SSI Eligibility for Young People
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) pays a monthly benefits amount to people who have low income and low resources and are disabled or blind. To get SSI benefits, you have to meet certain rules. Some rules are the same, regardless of your age. For example:
- You must be a U.S. citizen or an eligible immigrant
However, other rules change a lot depending on your age. The biggest changes involve:
- How SSI decides whether you have a disability
- Whose income and resources are counted when SSI decides if your income and resources are low enough for you to get benefits
How to Apply for SSI
You can apply for SSI at your local Social Security office or by calling 1-800-772-1213 or 1-800-325-0778 (TTY). Talk to a Benefits Specialist to learn more about how to apply.
Many people who qualify for SSI benefits also qualify for MO HealthNet and SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), but you have to apply for those programs separately.
If you are blind and age 18 or older, you may be able to get additional cash benefits through Missouri’s Supplemental Aid to the Blind program or Blind Pension program. You do not have to get SSI to qualify for these benefits. If you think you might qualify for one of them, contact your local Family Support Division (FSD) office.
Eligibility Details
Our description of SSI eligibility is divided into four parts:
- SSI if you are younger than 18
- If you get SSI and are turning 18 soon
- SSI if you are already 18 or older
- Incentives that help you go to school, work, and save money
SSI if You Are Younger than 18
If you are under 18, SSI says you are a child and have a disability if:
- You have a physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments
- Your impairments cause severe limitations in your daily life, and
- Your condition has lasted or is expected to last for at least 12 months.
Not everybody with a disability automatically gets benefits. You must also have no other way to pay for basic expenses like food, rent, and utilities. If you are under 18, SSI decides whether you need help by looking at the money you and your parents earn and the resources you and your parents have, including bank accounts, stocks, real estate, and insurance policies.
Note: You can open an ABLE account where over time you can save up to $100,000 in resources and not have them counted by SSI. Learn more about ABLE accounts.
SSI counts both your income and resources and your parents’ income and resources when you are under 18 because they expect your parents to pay for your living expenses. This is called parent-to-child deeming.
For example, SSI could look at your parents’ income and decide to lower your benefits by $200 due to parent-to-child deeming. Instead of giving you a check for $943, they would give you a check for $743.
If you or your parents make too much money or have too many resources, you will not get SSI benefits. The exact limits depend on the size of your family. A complete table of income limits for families with a disabled child is listed near the bottom of Social Security’s SSI for Children webpage.
Almost all children under 18 have benefits sent to a parent or guardian. This person is called a representative payee. Occasionally, persons who are 16 or older can be their own payees, but they must meet strict criteria and prove that they are capable of managing their own finances.
If you live with one parent, and get child support from your other parent, SSI counts two-thirds of the child support as income.
Your parent gets $300 each month from child support. SSI counts two-thirds of that and lowers your monthly SSI benefits amount by $200.
Sometimes child support comes in the form of shelter, instead of a check. In that case, SSI will figure out how much money that support is worth and count two-thirds of it as income. In the case of shelter, your benefits check could be lowered by a maximum of $314.33.
If You Get SSI and Are Turning 18
If you get SSI and then you turn 18, the biggest change in SSI eligibility rules is that you are considered an adult, not a child. When SSI decides whether you have a disability, SSI will not use their definition of disability for children. Instead, as an adult, SSI looks at your ability to work, not just your physical or mental limitations. That means that some people stop getting SSI benefits after they turn 18.
During the first year after you turn 18, SSI will automatically check to see if they still consider you disabled. This is called the SSI Age-18 Redetermination. They will say you have a disability if:
- You have a physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments
- Your impairments limit your ability to work, and
- Your condition has lasted or is expected to last for at least 12 months.
SSI may also look at your work and school record to see if you are able to work and may even talk to your teachers, counselors, or employers.
If you are going through the SSI Age-18 redetermination, Social Security may consider you to have a disability, even if you are working and earn less than $1,550 per month.
If you were not getting SSI before you turned 18 and you apply for SSI as an adult, Social Security may consider you to have a disability if you are working, but only if you make less than $1,550 per month, if you aren't blind. If you are blind, you could earn much more.
If SSI decides that you are not disabled because you don’t meet the adult definition of disability, you will no longer be able to get SSI benefits. They will keep sending you SSI checks for two months, but then your benefits will end. In this situation, if you still want to get SSI benefits, you have two options:
- You can appeal. When SSI sends you the letter telling you that your benefits are ending, you have 10 days to request an appeal. During the appeal process, you can ask that SSI continue your benefits until they make a decision. For more information on the appeals process, click here.
- If you are participating in an employment support program, like Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), an Individualized Education Program (IEP), a Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS), or any other program approved by SSI that will help you get a good job in the future, you can apply to continue benefits through a special rule called Section 301.
If SSI says that you meet the adult definition of disability and that you will continue to get benefits after turning 18, these are the things that could impact the monthly amount you get:
- Parent-to-child deeming ends. This means that SSI will no longer count your parents’ income and resources when considering your eligibility for benefits. This may help you get higher benefits than before you were 18.
- If you or your family gets child support for your living expenses, SSI will now count the full amount as income. This may cause your benefits to go down.
- Your living situation: If you live alone or pay your fair share of expenses as a roommate with others, your benefits amount may be higher than if you live with others who help pay for your shelter.
