Eligibility Overview for HEP and CAMP

Eligibility Overview for HEP and CAMP HEP/CAMP New Directors Meeting 2013 Presented by: Nathan Weiss Office of Migrant Education

Building Program Success

Objectives of this Presentation • To review the basics of program eligibility • To discuss using the Eligibility Non-Regulatory Guidance as a resource • To confidently make accurate eligibility determinations for HEP and CAMP, assuring that your project has the foundation for success.

Organizational Overview of Eligibility LAW Title IV, Section 418A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended by section 408 of the Higher Education Opportunity Act P.L. 110-315 (H.R. 4137) Current REG General HEP and CAMP participation eligibility: Work, MEP, WIA HEP 418A(b)(1): Age, School Attendance, Work, MEP, WIA, Education Status Special HEP Qualifications: Education Status, School Attendance, Age, Need Special CAMP Qualifications: IHE Admission, Not Beyond 1st Year in IHE, Need CAMP 418A (c)(1)(A): Work, MEP, WIA, College or University Attendance Program Definitions: Agricultural Activity, Farmwork, Full-time, IHE, Migrant Farmworker, Seasonal Farmworker

It’s about the WORK! Migrant or Seasonal Farmworker—who primary employment was in farmwork on a temporary or seasonal basis and In last 24 months has 75 days of Farmwork—agricultural activity for wages or personal subsistence on a farm, ranch or similar establishment Agricultural Activity—related to production of cultivation of trees fish farms crops Dairy products harvesting of trees poultry livestock

Words to Live By! 34 CFR §206.3 Who is eligible to participate in a project? • General. To be eligible to participate in a HEP or CAMP project— • A person, or his or her immediate family member, must have spent a minimum of 75 days during the past 24 months as a migrant or seasonal farmworker; or (2) The person must have participated (with respect to HEP within the last 24 months), or be eligible to participate, in programs under 34 CFR part 200, Subpart C (Title I --Migrant Education Program) or 20 CFR part 633 (Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor--Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Programs).

Components of Qualifying WORK • Agricultural Activity • Wages/Personal Subsistence • Place • Duration (75/24) • Employment • Primary • Temporary/Seasonal

HEP Eligibility Factors The Law: Higher Education Act of 1965 – Section 418AAs amended by section 408 of P.L. 110-____ (H.R. 4137) Age School Enrollment School Completion Need Qualifying Work Is/Does the possible participant: • 16 years old or beyond the state’s compulsory age? • not enrolled in school? • not have a high school diploma or equivalent? • have qualifying WORK? Or have an immediate family member with qualifying WORK? • need, as determined by the grantee, the academic and supporting services and financial assistance provided by the project to gain employment or be placed in an IHE or other postsecondary education or training? The Regulations: General HEP participation eligibility; Special HEP Qualifications; Program Definitions

CAMP Eligibility Factors The Law: Higher Education Act of 1965 – Section 418AAs amended by section 408 of P.L. 110-____ (H.R. 4137) Section 401(a) and (b); and 431 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (also knows as the Welfare Reform Act) Qualifying Work Need Status IHE Admission First-year Is/Does the possible participant: • able to be enrolled or admitted for enrollment as a full-time student at the participating IHE? • Have at least a “qualified alien” status? • not beyond the first academic year of a program of study at the IHE, as determined by the standards of the IHE? • have qualifying WORK? Or have an immediate family member with qualifying WORK? • need, as determined by the grantee, the academic and supporting services and financial assistance provided by the project in order to complete an academic program of study at the IHE? The Regulations: General HEP participation eligibility; Special HEP Qualifications; Program Definitions

Using the NRG as a reference • This guidance document is divided into nine sections, labeled as letters A-I. • The sections are as follows: • Recruitment • Eligibility • Determining Need • Farmwork under 34 CFR 206.3(a)(1) • Temporary and Seasonal Employment • Primary Employment • Qualifying work under 34 CFR 206.3(a)(2) • Other Eligibility and Recruitment Issues • Documenting Eligibility

Section A: Recruitment • This section is really more programmatic than policy in nature, more providing points to think about when developing and implementing a recruitment plan than a discussion of requirements in the statute and regulations, although there is some of that. • Two important policy requirements here: 1) 34 CFR 206.20(d)(1) requires each applicant for a HEP or CAMP project to provide an assurance with its application that, if awarded a grant, it will develop and implement a plan for identifying, informing, and recruiting eligible participants who are most in need of the academic and supporting services and financial assistance provided by the project. 2) Changes to recruitment plan or area are most likely allowable, but especially if these are significant, grantees should confer with their program officer to make sure the proposed change is within the project’s scope and objectives (e.g. adding a satellite site 50 miles from home campus probably OK, but going from recruiting locally to in several other states may be questionable.

Section B: Eligibility • This section contains the lists of participant eligibility requirements for HEP and CAMP (B1 and B2). • Useful explanations on establishing the “immediate family” relationship in questions B3-B6. • Question B7 important to note because it clarifies OME’s position on what is “the equivalent of a secondary school diploma for HEP. • Question B9 offers the regulatory definition of “full-time” for CAMP students, and B10-B11 discuss first year completion. However, more information on these requirements will be available in the CAMP APR, and projects should also rely on those definitions when considering these concepts.

