Previous Policy

10.3.6 Guidance on Eligibility Barriers

Effective date: September 23, 2019 - March 12, 2023

The status of eligibility barriers is established at the time of the eligibility determination portion of program enrollment.¹

Low-Income (Applies to ISY and OSY)

See the Low-Income Guidance. Careers planners must apply the definitions and guidance identified in this section when performing a low-income assessment.

All ISY participants must be low income.² For OSY participants, the low-income requirement only applies to two eligibility barriers (i.e., has a secondary school diploma (or equivalent) and is either basic skills deficient or an English Language Learner OR requires additional assistance).³

WIOA provides a low-income exception where each local WDB has the flexibility to serve up to 5% of youth enrolled in any given year who do not meet the low-income criteria but would ordinarily be required to.⁴ If a local WDB wishes to exercise this flexibility, it must have a mechanism in place to accurately track participants served under this exception. This will be reviewed by DWD-DET as part of annual monitoring. Any costs associated with serving individuals who exceed the 5 percent limitation will be disallowed. In cases where the local WDB exceeds the 5 percent limitation, participants' eligibility determination dates will be placed in chronological order and only the first 5 percent will be covered by the exception. Participants who could fall within this exception are as follows: (1) any ISY, (2) OSY who have a secondary school diploma and are either basic skills deficient or English Language Learners, and (3) OSY who require additional assistance. The career planner should only apply (2) or (3) if the individual does not meet any of the other eligibility barriers listed in section 10.3.3.

Example: A local program enrolls 180 youth during the program year with the following breakdown:
120 are OSY who were not required to meet the low-income criteria.
40 are OSY who were required to meet the low-income criteria.
20 are ISY.
Calculation: .05 (40 OSY required to be low-income + 20 ISY) = 3 participants can be served under the exception.

Note: See the "Income Guidance" for details on what to count for income calculations.

Note: When family income is calculated for Youth Program eligibility, career planners are to use the IRS's definition for "dependent" family members.⁵ The IRS definition is also used for determining up to what age a Youth Program participant is considered a dependent family member for purposes of income eligibility.⁶

Basic Skills Deficient (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals:

have English reading, writing, or computing skills at or below the 8th grade level on a generally accepted standardized test;
OR
are unable to read, write or speak English or compute/solve problems at a level that is necessary to function in a job, in their family, or in society.⁷

If applying the second standard, the local WDB must have a policy in its local plan that outlines specific criteria that career planners are to use to determine if the applicant is basic skills deficient.⁸ Methods used to screen youth for the basic skills deficient eligibility barrier may be less formal than those used to conduct an objective assessment of a participant's basic skills. Examples of less formal screening tools for basic skills may include the individual's performance on DWD-DET's Basic Skills Screening Tool, a GPA at or below a certain level, or demonstration that the individual is unlikely to graduate secondary school.

WIOA Youth Program funds may be used towards costs associated with assessing an individual's basic skill level for an eligibility determination, even though the individual is not yet a program participant.⁹ The local WDB may also use results from a previous basic skills assessment if the assessment was performed within the past six months.¹⁰

See Chapter 10.2 for information about Basic Skills Assessments for ISY and OSY.

English Language Learner (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals:

have limited ability in reading, writing, speaking or comprehending the English language because English is not their native language:
OR
live in a family or community environment where a language other than English is the dominant language.¹¹

Offender or Ex-Offender (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals currently are or have been subject to any stage of the juvenile or adult criminal justice process.¹² This includes having any record of arrest or conviction.¹³

Homeless or Runaway (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.¹⁴ This covers the following situations: (1) sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar; (2) living in a motel, hotel, trailer park or campground due to the lack of alternative adequate living accommodations; (3) living in an emergency or transitional shelter; (4) abandoned in a hospital; (5) awaiting foster care placement; (6) using a public or private place for nighttime residence that is not designed for or typically used by human beings for regular sleeping accommodations; (7) a child who has moved in the last 36 months either as a migratory agricultural worker or fisher or with a parent or spouse who is a migratory worker or fisher.¹⁵

Foster Care (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals:

are in foster care;
aged out of foster care;
left foster care on or after turning age 16 for kinship, guardianship or adoption;
AND/OR
are eligible for assistance under the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program.¹⁶
Note: The criterion "left foster care on or after turning age 16 for kinship, guardianship or adoption" includes situations where individuals were formerly in foster care but returned to their family before turning 18.¹⁷

Pregnant or Parenting (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies to both mothers and fathers,¹⁸ but fathers are not considered to be "parenting" until the child is born.¹⁹ This barrier includes non-custodial parents.²⁰ Additionally, DWD-DET considers this barrier to apply to individuals who are adoptive or foster parents or legal guardians to minor children.

