(a) AmeriCorps will automatically grant an extension to the use period of an education award if the individual served and successfully completed a term of service in an approved national service position that fell within the use period for that education award and applies for an extension under § 2525.41.

(1) The use period will be extended by the length of the individual's additional approved and completed term of service at the time of the extension application.

(2) For purposes of this extension, AmeriCorps will treat all service in AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps as service in another AmeriCorps-approved national service position.

(3) If the additional of service is in the Peace Corps, the individual requesting an extension will need to provide a Description of Service, signed by the country's director or designee for the Peace Corps service.

(b) If AmeriCorps determines that an Eligible Individual or Designated Recipient was unavoidably prevented from using the education award during the original use period, AmeriCorps may grant an extension for a period of time that AmeriCorps deems appropriate, but generally not for more than one year from the end of the original use period. Also, AmeriCorps will grant only one extension of the use period except in very limited circumstances, such as, for example, when the event preventing the member from timely using their education award is likely to exist for more than 12 months, such as active military duty.

(1) Examples of situations that may warrant an extension if they hinder use of an education award may include, but are not limited to:

(i) The Eligible Individual's serious illness, injury, or disability;

(ii) The death, serious illness, injury, or disability of someone in the Eligible Individual's immediate family that occurs close to the end of the use period;

(iii) The destruction or inaccessibility of important service records maintained by the program;

(iv) Natural disasters;

(v) Military service that prevents the use of an education award, such as active duty overseas (but a person in the reserves or National Guard who has not been called up on active duty, or who is enlisted in the military, is not necessarily unavoidably prevented from timely using their education award because of their military service).

(2) When considering whether to grant an extension, AmeriCorps also will consider whether:

(i) The extension is a result of the individual's choices or actions or factors beyond the individual's control;

(ii) The need for the extension is in any part attributable to AmeriCorps' or an AmeriCorps-funded entity's actions;

(iii) The lending institution or institution entitled to the payment failed to take an action, or took an action, that resulted in the individual needing/wanting the extension.

(c) Examples of circumstances that do not meet the criteria for granting an extension may include but are not limited to:

(1) Employment or unemployment, even in a position with a non-profit organization involved in community service.

(2) Forgetting to use the education award, being unaware of the use-period restrictions, or not receiving his or her education award expiration notice.

(3) Being too young to use a transferred education award.