Is SSA's PASS required of all students with disabilities on SSI?

[underthesun]

Is it necessary for any SSI beneficiary who intends to attend college and pay for tuition through federal work study, loans, and/or scholarships to enroll in SSA's PASS Program to stay SSI eligible?

With Federal loans and scholarships, funds are directly deposited into an individual account, making the asset amount significantly above the SSI asset limit. Is there any scenario where a student is not expected to enroll into PASS?

[november]

I would get in touch with a work incentive specialist or someone who specializes in benefits analysis. Are you working with Voc Rehab? Without knowing details it is hard to say what would be best for you. There are certain types of scholarships/grants that SSI cannot count as income or cannot count as income up to a certain point meaning you have so much time to spend it before SSI considers it a resource. There is also a Student Earned Income Exclusion that can be used when calculating SSI, but you would need to see if fed work study qualifies for that.

A PASS is a powerful work incentive. Are you not wanting to utilize one?