General. We consider you to be making timely progress toward self-supporting employment when you show progress as described below toward the ability to work at levels which will reduce your dependence on Social Security disability benefits or SSI benefits. We will also consider you to be making timely progress when you obtain a high school diploma or GED certificate in the first 12-month progress certification period, or if you show progress as described below toward obtaining an educational degree or certificate or vocational or technical training that will enhance your ability to return to work. In addition, if you complete a certain percentage of the work requirement and a certain percentage of the post-secondary education requirement or vocational or technical training requirement in the applicable progress certification period under the guidelines below, and the sum of the two percentages equals 100 or more, we will consider you to have met the timely progress requirements for purposes of the progress review conducted at the end of the 12-month progress certification period. For example, if you complete 33.3 percent of the work requirement during the first 12-month progress certification period as described in
paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section (i.e., one month of work with earnings equal to or greater than the amount representing a trial work service month), and complete 66.7 percent of the requisite credit hours in an educational program during this period as described in
paragraph (c)(1)(iii) of this section (i.e., 40 percent of the post-secondary credit hours that are considered to represent an academic year of full-time study), we will consider you to have met the timely progress requirements for purposes of the progress review conducted at the end of the first 12-month progress certification period. In addition, we will apply the variance tolerance described in
§ 411.166(h) in determining whether you have met the requirements in paragraph
(c)(1)(iii),
(iv) or
(v), paragraph
(c)(2)(ii),
(iii) or
(iv), paragraph
(c)(3)(iii) or
(v), paragraph
(c)(4)(ii) or
(iii), or paragraph
(c)(5)(ii) or
(iii) of this section.