Has a Disability (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals:

have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of their major life activities such as caring for themselves, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, working, and the operation of major bodily functions;
have a record of such impairment;
OR
are regarded as having such impairment (which means they can establish that they have been the subject of a discriminatory action under the American with Disabilities Act because of an actual or perceived impairment, regardless of whether the impairment actually limits a major life activity).²¹

Requires Additional Assistance (Applies to ISY and OSY)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals require additional assistance to:

complete an educational program;
OR
secure or hold employment.²²

Local WDBs are not required to use this criterion as part of eligibility determinations. However, as Wisconsin's Governor's Council on Workforce Investment has declined to further define this category,²³ local WDBs must include policy and procedure for applying this criterion in their local plans if they choose to use it as an eligibility criterion.²⁴ Any policies and procedures should be reasonable, quantifiable, and based on evidence that the specific characteristic of the youth identified in the policy objectively requires additional assistance.²⁵

Note: Even if a local area chooses to use this category as part of ISY eligibility, it is to be used sparingly. In each local workforce area, not more than 5 percent of newly enrolled ISY participants can be found eligible based on the "needs additional assistance" category in any given program year.²⁶ There is not a similar restriction for OSY eligibility. DWD-DET holds the local WDBs responsible for tracking eligibility determinations for ISY that are based solely on this eligibility barrier and ensuring compliance with the 5 percent limitation. Any costs associated with serving participants who exceed the 5 percent limitation will be disallowed. In cases where the local WDB exceeds the 5 percent limitation, participants' eligibility determination dates will be placed in chronological order and only the first 5 percent will be covered by the limitation.

School Dropout (OSY Only)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals are no longer attending secondary school and have not received a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent.²⁷

The career planner must verify dropout status at the time of the eligibility determination.²⁸ An individual who either dropped out of postsecondary school or previously dropped out of secondary school and subsequently returned is not a "school dropout" for purposes of youth program eligibility.²⁹

Within Age of Compulsory School Attendance but not Attending (OSY Only)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals:

are under the age of 18 or turned 18 in the middle of a school term, quarter or semester;
have not yet graduated secondary school;
AND
have not attended secondary school for the most recently completed school year quarter or longer.³⁰

The school year quarter is defined by the school (or school district) in question.³¹ If a school (or school district) does not use quarters, the career planner must use calendar year quarters, only counting those quarters that the school is in session.³²

Low-Income Individual with a Secondary School Diploma or Equivalent Who is Basic Skills Deficient or an English Language Learner (OSY Only)

This eligibility barrier applies if individuals:

have a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent;
are low-income;
AND
are either basic skills deficient OR an English Language Learner.³³

¹DWD-DET is applying the guidance DOL has provided with respect to school status. TEGL 21-16, p. 2
²20 CFR § 681.250(b) and TEGL 21-16, p. 5
³20 CFR § 681.250(a) and TEGL 21-16, p. 5
⁴20 CFR § 681.250(c) and TEGL 21-16, p. 6
⁵81 FR 56088
⁶81 FR 56167
⁷WIOA Sec. 3(5) and 20 CFR § 681.290(a)
⁸20 CFR § 681.290(b) specifies that the State or the local WDB must have a policy in its state or local plan if using the "basic skills deficient" standard that an individual is unable to read, write or speak English or compute/solve problems at level that is necessary for the individual to function in a job, in his/her family, or in society. DWD-DET declines to establish a standardized state policy on this matter for Youth.
⁹TEGL 21-16, pp. 7-8
¹⁰TEGL 21-16, p. 8
¹¹WIOA Sec. 3(21); WIOA Sec. 203(7); TEGL 21-16, p. 3
¹²WIOA Sec. 3(38); TEGL 21-16, p. 4
¹³WIOA Sec. 3(38); TEGL 21-16, p. 4
¹⁴42 U.S.C. 14043e—2(6); 42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)
¹⁵42 U.S.C. 14043e—2(6); 42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)
¹⁶20 CFR §§ 681.210(c)(6); 681.220(d)(5)
¹⁷ TEGL 21-16, p. 4
¹⁸ TEGL 21-16, p. 4
¹⁹ TEGL 21-16, p. 4
²⁰ TEGL 21-16, p. 4
²¹WIOA Sec. 3(25); 42 U.S.C. 12102 (1)-(3)
²²20 CFR §§ 681.210(c)(9) and 681.220(c)(8)
²³20 CFR §§ 681.300 and 681.310(a); TEGL 21-16, p. 5
²⁴ 20 CFR § 681.310(a)
²⁵ TEGL 21-16, p. 5; In this context, DWD-DET considers "based on evidence" to mean that credible empirical research supports the conclusion. In other words, the conclusion is not drawn from opinion, prejudice or speculation. For example, a local WDB may use a study that shows that young adults who lack a driver's license are 25 percent less likely to obtain employment as its basis for adding lack of driver's license for youth ages 18 and older as a "requires additional assistance" barrier.
²⁶20 CFR § 681.310(b)
²⁷WIOA Sec. 3(54) and TEGL 21-16, p. 3-4
²⁸20 CFR § 681.240; TEGL 21-16, p. 4
²⁹TEGL 21-16, p. 4
³⁰20 CFR § 681.210(c)(2); Wis Stats. 118.15(1)(a) addresses the age requirements of Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law. Individuals who turn 18 years of age during the middle of the secondary school term, quarter, or semester (whichever applies) must continue to attend until the term, quarter or semester ends or the individual graduates, whichever comes first.
³¹20 CFR § 681.210(c)(2) and TEGL 21-16, p. 4
³²20 CFR § 681.210(c)(2) and TEGL 21-16, p. 4
³³20 CFR § 681.210(c)(3)