Will College Financial Aid Affect SSI?
Question: I am getting SSI (Supplemental Security Income). Will any of my financial aid be deducted from my income?
No, your financial aid award will not affect your SSI.
However, when you apply for financial aid, your SSI will count as “income.”Typically, SSI payments are so low that they will not have any significant impact on financial aid awards. But if you have any other sources of household income, then the SSI will be combined with these sources to determine your EFC (“Estimated Family Contribution”).Examples of “other sources of income” could include a spouse’s income if you are married or your parents’ income, if you are under 24 and not legally “emancipated” from your parents, even if you don’t live with them. (Legal emancipation is tricky and is a hard status to obtain before age 24. It doesn't simply mean that you live on your own and don't get any support from your family.)
But the amount that you receive in your SSI check will not change regardless of your financial aid award.
(posted 11/19/2010)
Sally Rubenstone
Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents’ Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student’s Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student’s Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC’s Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential’s “Ask the Dean” column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.