Maryann Durrant (USBE):
In another video we talked about how to approve IEFs that are categorically eligible. This video is going to discuss how to approve IEFs that are income eligible. This means that the family qualifies for the free, reduced, or paid rate based on their income.
You’ll first need to ensure that you have a completed IEF. Check to make sure that you have all of the following: 1. List of all enrolled children, 2. List of all household members found, 3. Income of all household members and how often the income is received, 4. Last 4 digits of the social security number of the parent or guardian or the box checked that they don’t have a SSN, 5.Signature and date of the parent or guardian
The next step is to calculate the income. If only one income is reported, it’s easy to calculate the income for the family. In this example, Mike is the only one earning income, so the family income is $3200 and they get paid 2 x’s a month.
In this case, there are two incomes for the family. Charles earns 1200 every other week, and Caroline earns 500 every month. How do you calculate this income? You need to get both incomes to the same frequency, so an easy trap to fall into would be to multiply Charles’ income by 2 to get it to monthly. This is NOT how you get the income to the same frequency. If you remember from the video about completing IEFs, individuals who get paid bi-weekly will have 26 paychecks over the course of a year. So in two months out of the year, they’ll get three paychecks. So simply multiplying Charles’ income by 2 wouldn’t accurately reflect the full income. Any time there are incomes of different frequencies, you need to convert both of the incomes to the annual amount.
On the back of the IEF at the bottom of the page it has the annual income conversion equations. If they get paid weekly, you’d multiply their income by 52 to convert it to annual, every 2 weeks (or bi-weekly) by 26, two times a month by 24, and monthly times 12. So let’s look at our example again. Charles gets paid every two weeks, so we’ll multiply his income by 26 and Caroline’s by 12, add them up and we find that the family’s total annual income is $37,200.
On the back of the IEF at the bottom of the page it has the annual income conversion equations. If they get paid weekly, you’d multiply their income by 52 to convert it to annual, every 2 weeks (or bi-weekly) by 26, two times a month by 24, and monthly times 12. So let’s look at our example again. Charles gets paid every two weeks, so we’ll multiply his income by 26 and Caroline’s by 12, add them up and we find that the family’s total annual income is $37,200.
Once you have the income calculated for the family, you’ll go back to the IEF and write in the total income amount and the frequency. On the IEF, annual isn’t one of the options, so if you calculated the income at the annual amount, you can simply write “annual” in the space next to the income. Next you need to write in the household size. You’ll flip back over to the front of the IEF and count up all of the names that the family listed. On the front of the IEF, they listed Mary, Laura, Carrie, Grace, Charles and Caroline as household members. So you’ll put that there are 6 in the household. The household size that you input here must correlate with the number of names that are written on the front of the IEF. If the family reported that they have a household size of 6 but only listed 4 names on the IEF, you would have to count that as a household of 4 unless you had the parent update the IEF. One of the checks we do on a review is make sure that the household size you recorded matches up with the number of names on the front. It will be a finding if there is a discrepancy.
Now we’re ready to see which benefit category this family qualifies at. The income eligibility guidelines are released each year in July. Make sure that you’re using the most current version.
You’ll find the household size and then follow it over to the income frequency for the family. If the income is at or below the amount under the free meals category, they qualify at the free rate. So let’s look at our example, remember that we have a family size of six earning $37,200 annually, so we’ll find the household size, then scan over to the annual income. Let’s check and see if they qualify at the reduced rate. They need to be making 60,976 or less to qualify at the reduced rate. They definitely qualify at the reduced rate. Let’s check to see if they qualify at the free rate. Follow the row over to the free price meal columns. They would need to make 42,848 or less annually, which they do. So this family would qualify at the free rate. If they had made over 42,848 but less than 60,976 per year, they would qualify at the reduced rate.
Now that you know how to calculate the income and compare it to the income eligibility guidelines, we’ll show you a handy tool that will take care of both of those steps. The IEF calculator is a simple excel sheet where you input the household size and income and the excel sheet does the calculating for you. The important thing is that you make sure you use the current year.
We’re on to our last step now. Once you know what category they qualify for, you’ll mark it on the IEF and then you’ll sign and date. You’ve now successfully approved the IEF by income.
There are a few steps to approving an IEF by income, so let’s review them. You’ll first make sure that you have a complete IEF, you’ll calculate the income and record the income and household size on the back of the IEF, you’ll then compare the income to the income eligibility guidelines, and last you’ll record the benefit category, sign and date the IEF.
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