Rescinded 1986
SSR 68-43: Section 202(d)(7)(A).—Child's Insurance Benefits—Student Paid by Employer During Full-Time School Attendance—Army Student Nurse Program
20 CFR 404.320(c)(1)
SSR 68-43
Where, under the Army student nurses program the enrollee is, under current Army directives, either a member of the United States Army Reserve or the United States Army National Guard and is, upon assignment to the school of her choice, ordered to active duty station at the school selected, held, the student nurse as a member of a uniformed service on active duty, is an employee of the United States, and since she is paid by her employer while attending school at the request, or pursuant to a requirement, of her employer, she is not a "full-time student" within the meaning of section 202(d)(7)(A) of the Act, and, therefore, is not entitled to child's insurance benefits.
C, the 18-year old daughter of R, a disability insurance beneficiary, entered the school of nursing at X Hospital as a full-time student in September 1966. Her entitlement to child's insurance benefits was continued beyond age 18 since C met all the entitlement requirements of section 202(d)(1) of the Act. However, in January 1968, C raised a question as to her continued eligibility for child's benefits if she enlisted in the student nurses program as a member of the Women's Army Corps (WAC), U.S. Army Reserve. She indicated that under such an arrangement she would be enabled to continue her nurse's training during which time the WAC would pay her a fixed salary per month.
Section 202(d)(7) of the Act defines the term "full-time student" in pertinent part as:
(A) A "full-time student" is an individual who is in full-time attendance as a student at an educational institution, as determined by the Secretary *** in the light of the standards and practices of the institutions involved, except that no individual shall be considered a "full-time student" if he is paid by his employer while attending an educational institution at the request, or pursuant to a requirement, of his employer. (Emphasis supplied.)
The issue thus presented is whether C would be excluded from the definition of "full-time student" by the exception in section 202(d)(7)(A) of the Act pertaining to students who are paid by their employer while attending an educational institution at the request, or pursuant to a requirement, of their employer, thus terminating her present entitlement to child's insurance benefits.
Section 210(1) of the Act, as pertinent here, provides that:
(1) * * * the term "employment" shall * * * include service performed after December 1956 by an individual as a member of a uniformed service on active duty * * *.
(2) The term "active duty" means "active duty" as described in section 102 of the Servicemen's and Veterans' Survivor Benefits Act, except that it shall also include "active duty for training" as described in such section.
Section 210(m) of the Act provides, in pertinent part:
The term "member of a uniformed service" means any person appointed, enlisted, or inducted in a component of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard (including a reserve component of a uniformed service as defined in section 102(3) of the Servicemen's and Veterans' Survivor Benefits Act) * * *.
Section 101 of title 38, United States Code (section 102 of the Servicemen's and Veterans' Survivor Benefits Act), provides as pertinent here that:
(21) The term "active duty" means—
(A) full-time duty in the Armed Forces, other than active duty for training; * * *.
* * * * * * *
(22) The term "active duty for training" means—
(A) full-time duty in the Armed Forces performed by Reserves for training purposes; * * *.
* * * * * * *
(26) The term "Reserve" means a member of a reserve component of one of the Armed Forces.
(27) The term "reserve component" means, with respect to the Armed Forces—
(A) the Army Reserve; * * * (F) the National Guard of the United States; * * *"
Section 101(10) of title 38, United States Code, provides that:
The term "Armed Forces" means the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, including the reserve components thereof.
The Army Nurse Corps section of the U.S. Army Reserve was established by section 114, Army-Navy Nurses Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 46). Pursuant to this authority, regulations pertaining to appointment in the Army Nurse Corps of the Army Medical Service of the Regular Army, or to the Army Nurse Corps Section of the Army Reserve, were published in 32 CFR, Chapter V, §570.14. The Department of the Army, in turn, implemented in Army Regulation No. 601-19, its instructions for the procurement of personnel for the Army Student Nurse Program.
Under the Army Student Nurse Program, it appears that the plan in which C was interested requires the student to enlist in the Army Nurse Corps Section of the Women's Army Corps (WAC), U.S. Army Reserve or the U.S. Army National Guard. The student nurses are then ordered to active duty at their respective schools of nursing for the purpose of continuing their studies until completion of the educational requirements for a diploma or baccalaureate degree. They are assigned to the Student Detachment of the headquarters of the Army area or Military District of Washington, U.S. Army, in which the school of their choice is located.
Since the Army Nurse Corps Section of the WAC, U.S. Army Reserve, is a component of the U.S. Army, a student enrolled therein who enters upon active duty upon assignment to the school selected is a "member of a uniformed service on active duty" within the meaning of section 210(1) of the Act. A student nurse "on active duty" is an employee of the U.S. Army and hence of the United States and her attendance at the school is included in the term "employment" under section 210(1) of the Act.
The student nurse who thus receives pay as a member of the Armed Forces in a duty status is paid by her employer and where, as here, C would attend school at the request, or pursuant to a requirement, of her employer, she would come within the exception of section 202(d)(7)(A) of the Act.
Accordingly, it is held that upon entry on active duty in the student nurse program as a member of the WAC, U.S. Army Reserve, or U.S. Army National Guard, the student becomes an employee of the United States, and since she is paid by her employer and attends school pursuant to a requirement of her employer, the individual is not a "full-time student" within the meaning of section 202(d)(7)(A) of the Act, and does not quality for child's insurance benefits.