- In-kind support and maintenance: If someone else helps to pay your rent, your benefits amount may be lowered by up to one-third ($314.33). This is called a Value Third Reduction (VTR).
If you have any questions about this, talk to a Benefits Specialist.
SSI if You Are Already 18 or Older
If you are 18 or older and did not get SSI before turning 18, SSI says you are an adult and have a disability if:
- You have a physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments
- Your impairments limit your ability to work, preventing you from earning Substantial Gainful Activity ($1,550 per month if you’re not blind), and
- Your condition has lasted or is expected to last for at least 12 months
Note: If you are blind, you could be able to earn more than $1,550 per month.
Some people who get SSI benefits before they are 18 lose their benefits when they turn 18 because they don’t meet the adult definition of disability. Other people who couldn’t get SSI benefits before they were 18, due to parent-to-child deeming, may now be able to get benefits.
Not everybody who meets the adult definition of disability automatically gets benefits. You must also have no other way to pay for basic expenses like food, rent, and utilities. If you are over 18, SSI decides whether you need help by looking at your income and how many resources you have, including bank accounts, stocks, real estate, and insurance policies.
There are certain cases where SSI will not lower your benefits amount because you have a job or are saving money. Read about these in the section on Incentives that Help You Go to School, Work, and Save.
Learn more about SSI for adults in DB101's SSI article.
If you work, you may have to spend money on things, like transportation, medical expenses, or accommodations, to do your job. If you have a disability, SSI may consider some of your expenses to be Impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWEs) and may not count the money you spend on them as income. If you are blind, the rules are a bit different and the expenses are called Blind Work Expenses (BWEs). Be sure to keep all receipts for expenses you think qualify as IRWEs or BWEs.
The bottom line: If you have IRWEs or BWEs, you may qualify for SSI even if you think your income is too high to get it. Or, you might get higher SSI benefits than you otherwise would.
Incentives That Help You Go to School, Work, and Save
SSI and many other government benefits programs have strict limits on how much income and savings you can have. If you go over the limits, you will no longer get benefits. The problem is that sometimes they end up preventing people from working and saving.
When the government realized that these limits were actually stopping people from getting jobs, saving money, and living better, they created work incentives like the Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE), Plans to Achieve Self-Support (PASS), Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), and ABLE Accounts that help you earn and save money without losing your benefits.
Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE)
Usually, if you make too much money, your SSI benefits will either go down or stop altogether. There are some exceptions to this rule, however, which SSI calls exclusions.
One of those exclusions is the Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE). This exclusion lets students earn up to $2,290 per month, and up to $9,230 per year, without having those wages count as part of their countable income.
In order to qualify for the SEIE, you have to be under 22, working, and regularly attending school. That usually means you have to go to school more than:
- 8 hours a week for college students
- 12 hours a week for grades 7 – 12
- 12 – 15 hours a week for employment training
You make $1,050 per month at a summer job. During the school year, you also make $350 each month at a work-study job. Since the money you make doesn’t go over the monthly and annual limits for the SEIE, your SSI benefits won’t go down at all.
If you drop out of school, you will no longer get the SEIE, and you will get smaller benefits than you would have gotten if you had stayed in school. Stay in school! You’ll get more money thanks to the SEIE, and when you graduate, you’ll get a higher paying job thanks to your degree!
Plans to Achieve Self-Support (PASS)
Usually, if you have too many resources or too much income, you stop qualifying for SSI benefits. Setting up a PASS is one way for people getting SSI benefits to save money without having it count against their benefits eligibility.
To set up a PASS, you must qualify for SSI benefits, have a specific work goal, and have expenses that you need to pay to reach your goal. You must also show that you’ll have enough income to pay for your basic living expenses after you’ve set up your PASS.
There are a couple of big advantages to having a PASS:
- You can use unearned income to save money, which means that you can start saving even if you don’t have a job yet.
- SSI does not count the money that you place in a PASS account as income or resources. So you can earn and save more with a PASS without having your SSI benefits go down.
The limitation is that the money you save with a PASS must be used for an employment-related expense. However, those expenses can include things like money for school, transportation, books, and services.
For more information, read the DB101 article on Building Assets and Wealth or contact a PASS Cadre.
Learn more about SSI young people who work by watching the short video below.
Learn more
School and Work Estimator
Are you a young person? See how working and staying in school can help you.
Getting a Higher Education
Learn about different education options, your rights as a student with a disability, ways to pay for school, and more.
Job Supports and Accommodations
Learn about reasonable accommodations and programs that help make work possible.
Get Expert Help
How Work Affects SSI and SSDI
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Call MO Protection and Advocacy Services
1-800-392-8667 -
Call the Show Me Employment Project
1-314-289-4200 -
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) clients: Call
1-877-222-8963 -
Call the Ticket to Work Help Line
1-866-968-7842
MO HealthNet
- Contact your Family Support Division (FSD) office
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Call the FSD Info Center
1-855-373-4636
Medicare
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Call Medicare
1-800-633-4227 -
Call Missouri SHIP
1-800-390-3330
Work Preparation
- Contact your Vocational Rehabilitation office
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Contact Rehabilitation Services for the Blind
1-800-592-6004 -
Contact your local Missouri Job Center
1-888-728-5627