Income Support, Training and Health Benefits Regulation, sections 2, 3, 36, 37 and 51(6).

INTENT

To ensure that individuals access the appropriate funding source and that funding is distributed equitably when both members of a two-adult household are enrolled in an approved, full-time training program.

POLICY

“Two Attending” refers to a situation where two adults, residing in the same household as spouses/cohabitating partners, both require financial assistance to attend full-time training. This includes circumstances where:

• Both household members apply for Learner Income Support (IS) to attend full-time training; and/or
• One household member applies for Learner IS and the other household member applies for post-secondary loan funding from Advanced Education; or
• One household member applies for Learner IS and the other household member applies for funding from another source (excluding those who are self-funding).

Note
Spouses/cohabiting partners that are self-funded are excluded from this policy and the household is not eligible.

Each individual is required to submit a separate funding application, documenting the total amount of expenses required by, and resources available to, the household unit as a whole. 

Note
Funding applications submitted by each individual are assessed jointly by the Learner Income Support Office (LISO) and/or Advanced Education (as required) in situations when HS and Advanced Education are the funders.

Spouse or Cohabiting Partner Funded by the Government of Alberta

Core and supplementary benefits are payable to the household and are divided equally between household members, with 50% of the total issued to each individual.

Supplementary benefits applicable to both household members are also divided equally, with 50% of the total issued to each individual (e.g., childcare expenses, damage deposit).

Supplementary benefits that are specific to one individual are payable (in full) to the applicable household member (e.g., special diet).

Note
A Learner’s spouse, who is attending the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program, is eligible to receive IS core and supplementary benefits as a member of a Learner household. Funding is issued directly to the Learner.

Spouse or Cohabiting Partner Funded by Another Source

A Learner spouse/cohabiting partner who is attending training and has applied for and will be in receipt of funding from a source other than Advanced Education, is eligible to receive IS benefits as a member of a Learner household. 

The funding received by the spouse/cohabiting partner is considered non-exempt income and is deducted dollar for dollar from the household budget.  

Supplementary benefits that are specific to one individual are payable (in full) to the HS funded household member (e.g., special diet).

Training Benefits

Funding related to training is assessed separately for each individual (based on his/her actual training costs) with associated payments issued to the training provider or to the applicable household member.

APPROVAL

Learner Benefit Coordinator, LISO