If you are under age 22 and live at home with your parents or while attending school, you are not able to apply for SNAP separately from your parents. This rule is from the general eligibility requirement for who must be in the same SNAP household.

• If you meet the student eligibility requirements (as described below), and you are under 22 and living with your parents, you would need to apply with them (and any younger siblings) as one household unit.

• If you are under 22 and you live with other family relatives such as a grandparent, uncle/aunt, or older sibling, you are not subject to the age restriction and may be able to apply on your own

If you have roommates and you buy and share food together, you must apply together in the same SNAP household. If you keep your food separate, you can apply separately.

If you do not meet the student eligibility requirements (as described below), you would be excluded from receiving any SNAP as a member of your household. Additionally, any income you earn or receive would also be excluded from the total household income.

Students who have a meal plan that covers more than half (11 or more meals per week) of their weekly meals are not eligible for SNAP under any circumstances, even if you are meeting any of the eligibility provisions below.  (This is based on a rule that says that anyone who lives at an institution that provides more than half of their meals is ineligible for SNAP).

Students who are enrolled “half-time or more” at “an institution of higher learning” must satisfy additional student rules. Here are are two key phrases here to consider:

• “Half time or more” –  Each school defines half-time differently, but usually it’s about 6 credits.  If you are enrolled “less than half time” the rules below do not apply to you.

• “An institution of higher learning” – If your school or training program does not require a GED or high school diploma, the extra rules below also don’t apply to you.

If you are enrolled at least half-time in a program that requires a high school diploma or GED, you should know that the government still considers you a student while you are on break in between semesters and school years. For example, federal SNAP rules consider someone an enrolled student during summer vacation if they graduate in June and intend to start graduate school in the fall.

If you are considered a student based on your status above, you must either meet the work requirement or have another qualifying situation.

Federal rules require college students to also have paid employment to qualify for SNAP. The work requirement can be met by meeting any of the following:

• Work 20 hours a week. This includes hours worked in exchange for tuition reduction. If you are self-employed (e.g. Uber/Lyft/TaskRabbit) you will also need to show your work hours. or

• have a work-study award and work any number of hours or expect to take  a work-study position; or

• participate in an on-the-job training program that is not an unpaid internship, such as a nursing practicum or something along those lines.

If you do not meet the student work rule above you can still be eligible for SNAP if these situations apply to you:

• You care for a child:

  • a single parent enrolled full-time and have children younger than 12;

  • a parent in a two-parent household with children under age 6, or if you have children age 6 through 11 and cannot find child care for both school and work;

• You are under age 18 or age 50 or older

• You have a physical or mental health condition that restricts your ability to  work in addition to attending school. If you don’t receive a disability benefit, have this medical exemption form completed by your provider or school’s office of accommodations to verify your condition.

• You attend Community College in a field of study that is supported by federal training funds and/or is in high demand. The majority of courses of study at community colleges meet these requirements. A school administrator will be able to confirm if either of these are the case and should fill out one of these forms for you to send in with your SNAP documents.

• You participate in an approved program aimed at improving employability:

  • TANF/ cash assistance

  • Former Foster Care Tuition Waiver

  • WIOA support (Career Links)

  • KEYS

  • Act 101 program at your school

  • University of Pittsburgh’s TRIO Student Support Services 

  • PA DHS may add more programs to this list as they are identified (these programs have to have certain state or federal funding to qualify them)

• You participated in an approved program prior to college that was geared toward improving your employability:

  • TRIO Upward Bound

  • Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEARUP)

  • Education Leading to Employment and Career Training (ELECT)

  • Title II Adult Basic Education

  • Chafee Education and Training Grant

  • PA DHS may add more programs to this list as they are identified.