I’m curious to know if anyone over 22 on here attends college or technical school PT or FT while on SSDI. If so, how old are you? How long have you been going? How do you report it to SSDI? (Or do you not report it?) Did you lose your benefits because of attending college?
I have heard that being a student while on SSDI can cause you to lose your benefits and wanted to know if anyone has had personal experience with this. Thanks
Your supposed to use the ticket to work program for school. Most people dont report it but you should
I’m 34 and have just graduated. It took me 3 years part time to finish. I didn’t report it to ssdi because its not income, but I did go through a review. In the ssdi review paperwork and interview I told them I was going to school and hoped to work soon. I passed the review and am still on ssdi. I wish I had known about the programs available before I started school because then maybe I would have gotten more grants or funds or something. I was told once you start school and begin paying on your own or with loans its hard to get into access-vr, so I never tried. I didn’t lose any of my other benefits either, like medicaid, foodstamps, or heap.
@Skims What is access-vr? I haven’t started school yet. What should I be doing to minimize my school loans? Also, how did you pass your review as still being disabled if you are able to go to school? That is my big fear.
I’m going back to school in september and am on Social Security disability…
Any advice for me?
I don’t understand the whole process.
I was unaware of this affecting my benefits, whatsoever.
I better start being proactive about this.
I forgot to apply for fafsa and scholarships, I’ll do that now.
Access-vr is a NY state run vocational program for people with disabilities, it might be called something different in your state but i think every state has a program. It works with the ticket to work program. I have no idea how to minimize loans, i did get state grants and federal loans for my tuition at low interest rates. After 3 years my loan is around $27,000 and when I start paying back in January my payment is going to be about $277 a month for 10 years. Try to go for scholarships if you are up to it. I wasn’t up for writing essays so I didn’t because I was in and out of a deep depression and could barely do anything extra. But if you go through the ticket to work or access-vr programs they might help you with those too.
I have no idea how I passed the review, I was so stressed out for a month until the interview. But I was very honest about how I was doing on the paperwork. Attending school and doing well, and about whatever symptoms I was having. Someone on sz.com once said to describe your worst day for the questions about your symptoms so thats what I did although not every day is like those days. I think my pdoc might have had a lot to do with me passing, as he knows me and how to work the system because he works for the county.
@turningthepage apply for fafsa as soon as possible. It may be too late for fall semester scholarships as the deadline has probably passed. You can start looking at Spring semester scholarships. I was forthcoming with the school as to my disability. I went to the school counseling center and spoke with someone who got me special accommodations for testing. I also told one of my professors as I wanted career advice. I always started the conversation with something about confidentiality so they wouldn’t tell anyone outside the room. If you have extra cash at the end of the year or anytime pay off your student loan interest, it’ll help in the long run.
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I have thought about school…but I panic just thinking about it now. Test/exam stress is a trigger for me. I posted about self-study programs - I know a lot of colleges have online now, but don’t know about self-study. Off meds my mind has clearer days and I am not sleeping all the time - so I think my mind is giving myself some false hope here that I would ever be able to go back and get a degree in something useful.