Income Eligibility: Head Start is a federally funded preschool program that serves 3 and 4 year-olds, with some 5 year-olds being accepted. A family must meet income eligibility requirements in order to be accepted. Head Start is able to look at several factors in relation to income, including family size and income sources. We will determine family income during the past 12 months using grant letters, check stubs, W-2 forms, tax forms, or a combination of these. In addition, there are four "automatic qualifiers" for families irregardless of total earned income or federal tax returns: • One is if a family receives S.S.I. payments from the federal government. • Second is if a family receives T.A.N.F. funds, which in Mecosta County is Child Development and Care (CDC) Assistance through the Family Independence Agency. • Third is if the family receives FIP payments through FIA. • Fourth is if the child is currently in foster care. Those families not meeting income guidelines are still able to apply but are classified as "over-income" and must be placed on a waiting list until all eligible children are served. Please do not attempt to screen families for eligibility yourself. This information is only shared with you to show the wide variety of ways a family might qualify for Head Start. All inquiries should be referred to Julie Wellman at 1-800-898-6650. Age Eligibility: A child must be 3 years old on or before December 1 st of the current school (or school year applying for) in order to be age-eligible. This date follows Michigan's current Kindergarten birth date rule. The school year is defined as starting in September and ending in August. If a child's three year birth date occurs after December 1 st , the child must wait until the following September to attend. Once a child starts a Head Start program as a three-year-old and maintains enrollment for 4 consecutive months, they are eligible to automatically repeat in the program for a second year without their family income being re-evaluated again. In our full-year program, this could potentially mean that a child could enter as a three-year-old and continue enrollment all the way through until starting Kindergarten. |
