d. Verifying Enrollment in an Educational Program

As detailed in sections II.C.4. and II.C.5. of this IFC and specified in section 1902(xx)(2)(D) of the Act and § 435.552(a)(4), (b), and (c), an applicable individual demonstrates community engagement if the individual is enrolled in an educational program at least half-time, as determined by the school or institution. States may consider establishing data exchanges with their State university system and/or other educational settings, and/or they may purchase data from a third-party entity such as the National Student Clearinghouse, provided the State complies with all applicable privacy and data sharing laws. We are exploring options to make educational data available through the Hub. When such data become available through the Hub, States will need to access that information through the relevant service in accordance with §§ 435.949 and 435.557(e),except as provided at §§ 435.945(k) and 435.557(e)(1) and (2) (for example, if the State wishes to establish a direct connection with the National Student Clearinghouse or other data source provided through the Hub, or use an alternate data source or mechanism to obtain educational program participation information). As with the other activities discussed in this section, States must also identify and establish connections to other sources of reliable information to verify educational status and request and use information from those sources, unless doing so would not be effective, as provided at § 435.557(b)(1)(ii). The identification of additional sources of reliable information is particularly important for educational programs that might not be reflected in the National Student Clearinghouse data, such as community colleges, high school equivalency programs, high schools, and technical or vocational schools.

Additionally, as further discussed in section II.C.7. of this IFC, an applicable individual may satisfy the community engagement requirement using hours from a combination of activities. Accordingly, States must have procedures to calculate the number of hours an applicable individual who is enrolled for less than half-time participates in an educational program, as specified at § 435.552(d). If the State does not have a data source that provides credit hours or participation hours for students enrolled for less than half-time, the State must seek information from the individual to determine the number of hours the individual participated in the educational program based on the number of credit or instruction hours. As discussed in section II.C.6. of this IFC, we are using the Carnegie Unit standard to calculate the time spent in an educational program for a 1-month period. This means that 1 credit hour equals 1 hour of instruction plus 2 hours of out-of-class work per week. Thus, using this methodology, 1 credit hour equates to 3 hours of student work for the week. The total number of hours for a given month is calculated by multiplying the number of credit hours by 3 to provide the weekly hours spent in the educational activity and then multiplying this number by 4.33 to determine the monthly hours (see section II.C.6. of this IFC for an example of this calculation). For educational programs that do not use credit hours, if an individual is enrolled less than half-time as defined by the school or institution, then the hours spent attending class and participating in educational activities will count towards meeting the requirement. See section II.C.6. of this IFC for further information about calculating hours of participation in an educational program for individuals enrolled less than half-time.

States must attempt to verify an applicable individual's half-time enrollment status or, if the individual is enrolled less than half-time, the number of hours or participation in an education program, using reliable information available to the State. If there is no reliable information available to the State, or the reliable information is not reasonably compatible with the information provided by or on behalf of the individual, the State must seek ( printed page 33401) information from the individual to verify compliance. Beginning on January 1, 2028, when there is no reliable information available to the State or the reliable information is not reasonably compatible with the information provided by or on behalf of the individual, the State must require documentation to verify half-time enrollment status or educational hours if documentation is reasonably available. In the absence of reasonably available documentation, the State must comply with the requirement at § 435.557(b)(2)(iii) to accept information other than documentation.