"Hello and thanks for joining us for today's Tuesday Tip. I'm Pam and today I just want to talk to you briefly about the most recent Congressional Appropriations Bill. It has some impact for us regarding how we handle students. So I just wanted to bring you up to date on where we are. Where we were pre-HOPMA was that Section 8 assistance could not be provided to full-time or part-time students...

enrolled at an Institute of Higher Education or an equivalent program who was under 24 and not married and not military and the rest of the rules. So we had that in place. We had to look at what kind of institution they were going to. We had to count any financial aid in excess of tuition.

And programs other than the Section 8 also had similar restrictions, although there were a couple of conditions that didn't apply. With HOTMA, Section G of the HUD Notice 2023-10 that came out in February of 2024 clarified the requirements in that it noted that these students are not eligible for Section 8 unless they meet certain conditions. It clarified that most types of financial aid for school are excluded. 

in excess of tuition and necessary fees, which was a little different than the language we saw before. And non-section eight programs still have slightly different rules, but also see students as a concern. Where the problem came in was that the last appropriations bill led to a great deal of confusion because it had language that conflicted with HOPMA.

specifically it affected that head, co-head or spouse under 23 without dependent children. So what happened with 2026 is that Congress fixed that error. But it says that, hey, just use what Hama said. So until Hama goes into effect, there's a little bit of confusion as to what we do. We are recommending that you do

what the rule has been until HOTMA goes into effect and then you're going to do what HOTMA says. So in essence, if you were confused by that last appropriations bill and you kind of didn't know what to do, just do what you've been doing and then when HOTMA goes into effect you can go under the conditions that HOTMA specified for students. So what you're going to be looking at when you look at your requirements is the HUD 4350.3

paragraph three dash 13, all of the paragraphs in that section. And then Hotman Notice 2023-10, make sure you're looking at the one that's dated February, 2024. So that's it, that's all we wanted to let you know. Carry on and we'll see you on the next Tuesday Tips, but if there's anything that you would like to ask us or that you'd like to suggest, please let Vicki or me know.

You can do that by emailing us at the email address on your screen. We'll see you on the next one.