Students

Eligibility Worker’s Determination

At point of intake or with a continuing case, if the client reports to the EW that he/she is a student, the EW makes an eligibility determination i.e., student’s availability for full-time employment opportunities, as required in GA Policy [215] below and Student Restrictions below.

GA Policy [215] - Availability for and Acceptance of Employment reads as follow: An applicant or recipient who is classified as “able to work” shall remain available for full-time employment and shall accept any bona fide offer of employment.

Student Restrictions - Ineligible Student

Attending school or a training program, is in conflict with policy [GA 215) that requires an individual to be available for full-time employment opportunities. Therefore, unless approved as a part of a VS rehabilitation/employability plan, an applicant/recipient who is classified as employable may NOT be:

A student currently enrolled in a school or training program.
Anticipating enrollment in a school or training program; or
On vacation from a school or training program.

Note: Night enrollment in classes also precludes the availability for employment, and as such, renders the individual to be ineligible.

Exceptions for Employable Students

The following employable persons may be eligible for GA. After clearing eligibility, the client MUST be referred to the Vocational Services program for an assessment by an EC:

Applicants/recipients enrolled in “English as a Second language” (E.S.L.) classes.
Applicants/recipients enrolled in basic education (i.e., GED) classes.
Applicants/recipients 18 years or older enrolled in Adult Education schools to obtain a High School Diploma.
Applicants/recipients enrolled in correspondence schoolcorrespondence schoolCorrespondance courses allow clients the flexibility to be available for a full-time job. These courses provide basic skills that clients would need for a job (ESL,GED,etc.). Physical presence/scheduled participation would not be needed for these courses as they can be done at clients own pace. (Enrollment in correspondence classes is permissible, as long as classes do not conflict with the requirements of Vocational Services and being available for employment opportunities).

NOTE: School verification is required PRIOR to approval. Some classes are not free, the EW must verify how the classes are being paid for - check for Federal grants/loans, scholarships or any other means of paying for the classes.

Reminder: If the student applicant/recipient does not meet the Exceptions listed above, the applicant/recipient will be denied/discontinued. Use the following NOAs “GA-Denial - Not Available for Work/Student” (GA 125) or “GA-Discontinuance - Not Available for Work/Student” (GA 003).

High School Students

Persons who are 18 or 19 years of age, and who are attending high school, including alternative high school on a full-time basis, are exempt from the Public Works Program and job search requirements. They do not need to be referred to Vocational Services and may be eligible for GA if all other eligibility requirements are met.

The individual’s attendance must be verified on the school's letterhead, and it must also contain the name, and the telephone number of the person who completed the statement. The verification must be scanned to Imaging. The definition of full-time basis must be defined by the high school.

Student status must be evaluated during SAR 7 processing, annual reinvestigation, when client reports, or when the annual report DSR61986 is generated, whichever comes first.

Note: EWs must enter the appropriate exemption in CalSAWS. The employability status must be reviewed at the end of the exemption period, if employable with no other exemptions, the client must be registered with the Vocational Services program and must comply with all requirements.

Unemployable Students

Applicants/recipients who are classified as unemployable may be eligible for benefits provided that, their medical verification indicates the applicant/recipient will be unable to work for at least three months. Refer to Unemployable chapter.

Student Income

When Students are approved by Vocational Services the following applies.

Student income is received in lump sum payments or monthly payments. It may be received at the beginning of the school year, a month or two into the school year or even later. Sometimes the student’s award amount is increased after the school term begins.

Income received less often than monthly must be averaged over the period which it is intended to cover.

An unemployable client is not subject to the student restriction, provided that, their medical verification indicates the applicant/recipient will be unable to work for at least three months. Therefore, grants, scholarships, fellowships, veteran’s benefits and loans are sometimes paid directly to the school, not to the student. This money is legally obligated to the student once it is awarded. It must be counted as unearned income and averaged over the “school term”, after subtracting educational expenses.

If otherwise eligible, the client could be potentially eligible for GA depending on the amount of loan and after calculating the monthly amount for the duration of the school term.

GA clients who receive lump sum educational grants, loans, scholarships, fellowships, stipends, and veterans’ benefits are calculated as follows for the duration of the school term. For example calculating a “BOGG of $1500 for fall semester received in one lump payment in October:

$200 Tuition,
$800 books,
$1500 minus $1000 exempt expenses = $500 net student income divided by 10 months in the school year (August and May each count as a full month, even though the term does not extend through the entire month.)
$500 divided by 10 months = $50 a month.

Reminder: Prospectively budget the averaged amount following PB rules.

Monthly student income from the same source is not averaged, only the educational expenses must be averaged and subtracted from the monthly income. Averaged expenses may not be deducted for a period of months longer than they were intended to cover.