Income-averaging.

(i) Households, except destitute migrant households, and households subject to a monthly reporting requirement for public assistance, may elect to have their income averaged. Income shall not be averaged for a destitute migrant household since averaging would result in assigning income to the month of application from future periods which is not available for current food needs. The household's expectations regarding income fluctuations over the certification period shall be used in averaging income. The number of months used to arrive at the average income need not be the same as the number of months in the certification period.

(ii) Households which, by contract or self-employment, derive their annual income in a period of time which is less than one year shall have that income averaged over a 12-month period, provided the income from the contract is not received on an hourly or piecework basis. Such individuals may include members who are school employees, sharecroppers, farmers, and other self-employed persons. However, these provisions do not apply to migrant or seasonal farm workers.

(iii) Households receiving scholarships, deferred educational loans, or other educational grants shall have such income, after exclusions, averaged over the period for which it was provided.