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Non-Regulatory Guidance on HEP/CAMP Eligibility

Non-Regulatory Guidance on HEP/CAMP Eligibility. Presented by Nathan Weiss Office of Migrant Education. Organization of Presentation. Overview of the guidance (purpose and general organization)

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Non-Regulatory Guidance on HEP/CAMP Eligibility

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  1. Non-Regulatory Guidance on HEP/CAMP Eligibility Presented by Nathan Weiss Office of Migrant Education 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  2. Organization of Presentation • Overview of the guidance (purpose and general organization) • Section by section discussion of the general topics involved, highlighting key issues in each section • Practice scenarios – Using the guidance as a resource for answering eligibility questions. • Q&A in time remaining 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  3. Purpose of Non-Regulatory Guidance • Non-Regulatory Guidance is intended to clarify the provisions in the statute and regulations, and to offer information on the Department’s interpretations of them • This guidance does not impose requirements beyond those in the Higher Education Act (HEA) and other Federal statutes and regulations that apply to HEP/CAMP 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  4. Organization of the Document • 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 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  5. Section A: Recruitment • This section is really more programmatic than policy in nature • However, two important policy requirements are discussed here: 1) Question A1 discusses 34 CFR 206.20(d)(1) which 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. 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  6. 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 • Note that B5 defines “spouse” in a very non-prescriptive way • 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 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  7. 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 the specifics of making these determinations 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. 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  8. 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) Suggested 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 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  9. 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 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  10. Section E: Temporary and Seasonal Employment • Explains the requirement that qualifying work under 75 days/24 months must be seasonal or temporary in nature, defines these terms, and offers some suggestions on how to make these determinations • Note that 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. 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  11. Section F: Primary Employment • The requirement that the migrant or seasonal farmwork be the worker’s primary employment during the period in which that work 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 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  12. 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 between the 24 month window for qualifying through MEP or NFJP that applies to HEP, but not to CAMP, is discussed in in G11 and G12 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  13. 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 students 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 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  14. 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 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  15. Scenario 1 Read the scenario below from a HEP/CAMP recruiter and decide what you think the answer would be, and what questions you would refer to for a reference: Hey there project director, I met a potential student and 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? 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  16. Scenario 1 Sample Response Dear Recruiter, Thanks for asking. I looked at the eligibility guidance and I think I figured it out. 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, assuming all other eligibility factors are met, such as need and not currently being enrolled in school. 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  17. Scenario 2 Hey there, I spoke with 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? 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  18. Scenario 2 Sample Response Dear Recruiter, Thanks for checking in. 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 beginning to receive services other than recruitment, in this case 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. 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  19. Scenario 3 Hello Project Director, I just met a potential HEP student and I want to get your opinion about if she would qualify. She is 18, not in school, and doesn’t have a high school diploma. Between February and July of 2009 she did 90 days of work on a temporary basis at a fish farm. She actually participated in our HEP project under our last grant back in 2010, but had to withdraw. Can we enroll her based on her past participation in our HEP? 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  20. Scenario 3 Sample Response Hey there Recruiter, Good work making contact with potential students out there, but I don’t think this person would qualify. There are a couple of things to consider here. First, temporary work on a fish farm definitely qualifies, so we were right to accept her back in 2010. More about fish farms is in the eligibility guidance in question D26. Second, we need to consider if eligibility needs to be re-established for this student. According to question H3, we need to re-establish eligibility for all students reported as withdrawals on the APR if they want to return to the program. Since the qualifying work is now outside the past 24 months (see I7 for more on determining this 24 month window), it does not look like she meets the temporary or seasonal farmwork criterion. Unless she has done qualifying work more recently, she would not qualify. 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  21. Conclusion • Hopefully this presentation helped you become a bit more comfortable with using the guidance as a resource for making participant eligibility determination. • Now that this guidance has been distributed, we begin the process of collecting the relevant frequently asked questions that come in that are not addressed by this guidance so that we can make necessary updates in the future. 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

  22. QUESTIONS? Nathan Weiss Office of Migrant Education 400 Maryland Ave. SW, 3E-338Washington, DC  20202-6135202-260-7496 phone202-205-0089 faxnathan.weiss@ed.gov 2012 HEP/CAMP Annual Directors Meeting

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