High School Transition: 

Can a PASS & Your Ticket-to-Work 

Help You Pay For College?

High School graduation, one of the most exciting and most discouraging times in life! Most exciting, because after twelve years you are finally finished with school and ready to go out into the world and pursue your dreams. And one of the most discouraging times, because we are in the midst of the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression. For every job out there, statistically, there are 4 people standing in line to get it. 
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But if you have a disability, or special needs, there may as well be twenty people in front of you. That’s because for persons with disabilities almost 79 percent are unemployed, according to the federal Department of Labor.
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More Education

One way to improve the odds of landing a job is getting additional education or vocational training after High School. How can a person who receives SSI or SSDI, and can barely make ends meet, afford to pay for these education options?

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) pays a monthly income to students with disabilities who face financial hardships. Eligible students may also qualify for a Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS) in which a student is able to set aside income and resources that are being used toward a specific vocational goal (such as college tuition) and still receive SSI payments.

The PASS must specify when it will begin and end. If the PASS is to pay for college or another training program, the objective is ordinarily achieved when the degree or certificate is received. The ideal time to write a PASS for college is in your freshman or sophomore year in high school, not your senior year. This way you don’t waste three or four years that savings for college could have been accumulating. By graduation day you may be well along toward paying for your degree.

Funds set aside in a PASS plan are not counted in determining the amount of SSI benefits you are entitled to each month (the funds are not counted against the SSI income limit or the asset limit). As a result, you can set aside substantial amounts of income and still receive the full SSI benefit amount.

Under SSI rules, a person can have no more than $2,000 in non-exempt resources.Resources above $2,000 can be put into the PASS to ensure eligibility for SSI. So a person who is awarded $25,000 in a personal injury
settlement, for example, could place this money into an approved PASS to save toward the expense of college studies, making this resource exempt for SSI purposes.

How does PASS work if you receive SSDI and/or SSI?

If your income from SSDI is $700 a month, and you want to use that money to go back to school, PASS allows you to "set aside" the benefit for tuition, fees, etc. That's $8,400 per year. Once Social Security agrees to the "set aside," they will then replace your income with SSI up to $710 per month, as long as you are eligible for SSI (no more than $2,000 in assets, and the ability to live on SSI income).

For people on SSDI in the right income range, PASS is a gold mine. You trade your benefit for SSI, and finance your education with your SSDI income. You can also "slide" some of your normal expense (for example, transportation, meals eaten away from home and incidentals) into your PASS plan. Although PASS can work at even very high levels of SSDI (for instance $1,200 a month), at some point trading your monthly benefit and living on SSI income becomes difficult if not impossible.

The lengthy, but fairly straightforward PASS application amounts to a simplified business plan. Application forms are available from Social Security or a SSA Ticket-to-Work Employment Network (EN) member. In the application, you must outline your goals, steps and expenses along the way.

PASS plans must be submitted through local offices, but very few local Social Security personnel understand PASS. Instead, completed PASS plans are forwarded to a special unit or “cadre”. PASS proposals are reviewed by a “cadre” of PASS specialists, specially-trained SSA personnel whose primary job it is to review PASS proposals. There are now PASS specialists assigned to every region in the country.

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 I Need Help Completing My PASS plan!

This is where your Ticket-to-Work may come in handy. All SSDI and SSI beneficiaries in cash status between the ages of 18 and 64 are eligible for a ticket. The Ticket to Work Program can help arrange for tuition costs for college, and even transportation. Also, the Ticket to Work Program can provide much of the assistive technology and equipment needed to pursue your college degree. 

Employment Networks (EN) are SSA-approved organizations that provide job training and other employment services and supports to Ticket holders who want to work. ENs may be single organizations, agencies or partnerships of organizations or agencies collaborating to combine resources to serve Ticket holders.

An individual's Ticket serves as proof of SSA's agreement to pay an EN for needed services, and payments are structured to encourage ENs to provide the best possible assistance. This assistance may, but not always, include assistance with writing a PASS.

