Since WF Work Study generates 19 hours, must we stack additional activities to get to 20 hours?

No. The 19 hours will be reported as 20 hours. You do not have to stack additional activities for the parent to earn the 1 hour. Here is the explanation of a DSHS staffer:

"Our systems will round up any 10th of an hour to the nearest whole hour, and this is acceptable to the feds. As long as the budgeting is being done correctly, and as long as this is only occurring for those in 19 hours of Work Study, then we do not have to stack additional activities as we are reporting out 20 hours."

Gifting: Can I use WF funds to buy books or gift cards for WF students?

Question #1. During our full-time 6-week break workshops we are expecting students to spend time using their fall books to learn some study skills and get a head start.

Can we purchase any fall quarter books for them in August under these circumstances?

Answer #1: Yes. The books, however, belong to the college (and ultimately to the federal government, since you can’t use federal funds to "gift".

You can let the students use the books, but you need to collect them at the end of the 6-week period. You may let the students borrow them again for Fall Quarter, but again you must collect them at the end of the quarter.

There is a system group working who are creating common curricula that uses open source (i.e. free) materials from the web. They are starting with the 40 most often taken classes. Every instructor, of course, can decide to opt in or out.

Question #2. We have a participation incentives program here. We are awarding Fred Meyer gift cards to two of the students who have participated successfully and have turned in their attendance sheets on time each week based on a drawing of names each week.

Answer #2: No. You cannot use federal money for gifting. Rewards are great. Can you find a local benefactor who can fund the gift cards?

Do criminal convictions disqualify WF parents from receiving financial aid?

In brief, it is only a federal or state drug conviction that can potentially disqualify an applicant. Attached is a clarification document identifying the type of criminal offense necessary to cause ineligibility and what process and methods can be employed to regain eligibility.

According to current policy convictions only count if they were for an offense that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was receiving Title IV aid—they do not count if the offense was not during such a period.

STUDENTS CONVICTED OF POSSESSION
OR SALE OF DRUGS

A federal or state drug conviction can disqualify a student for FSA funds. The student self-certifies in applying for aid that he is eligible; you’re not required to confirm this unless you have conflicting information.
Convictions only count if they were for an offense that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was receiving Title IV aid—they do not count if the offense was not during such a period. Also, a conviction that was reversed, set aside, or removed from the student’s record does not count, nor does one received when she was a juvenile, unless she was tried as an adult.
The chart below illustrates the period of ineligibility for FSA funds, depending on whether the conviction was for sale or possession and whether the student had previous offenses. (A conviction for sale of drugs includes convictions for conspiring to sell drugs.)

If the student was convicted of both possessing and selling illegal drugs, and the periods of ineligibility are different, the student will be ineligible for the longer period.
Schools must provide each student who becomes ineligible for Title IV aid due to a drug conviction a clear and conspicuous written notice of his loss of eligibility and the methods whereby he can become eligible again.
A student regains eligibility the day after the period of ineligibility ends or when he successfully completes a qualified drug rehabilitation program or, effective beginning with the 2010–2011 award year, passes two unannounced drug tests given by such a program. Further drug convictions will make him ineligible again.
Students denied eligibility for an indefinite period can regain it after successfully completing a rehabilitation program (as described below), passing two unannounced drug tests from such a program, or if a conviction is reversed, set aside, or removed from the student’s record so that fewer than two convictions for sale or three convictions for possession remain on the record. In such cases, the nature and dates of the remaining convictions will determine when the student regains eligibility. It is the student’s responsibility to certify to you that she has successfully completed the rehabilitation program; as with the conviction question on the FAFSA, you are not required to confirm the reported information unless you have conflicting information.
When a student regains eligibility during the award year, you may award Pell, ACG, National SMART, TEACH, and Campus-based aid for the current payment period and Direct and FFEL loans for the period of enrollment.
Standards for a qualified drug rehabilitation program
A qualified drug rehabilitation program must include at least two unan¬nounced drug tests and must satisfy at least one of the following require¬ments:
• Be qualified to receive funds directly or indirectly from a federal, state, or local government program.
• Be qualified to receive payment directly or indirectly from a federally or state-licensed insurance company.
• Be administered or recognized by a federal, state, or local government agency or court.
• Be administered or recognized by a federally or state-licensed hospital, health clinic, or medical doctor.
If you are counseling a student who will need to enter such a program, be sure to advise the student of these requirements. If a student certifies that he has successfully completed a drug rehabilitation program, but you have reason to believe that the program does not meet the requirements, you must find out if it does before paying the student any FSA funds.

INCARCERATED STUDENTS

A student is considered to be incarcerated if she is serving a criminal sentence in a federal, state, or local penitentiary, prison, jail, reformatory, work farm, or similar correctional institution (whether it is operated by the government or a contractor). A student is not considered to be incarcerated if she is in a half-way house or home detention or is sentenced to serve only weekends.
Incarcerated students are not eligible for FSA loans but are eligible for FSEOGs and FWS. They are also eligible for Pell grants if not incarcerated in a federal or state penal institution. See Chapter 7 for more information on this and on sex offenders who were incarcerated but are now subject to an involuntary civil commitment.
You may accept the student’s written self-certification that he is no longer incarcerated.

