The rule HigherEdStudentEligRestriction can be used to simulate restrictions on the eligibility of higher-education students. To be considered a student under SNAP regulations, a student must be enrolled at least half-time in an institution of higher education. Students younger than 18 or older than 49 (or meeting other exemptions listed below) are exempt from eligibility restrictions. The CPS variables do not allow us to distinguish whether a student who is enrolled less than full-time is enrolled on at least a half-time basis. Therefore, TRIM3 only applies student eligibility restrictions to full-time students. In the FoodStamps module, a person is considered to be a higher-education student if he or she meets any of the following criteria:

• Age 18-24 and HsCollegeAttendence = 2 (college or university) and InSchoolFullOrPartTime = 1 (full time)
• Age 25-49 and LastReasonNotWorking = 3 (going to school).
• Age 25-49 and LastRemainingActivity = 3 (going to school) and LastWeeksWorked <= 16.

A higher-education student is ineligible for SNAP benefits unless he or she meets one of the following exemption criteria:

• Is physically or mentally unfit (the FoodStamps module assumes a person meets this criteria if they are disabled).
• Is in a job training program (AttendedJobTraining= 1 (Attended a training program to learn a specific job skill)).
• Receives TANF (the FoodStamps module uses simulated TANF).
• LastHoursPerWeek >= 20 and LastWeeksWorked > 16 and WageSalaryIncome > 0. This is an approximation of the regulations (which indicate that the person must be employed 20 hours per week or more). Because a student's exemption status is determined at the beginning of the school year (under real-world rules) and lasts for the entire year unless the student graduates or drops out, the additional restriction imposed by the FoodStamps module (that the person must work more than 16 weeks in the year) is intended to capture the concept that it is weeks of work during the school year that matter (>16 weeks means the student is most likely working during the school year).
• LastHoursPerWeek >= 20 and LastWeeksWorked > 16 and SelfEmploymentIncome/LastWeeksWorked >= 20*MinimumWage.
• Is responsible for care of dependent child < 6.
• Is responsible for care of dependent child age 6-11 where there is no adequate child care. The FoodStamps module assumes a family has no access to adequate child care if the family does not have child care expenses (as specified by the rule ChildCareExpenses) and does not receive subsidized child care (as specified by the rule SubsidizedChildCare).
• Is single parent responsible for care of dependent child < 12. The regulations require that the single parent be a full-time student. Given the methods we are using to approximate student status, it is likely that all of the TRIM3 simulated students are full-time students. The FoodStamps module assumes a student without a spouse is single.