Section C: Determining Need • While the statute and regulations do require HEP/CAMP projects to establish that participants need the academic and supporting services and financial assistance provided by the project, they say nothing on specifically what that means. • As such, OME has traditionally left these specifics of making these determination to the projects. • This section does stress, however, the need for the grantee to establish a written policy on making these determinations, so that decisions are consistent and based on clear criteria. • Questions C2 and C3 offer some suggestions on making “need” determinations.

Section D: Farmwork under 34 CFR 206.3(a)(1) This section discusses many of the factors involved in establishing qualifying farmwork for students coming in through the 75 days in 24 months criterion, including: 1) Key definitions from the regulations (e.g. farmwork, seasonal farmworker, migrant farmworker, agricultural activity). 2) Operational definitions for other terms used but not defined in the program regulations (e.g. crop, poultry, livestock, fish farm). 3) Examples of qualifying activities in the various categories, as well as examples of what would not qualify.

Section D (continued) The section also contains some important clarifications on concepts around qualifying work, including: 1) Packing and sorting have long been a somewhat grey area in eligibility determinations. We attempt to clarify in questions D6, D7, and D19. 2) Dairy products are defined in D10. This has caused some confusion in the past, since many things commonly referred to as dairy products are actually processed. 3) Exclusion of slaughtering mentioned in D20. 4) Question D21 distinguishes between when transportation of agricultural products does, and doesn’t, qualify.

Section E: Temporary and Seasonal Employment • Explains the requirement that qualifying work under the 75 days/24 months criterion must be seasonal or temporary in nature, defines these terms, and offers some suggestions on how to make this determination. • Important to note E4 explains that a series of temporary or seasonal jobs for the same employer, that end up being year-round in aggregate, do not qualify as temporary or seasonal.

Section F: Primary Employment • The requirement that the migrant or seasonal farmwork is the worker’s primary employment during the period in which it was done is explained and defined. • Question F2 offers a scenario to highlight that the period of primary employment in migrant or seasonal farmwork does not have to be continuous.

Section G: Qualifying work under 34 CFR 206.3(a)(2) • This section outlines the requirements for participants who qualify through eligibility for or participation in the MEP or NFJP programs. • While the eligibility requirements for the MEP and NFJP are addressed here, this section stresses in questions G4 and G9 that HEP/CAMP staff should leave these eligibility determinations to the staff of those programs and should maintain the documentation of those decisions. • Important distinction in G11 and G12 between the 24 month window for qualifying through MEP or NFJP that applies to HEP, but not to CAMP

Section H: Other Eligibility and Recruitment Issues • Important to highlight the discussion of when eligibility must be re-established for HEP/CAMP students. • Question H5 explains how projects can continue serving student that remain engaged in the project and do not “withdraw” until a GED is attained or the first academic year is completed. • H6 provides cleared language from the Department regarding the civil status requirements for CAMP students.

Section I: Documenting Eligibility • This section further clarifies the documentation requirements for students qualifying through the three means of eligibility (75 days/24 months, MEP, and NFJP). • Again stresses that MEP and NFJP determinations should be made by staff of those programs, and HEP/CAMP projects should maintain documentation of those determinations. • Question I7 explains how to determine the 24 month period for eligibility determinations.

Scenario 1 Read the scenario below, decide what you think the answer would be, and what question you would refer the inquirer to for a reference: Hey there program officer, I have a student that I want to find out if she qualifies for HEP. She is 17, doesn’t have a high school diploma and wants to get one. She lives with her grandfather and he supports her. The grandfather has been working for the last year at a place that sorts and packs tomatoes. The facility is not on a farm, but also is not a part of a processing facility. Would she qualify?

Scenario 1 Sample Response Dear project director, Thank you for your question. First, in this case the grandfather is an “immediate family member” by the definitions in the regulations, so she could qualify through his work. You can refer to questions B4 and B6 in the guidance for more information on qualifying immediate family members. Second, it does appear that the grandfather’s work would be qualifying. Please refer to questions D7 and D19 in the guidance for more information on when sorting and packing may be considered qualifying activities. She appears to be eligible for HEP, then.

Scenario 2 Dear program officer, I have a potential CAMP student that I want to confirm would qualify for the program. His father works at an apple farm driving a truck that takes the picked apples to the packing shed on the farm. The father worked at the farm full-time but seasonal basis from September –November of 2010 and again from September-November of 2011. The student would begin our CAMP program in September of 2012. Would this student qualify?

Scenario 2 Sample Response Dear project director, Thanks for your question. The work that his father is doing does appear to be qualifying seasonal farmwork. Question D21 of the eligibility guidance explains more about when driving a truck would be a qualifying activity. Also, questions D3 and F2 of the guidance explain that the 75 days or more of qualifying work do not need to be continuous. Finally, the qualifying work does all appear to be within 24 months of the student starting the program, as explained in question I7. It seems that, if all other eligibility requirements are met (admission to IHE, full-time status, etc) this student would qualify for CAMP.

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Eligibility Overview for HEP and CAMP