(a) Term of service. In order to be eligible for the educational award described in §2522.240(a), participants serving in approved AmeriCorps positions must complete a term of service as defined in this section:
(1) Full-time service. 1,700 hours of service during a period of not less than nine months and not more than one year.
(2) Part-time service. 900 hours of service during a period of not more than two years, or, if the individual is enrolled in an institution of higher education while performing all or a portion of the service, not more than three years.
(3) Reduced part-time term of service. The Corporation may reduce the number of hours required to be served in order to receive an educational award for certain part-time participants serving in approved AmeriCorps positions. In such cases, the educational award will be reduced in direct proportion to the reduction in required hours of service. These reductions may be made for summer programs, for categories of participants in certain approved AmeriCorps programs and on a case-by-case, individual basis as determined by the Corporation.
(4) Summer programs. A summer program, in which less than 1700 hours of service are performed, are part-time programs.
(b) Restriction on multiple terms. An AmeriCorps participant may only receive the benefits described in §§2522.240 through 2522.250 for the first two successfully-completed terms of service, regardless of whether those terms were served on a full-, part-, or reduced part-time basis.
(c) Eligibility for second term. A participant will only be eligible to serve a second or additional term of service if that individual has received satisfactory performance review(s) for any previous term(s) of service in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (d) of this section. Mere eligibility for a second or further term of service in no way guarantees a participant selection or placement.
(d) Participant performance review. For the purposes of determining a participant's eligibility for a second or additional term of service and/or for an AmeriCorps educational award, each AmeriCorps program will evaluate the performance of a participant mid-term and upon completion of a participant's term of service. The end-of-term performance evaluation will assess the following: (1) Whether the participant has completed the required number of hours described in paragraph (a) of this section;
(2) Whether the participant has satisfactorily completed assignments, tasks or projects; and
(3) Whether the participant has met any other performance criteria which had been clearly communicated both orally and in writing at the beginning of the term of service.
(e) Limitation. The Corporation may set a minimum or maximum percentage of hours of a full-time, part-time, or reduced term of service described in paragraphs (a)(1),(a)(2), and (a)(3) of this section that a participant may engage in training, education, or other similar approved activities
(f) Grievance procedure. Any AmeriCorps participant wishing to contest a program's ruling of unsatisfactory performance may file a grievance according to the procedures set forth in part 2540 of this chapter. If that grievance procedure or subsequent binding arbitration procedure finds that the participant did in fact satisfactorily complete a term of service, then that individual will be eligible to receive an educational award and/or be eligible to serve a second term of service.