Drug convictions
HEA Section 484(r)
34 CFR 668.40
Drug abuse hold
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 in¬cludes provisions that authorize federal and state judges to deny certain federal benefits, including student aid, to per¬sons convicted of drug trafficking or possession. The CPS maintains a hold file of those who have received such a judgment, and it checks applicants against that file to determine if they should be denied aid. This is separate from the check for a drug conviction via question 23; confirmation of a student in the drug abuse hold file will produce a rejected application and a separate comment from those associated with responses to question 23. See the ISIR Guide for more information.

WorkFirst Redesign Meetings

Good Morning,

Following the passing of HB3141 by the legislature, Governor Gregoire requested the sub-cabinet thoroughly research the current TANF program and offer recommendations by November 2010 for its re-design. This project is a collaborative effort between DSHS, Commerce, DEL, ESD, and the SBCTC. The TANF redesign project is underway and a critical element for review and improvement of the WorkFirst program is to incorporate system-wide input, ideas, and regional best practices.

We are being asked to examine existing policies, expenditures, activities and operations, evaluate critical strategies, and focus on education and training opportunities that lead to employment, making sure WorkFirst parents don’t fall through the cracks. To this end, we are holding a series of regional meetings for 2-3 WorkFirst staff from each college. We encourage you to include your Basic Skills director any other directly invested campus staff for additional contributions to the conversation.

We have a limited time frame to accomplish our mission, compounded by the end of the fiscal year, summer breaks, and vacation schedules. In order to hear from as many of you as possible, we are arranging a series of 6 meetings, grouped by geographical areas and based on DSHS regions and tentatively scheduled. The lead contact for each is below:

Regions 1 & 2 – Deb Wagar of CBC – June 21

Region 3 – Jan Strand of Edmonds CC – June 24

Region 4 North – John Bowers NSCC – June 29

Region 4 South – Maggi Sutthoff RTC – July 6

Pierce County – Jean Watley of Bates – June 28

Region 5 & 6 – Yvette Wixson SPSCC – July 14

Details of meeting times and places specific to each region to follow. Thank you.

JT and 12 week Maximum Error

The “eJAS Component Codes” document at http://www.dshs.wa.gov/esa/wfhand/docs/JAS_component_codes.PDF shows a time limit for JT of “up to 12 weeks”. This is an error. Until this is corrected, please refer to another section of the handbook that provides clarification. The Life Skills vs. Job Skills training document at Life Skills/Soft Skills and Skills Enhancement (Job Skills) Training Differences clarifies that the Job Skills activity is a countable non-core with no time limit.

You may review the complete reference via http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=388-310-1050.

FW: Coding question

Hi Marie

Could you help me understand the best way to code students in SMS? I understand they need to be coded correctly at the beginning of a quarter in SMS. But my question regards students who may change a code say mid-way through the quarter. They may start out as 76 in full time school component of VE. They then gain employment of 20 hours/week. They now can be a 77 with JT coding. Or it could also be the other way around. Do I need to make changes in the middle of the quarter or just wait until the next quarter starts?

I know the guidelines say to put in the coding at registration but I thought I would get your advice about what to do if a student changes during a quarter.

Thank you

-------------------------------------------------------

These are great questions that arise due to the ever changing nature of the students we serve. Many parents transition between intent and income source during a typical year, however we can only report what we are aware of at the point of enrollment. We’ve provided guidance within the WorkFirst Delivery Agreement (for FY11, pages 18 & 19), and additional guidance can be obtained from the materials (link below) Carmen Stewart provided during her coding workshop (December, 09).

Most students will remain in the same Work-Attend code assigned for the entire year. It is not our intent to have you change coding at various time during a quarter. It is important to note that the post-quarter data rollup from SMS will identify the Work-Attend coding in place at the end of the quarter. If a student begins the quarter in a full time program as TANF (coded 76) and you modify the code mid-quarter due to an income change (75), we will capture that student as the last entered Work-Attend code. In this case your quarter end report would identify you served a former TANF (75) and will have no record of the college serving the TANF recipient. I’d suggest coding the student in the new Work-Attend classification at the onset of subsequent quarters. This practice should best represent who you are serving at the point of enrollment. Please let me know if you should have additional questions.

Thank you,

Marie Bruin
360-704-4360 (

Coding Workshop material-
http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/docs/datareporting/2009dec-student-coding-workshop.pdf

Updated WFDA Informational ITV sites

The following colleges will be scheduled to serve as sites for the upcoming WorkFirst Delivery Agreement informational ITV sessions. Both sessions will cover primarily the same information, centered around changes in and questions about the grant application. Many of the sites below have indicated space available for others to join them. If you wish to join a site, please let us know. Thank you.

Thursday, March 18^th 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

Cascadia
Big Bend
Bates
Clark
Centralia
Walla Walla
Highline
Grays Harbor
Spokane IEL
Columbia Basin
Olympic
Shoreline
Bellevue

Monday, March 22^nd 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.

Bellingham Tech
Tacoma Community College
Everett
Highline
Peninsula
Clover Park
South Seattle
Lower Columbia
Yakima
Spokane Falls
Bellevue