Financial Aid About a minute No email required Federal rule, sourced

Does school keep your Medicaid? Medicaid School Check

Answer a few questions to see whether the Medicaid work rule reaches you, and whether school, your work hours or your income already meets it.

Medicaid School Check · Federal rule, starts by January 1, 2027

Does going to school keep your Medicaid?

Many adults on Medicaid will need 80 hours a month of work, school or service to keep it. See whether the rule reaches you, and whether school, your hours or your income already meets it.

RuleBeing enrolled at least half-time in college, career training, high school or a GED program counts for the whole month.

About a minute · No name, email or phone · The federal rule, every line sourced

Medicaid School CheckQuestion 1

What’s your ZIP code?

Why we ask: Each state runs its own Medicaid. The work rule applies in 43 states and DC, the ones that cover adults through the Medicaid expansion or a similar waiver.

ZIP code

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Starting no later than January 1, 2027, adults aged 19 to 64 who get Medicaid through the expansion need 80 hours a month of work, service or job training, or school, to get or keep it. Source · CMS fact sheet

School is the way people overlook. Being enrolled at least half-time meets the rule for the whole month, with no hours to count.

80 hours

A month of work, service or training

Or a mix that adds up

Half-time

School meets it on its own

Often 6 credits a term

$580

A month in income also meets it

80 hours at $7.25

Five ways to meet the rule in a month

You need only one of these. Source · Public Law 119-21, sec. 71119

Ways to meet the Medicaid work rule for a month

Way	What counts
Work	80 hours, paid or unpaid
Community service or a work program	80 hours
School	Enrolled at least half-time, as your school defines it
A mix	Work, service, training and school below half-time adding to 80 hours
Income	At least $580 a month, counting your Medicaid household's income

Way Work

What counts 80 hours, paid or unpaid

Way Community service or a work program

What counts 80 hours

Way School

What counts Enrolled at least half-time, as your school defines it

Way A mix

What counts Work, service, training and school below half-time adding to 80 hours

Way Income

What counts At least $580 a month, counting your Medicaid household's income

The income test counts the same income your state uses for your Medicaid, for everyone in your Medicaid household, earned or not. CMS considered counting only pay from work and chose not to. Source · CMS interim final rule

What counts as school

The rule counts four kinds of program: a college or university, a career and technical program, a high school, and a state-approved high school equivalency (GED) program. Self-paced online test prep outside a state-approved program doesn’t count. Source · CMS interim final rule

Your school decides whether you’re half-time, not your state. CMS points to the federal aid standard, where 12 semester credits is full-time for an undergraduate, so 6 credits is often half-time. Ask your registrar if you’re not sure.

Below half-time, each credit counts as 3 hours a week for 4.33 weeks, or 12.99 hours a month, and those hours add to your work hours. Someone working 30 hours a month with 4 credits has about 82 hours, enough to meet the rule.

Who doesn’t have to meet it

The rule also doesn’t apply in Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas or Wyoming, which don’t cover adults through the expansion. Medicaid.gov’s page for each says the new work requirement “doesn’t apply in your state.” Source · Medicaid.gov

When your state starts

43 states and the District of Columbia must run the rule by January 1, 2027. A few started sooner:

States with their own start dates (state agency and Medicaid.gov pages, read October 10, 2026)

State	When it starts
Arkansas	Arkansas began checking on July 1, 2026, with no penalties until January 1, 2027.
Georgia	In Georgia, Pathways members see the new rule at their first renewal on or after January 1, 2027.
Iowa	Iowa starts the rule December 1, 2026 for new applicants, and at renewals from February 2027.
Montana	Montana started the rule on July 1, 2026, beginning with renewals due August 31, 2026.
Nebraska	Nebraska started the rule on May 1, 2026.
Tennessee	In Tennessee, only a small TennCare group is covered, and Medicaid.gov says most of them need to do nothing more.

State Arkansas

When it starts Arkansas began checking on July 1, 2026, with no penalties until January 1, 2027.

State Georgia

When it starts In Georgia, Pathways members see the new rule at their first renewal on or after January 1, 2027.

State Iowa

When it starts Iowa starts the rule December 1, 2026 for new applicants, and at renewals from February 2027.

State Montana

When it starts Montana started the rule on July 1, 2026, beginning with renewals due August 31, 2026.

State Nebraska

When it starts Nebraska started the rule on May 1, 2026.

State Tennessee

When it starts In Tennessee, only a small TennCare group is covered, and Medicaid.gov says most of them need to do nothing more.

Your state checks when you apply and when you renew. If it can’t confirm you meet the rule, it must give you 30 days to show that you do or that you’re exempt. People who lose coverage can reapply at any time. Source · CMS interim final rule

The rule is an interim final rule, and states are suing over how CMS wrote it, arguing it is hard to put in place by January and that it narrows who counts as medically frail. A federal judge declined to pause it in July 2026, and the case goes on. Source · Healthcare Dive

Paying for half-time school

Pell is paid in proportion to your load. With 12 credits as full-time, 6 credits is 50% of a full-time award, so at the $7,395 maximum for 2026-27 that’s up to $3,697.50 a year you don’t repay. Source · FSA Handbook, Vol. 7 Ch. 3

Our guides to Pell for part-time students and free community college for adults show where that money goes furthest.

See what Pell pays toward half-time school

Pell, your state grant and campus aid for your award year, with no name or email.

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