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must be verified. TANF Age is an eligibility factor for the child(ren) in the group. However, there is no age requirement for the parent/caretaker relative. In general, a child must be under age 18. in certain circumstances, an 18-year-old child may be included in the group if the 18-year-old child: • Is enrolled as a full-time student in a secondary school or in the equivalent level of vocational or technical training program before s/he reaches 19 years of age. See Section 4.4: School Enrollment and Student Status in this Chapter. The inclusion of the 18 year old child into the group, who is enrolled as a full-time student in a secondary school or in the equivalent level of vocational or technical training program before s/he reaches 19 years of age, as described above, is optional. GC See TANF FS Age is not an eligibility factor for FS but must be considered in certain situations. FS groups that include a person who is 60 or older are: • not required to meet the gross income test (see Section 8.4: Determining Income-Eligibility in Part VI); • entitled, under some circumstances, to a higher shelter deduction (see Section 6.3: Income Disregards and Deductions in Part VI); • subject to a higher resource limit (see Exhibit VI-2); and • entitled to an Excess Medical Deduction if the elderly individual's medical expenses exceed $35 per month (see Section 6.3: Income Disregards and Deductions in Part VI).

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND STUDENT STATUS 4.4

MA N/A TANF Dependent 16- and 17-year-old children who do not have a high school diploma or a General Education Development (GED) certificate must be enrolled in an elementary or secondary school, vocational, or technical training program in order to be eligible for TANF. A child is a full-time student if s/he is enrolled in: • a public school or a licensed private school and the program calls for at least twenty (20) hours of classroom or vocational training a week; • a junior college, college, or university and is carrying at least eight (8) semester or quarter hours; or • a training program which: o is designed to prepare the student for gainful employment, o issues a certificate or diploma upon successful completion of the program, and o calls for attendance of at least 20 hours per week. The Job Corps is a program that qualifies as a training program. The child must be enrolled in school full-time unless one (1) of the following exemptions apply: • only part-time attendance is necessary to receive a diploma, • the remaining portion of the day is spent in a work study or similar program, or • the child completed secondary school or received a GED certificate.