5. Enrollment in an Educational Program at Least Half-Time

Under section 1902(xx)(2)(D) of the Act, an applicable individual demonstrates community engagement if the individual is enrolled in an educational program at least half-time. New § 435.552(b) defines educational program. At new § 435.552(c), we specify how “at least half-time” enrollment is determined. ( printed page 33358)

We considered whether the State or the relevant educational institution should determine a student's enrollment status (that is, whether the student is enrolled at least half-time). The U.S. Department of Education's (ED) definition of half-time status defers to the institution to make its own determination as to whether an enrolled student is carrying a half-time academic workload (see definition of “half-time student” in 34 CFR 668.2(b) ). Additionally, in SNAP regulations related to student eligibility, the institution of higher education determines enrollment status (see 7 CFR 273.5(b)(10) specifying the enrollment status of a single parent “as determined by the institution”). For consistency with existing standards in SNAP and those of ED, we provide at § 435.552(c) that the State shall use the enrollment status determined by the school or institution (that is, full-time, half-time, less than half-time). This standard applies to all educational programs under new § 435.552(b). We believe that the school or institution is best able to determine enrollment status because whether an individual is enrolled full-time, half-time, or less than half-time is generally dependent on the type of school and the curriculum. In addition, a student's enrollment status determined by the institution is reported to the National Student Clearinghouse, which is a data source that States can use to verify student enrollment (see section II.I.6.d. of this IFC for additional information).

For consistency with SNAP regulations related to students, we are adopting enrollment status requirements similar to those at 7 CFR 273.5(c) . These requirements address when student enrollment starts and ends and provide standards to follow during school recess. These standards are necessary because there are periods when school may not be in session due to scheduled breaks (for example, winter and summer recess), and due to the short duration of the scheduled breaks, an individual might not be able to complete another community engagement activity. For example, if a student is enrolled in an institution of higher education full-time and the institution has a 1-month winter break, it is not reasonable to condition Medicaid eligibility on the individual applying, interviewing, starting a job, and working for not less than 80 hours in that 1-month period before going back to school. Thus, at new § 435.552(c)(1), the enrollment status of an applicable individual begins on the first day of the school term.

At new § 435.552(c)(2), the enrollment will continue through normal periods of attendance, vacation and recess. The determination of enrollment status during vacation and recess shall be based on the student's status just prior to the school break. Per § 435.552(c)(3), the enrollment status ends at the end of the month that the student is expelled, withdraws, completes the school term and is not registered for the next school term (excluding optional terms such as winter or summer sessions), or graduates (unless the student is enrolled in another educational program). For example, a full-time high school student graduates from high school on May 15 and has enrolled full-time in a community college, and the community college term starts on August 21. The individual applies for Medicaid on July 1 in a State that has a 1-month review period (as described in section II.H.2. of this IFC) for community engagement at application. The State determines that the individual is otherwise eligible in the adult group and is an applicable individual subject to the community engagement requirement. Because the individual is enrolled in community college with a start date of August 21, the individual has applied for Medicaid during a school recess period (school break). The enrollment status will be based on the individual's enrollment status prior to the school break. Prior to the school break, the individual was enrolled full-time as a high school student, so the individual has met the community engagement requirement.

For information about verifying enrollment in an educational program, please see section II.I.6.d. of this IFC.