

The Arkansas Association of Student Financial Directors has developed a form called the Memorandum of Information to be used in the verification process. This form will appear under the letterhead of the institution providing the verification, but each institution will provide the same type of information in the same format.

FSC Manual 08/01/94

1622.7 Determining Countable Educational Income

The following steps will be used in determining the amount of educational income to be counted.

STOP HERE IF ALL INCOME HAS BEEN EXCLUDED.
IF NOT, GO TO STEP 4.

Additional Information - When receipt of non-excluded student income is delayed until the middle of the period it is intended to cover, it will not be counted in the budget until actually received. However, it will then be prorated over the entire period of intended use.

When an eligible student leaves an educational institution, the prorated educational income will be handled according to the method of payment used by the educational institution. If the institution dispensed all the educational income at the beginning of the period of intended use, the averaged income would be included in the budget for the remainder of the period. If the income was dispensed on a monthly basis, the averaged income would be dropped from the budget.

FSC Manual 6/01/96

1622.9 Ineligible Students

When an individual is determined to be an ineligible student, that individual may not participate in the Food Stamp Program. Other members of the student's household may participate if they are otherwise eligible.

If the ineligible student is the only household member, the food stamp application will be denied.

If other household members are eligible, the student's name will be listed on the Food Stamp Authorization Document (EMS-233). A code 7 will be entered in the Member Status Field (f. 22). The student will be included when calculating total household members but will not be included when calculating total eligible members.

An ineligible student's income will be handled as explained below.

1. Determine which income the ineligible student received for himself or herself. Exclude this income.

2. Determine if there are any cash payments from the ineligible student's excluded income to the eligible household members. Include these cash payments as income. Do not include cash payments made by the ineligible student to someone outside the home for a household expense. Consider income deposited by an ineligible student into a checking or savings account as income in the month of the deposit when an eligible household member has access to this income.

3. Determine if there is any income received by the ineligible student as the payee for an eligible household member - e.g., child support, TEA, social security. Include this income in the budget.

4. Determine deductible expenses. (See FSC 6400 for dependent care costs, FSC 6500 for medical costs, FSC 6550 for child support costs and FSC 6600 for shelter costs.) 

Do not allow any medical, child support payments, shelter or child care expenses paid in full by the ineligible student from excluded income. Allow any deductible medical, child support payments, shelter or child care expense paid (in full or in part) by the ineligible student from income which is not excluded - e.g., the expense is paid from income received by or on behalf of eligible members. Allow any deductible shelter, child support payments, or child care expense paid in full by eligible household members with cash payments from the ineligible student. When the ineligible student and eligible household members share deductible expenses, allow only the amount contributed towards the expense or actually paid by the eligible members. If such payments or contributions cannot be differentiated, prorate the deductible expense evenly among the individuals actually paying or contributing towards the expense. Allow any of the pro rata shares of expense incurred by the eligible household members as shelter expense.

The ineligible student's resources (except for jointly owned resources) will not be considered available to the eligible household members. Resources owned jointly by ineligible students and eligible household members are considered available to the household in their entirety. See FSC 4910.

FSC Manual 11/01/98

1622.10 Fleeing Felons

Fleeing felons and probation/parole violators are ineligible to participate in the Food Stamp Program. Presence of a fleeing felon or probation/parole violator will not make the entire household ineligible. Anyone identified as a fleeing felon or a probation/parole violator will be treated as an ineligible household member and his or her income and resources will continue to be shown in the food stamp budget. See FSC 1623.2 for instructions.