Special Populations
Special Populations, as outlined by Perkins V (PDF), encompass a diverse range of individuals, including adult and traditional students who are: individuals with disabilities, economically disadvantaged, pursuing nontraditional career paths, single parents, individuals reentering the workforce, English learners, homeless, youth in or aging out of foster care, and those with a parent serving in the military.
Definitions and Explanations
A person with a disability is broadly defined as an individual who has a physical or mental impairment that subsequently limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual or has a record of such impairment or both. For more information on disability services at IVCC, visit CAN
A person who is identified on the basis of:
- receipt of a Pell Grant or comparable state program of need-based financial assistance;
- annual income is at or less than the official poverty level;
- participant or participant's parent is a recipient of public assistance; or
- participant is eligible for participation in programs assisted under WIOA.
A single parent (including single pregnant individuals) is defined as an individual that is:
- Unmarried with a minor child/children under the age 18 years old OR
- Legally separated from a spouse with a minor child/children under the age 18 years old OR
- Single and legal guardian with a minor child/children under the age 18 years old
- an individual who is a displaced homemaker, as defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102); or
- an individual who has worked primarily without remuneration to care for a home and
family, and for that reason has diminished marketable skills
- is a parent whose youngest dependent child will become ineligible to receive assistance under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) not later than 2 years after the date on which the parent applies for assistance under such title; and
- is unemployed or underemployed and is experiencing difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment
- a secondary school student who is an English learner, as defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; or
- an adult or an out-of-school youth who has limited ability in speaking, reading, writing,
or understanding the English language and—
- whose native language is a language other than English; or
- who lives in a family environment or community in which a language other than English is the dominant language.
Individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and includes:
- children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
- individuals who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
- individuals who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
- migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).
IVCC's HOUSE Liaison/Benefits Navigator
To provide assistance to students experiencing homelessness, the State of Illinois Public Act 102-0083 requires each institution of higher education to designate at least one staff member to serve as a liaison to assist homeless students enrolled at the institution.
Ashlee Fitzpatrick ashlee_fitzpatrick@ivcc.edu
Identification of individuals who are in, or have aged out of, the foster care system should be based on the following definitions:
- The term foster care refers to the full-time substitute care of children outside their own home by people other than their biological or adoptive parents or legal guardians.
- “Youth Who Are In, Or Have Aged Out Of, the Foster Care System” refers to an individual 21 or younger for whom the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is currently or was previously legally responsible. This means an individual for whom the Department has (or had) temporary protective custody, custody or guardianship via court order, or a child whose parents have signed an adoptive surrender or voluntary placement agreement with the Department.
Identification of youth with a parent who is a member of the armed forces and on active duty will be based upon the following definitions:
- The term “armed forces” is defined as being a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard.
- The term “active duty” is defined as full-time duty in the active military service of the United States. Such term includes full-time training duty, annual training duty, and attendance, while in the active military service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary of the military department concerned. Such term does not include full-time National Guard duty.