The billboard at the top of this post is part of the College Foundation of West Virginia’s outreach to help you find the needed cash to go to college. You will find information on many sources of financial aid at their website. But FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the key that opens the door to financial aid, such as Pell Grants. Tuition waivers are another important piece of the college funding puzzle.

Job Squad, Inc. is a Ticket-to-Work EN member with qualified benefits counselors who can help you write your PASS plan. Below are a couple links to examples of folks in West Virginia who braided, or combined, funding to pay for most if not all of their expenses for obtaining a four year bachelors degree. Ron is taking his college courses online from a nationally ranked university.
http://jobsquadinc.blogspot.com/2010/04/looking-for-new-job-been-thinking-about.html
http://jobsquadinc.blogspot.com/2012/08/jaimes-pass-approved.html
Yes, with your Ticket-to-Work you can get the help you need to use a PASS that, combined with other financial resources, can give you the cash to fulfill your college dream. 

Paid Internship Makes Justin a 'Working Man'

When you ask Justin if he likes working on the Power Painters crew he’ll tell you: “Yes! I’m a working man.” And he hopes to be a ‘working man’ for a long time. Justin is presently completing a paid internship at Power Painters & Property Management in Fairmont, WV.

At age 26 Justin finds himself in the same boat as millions of other Americans . . .  looking for a job. Currently, out of a population of about  310 million, over 100 million working-age Americans are unemployed. 

 Besides the challenge of the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression Justin has only one hand, which was severed in a car accident about 8 years ago.  And wouldn’t you know it . . . he’s right handed and that's the one he lost. Imagine trying to do your job, or any job for that matter, with one hand. And then if you are right handed, doing it with your left.

Yet Justin has adapted to this challenge amazingly well. He bowls, can ride a bike, runs track, plays basketball and bocce, as well as uses a two handed controller to play computer video games. Justin especially loves virtual football, auto racing, and is a tenacious Mountaineer sports fan.

What led him to exploring a career as a professional painter? 

“Most folks with significant disabilities get only one or two chances at securing community employment. Therefore, our efforts at finding a quality ecological fit requires precision. The Discovering Personal Genius (DPG) process blends the best of what we know about person-centered assessment, good employment development, and innovative thinking into a road map for action.” LINKING DISCOVERY & EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT - Griffin-Hammis Associates  

Justin is eager to try new things, and loves to be around people. When Shannon Corso, a career counselor who works with Justin, discovered he had some painting experience, arrangements were made for him to help paint the local school stadium and other facilities over the summer. Justin had a great time.

This gave Shannon an idea. She approached Ronnie Hampton, the owner of Power Painters & Property Management, and requested an interview to gather some information. Justin liked what he saw and heard. Shannon then suggested he try an individualized paid internship. Justin’s work would be customized to fit tasks he was interested in trying. And Ronnie could see what Justin was able to learn and do, while at the same time opening the door to possible future employment.  According to the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation:

“Many employers with experience hiring people with disabilities indicate that the presence or absence of disability was not a primary concern when making hiring decisions. One study found, for example, that regardless of the nature or severity of disability more than75% of youth who completed a standardized work-based internship program in high school were offered ongoing employment by their host companies, even though the companies were under no obligation to retain the interns beyond the internship period. This strongly suggests that, once individuals with disabilities are on the job and performing, their contributions to the companies’ enterprise negates, or at least obscures, their disability in the eyes of their employers.”

“In fact, there is a history of research that supports the notion that company hiring decisions are less influenced by the presence or absence of disability than by potential contributions by a job candidate to the company, especially when it is clear that value is being added to the employer’s enterprise.”
Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 29 (2008) 3–13 3/Emerging employer views of people with disabilities and the future of job development-Richard G. Luecking

Justin M Power Painting from bconnaughton

Job Squad has been using this customized paid internship approach to discover, through observation, if there is a potential good fit that involves tasks, work conditions, skills, and who the job seeker is. Then, by trying some things out—use the “trying things out” time as an opportunity for the job seeker’s skills and contributions to be seen, look for ways to have a conversation about employment.

Justin and Job Squad really appreciate the support from business owners like Ronnie Hampton who believe that everyone can make a valuable contribution when given the chance.