SSI and Parents Paying College

[verizon]

My neice has SSI and is going to a tech school in August 2009. DARS will pay 3/4 parents to pay the other 1/4. If her parents pay that 1'/4 will she still get SSI. Or is it better for her to pay the 1/4 out of SSI?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Her parents would be giving her the money, or paying the school directly?

[verizon]

Which would be better? For the parents to pay directly? For the parents to give to the daughter?

Also they have a college fund set up but the fund is parents name and for the use of the daughter. From what they found out the fund is actually the parents as the owner. (Does that make sense???)

[Janke]

Any cash given to an SSI recipient is generally considered a gift of cash and counts as income to the SSI recipient, effectively reducing the SSI benefits dollar for dollar (small $20 exclusion). An in-kind gift, paying for an expense instead of giving cash is only considered income if it results in the SSI recipient receiving food or shelter. A payment of rent, electricity bill, groceries, can be considered in-kind income but there is a cap on how much of it affects SSI benefits. A payment of college tuition, a car payment, medical expenses, any non-food or shelter item is not cash income nor is it in-kind income and does not affect SSI benefits.

Another avenue to look into is the PASS program. Under a PASS, Plan for Acheiving Self Support, income and resources can be excluded under the PASS as long as there is a viable and approved plan for the SSI recipient to become self-sufficient. Generally, it involves education that should lead to a job someday, in the not-too-distant future. One of the beauties of the PASS program is that there are SSI claims reps who specialize in these cases and provide substantial support and generally are more easily accessible and knowledgeable about this very specialized part of SSI.

Go to socialsecurity.gov and search for Plan for Achieving Self Support.