Meeting SNAP Work Requirements through Education and Training

Available Programs

There are several programs available that can meet the work requirement and help SNAP recipients find a job, get career and technical training, or attend school.  These programs include:

• SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) 
  • Keystone Education Yields Success (KEYS) 
  • Employment Advancement Retention Network (EARN) 
  • SNAP JETS (formerly called SNAP 50/50) 
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Title I Programs
• Trade Adjustment Assistance Program 
• Employment and Training programs for veterans run by the U.S. Department of Labor or Department of Veterans Affairs; or 
• Other education and training programs approved under standards established by the Governor. 

Your county assistance office (CAO) can help you find a SNAP E&T program that best meets what you are looking for and help you enroll.  You can also visit the SNAP E&T website, your local PA CareerLink® Center (in-person or online), or view the map of approved programs below  to learn more about job training programs.

Enrollment Status

• PEERs are exempt from SNAP Work Requirements if they are enrolled half-time or more in a college, school, or approved education or training program, as defined by the school or program.  However, some PEERs enrolled half-time or more may have extra requirements.
• PEERs can also meet SNAP Work Requirements if they are enrolled less than half-time in an approved education or training program but are participating at least 20 hours per week in combination with hours of work and volunteering.
• Some  approved  programs only count for students enrolled half-time or more, while others are approved for all students.

Program Eligibility

Programs meeting the following conditions might qualify as allowable programs enabling PEERs to meet their work requirement: 

• Must be operated, supervised, or regulated in some capacity by the Commonwealth, a political subdivision, or an instrumentality of the Commonwealth; AND
• Must meet at least one of the following: 
  • Be a school or training program that enrolls at least some participants half-time or more;OR  
  • Be a school or training program that offers at least some participants 20 hours per week of qualifying services* as determined by the Department of Human Services (DHS), less than half of which may be job search or job search training services as defined by federal law 

*A qualifying service is a service that is at least equivalent to a SNAP E&T component (other than job search or job search training) or another workforce development service determined by the DHS, in consultation with the Department of Labor and Industry, to be at least equivalent to an allowable service under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act or of any one-stop partner program defined by WIOA, regardless of whether the program is funded under WIOA.