From remaining income, the SSA will divide the amount by half, and deduct said half from federal benefit rate given to individual. Hence, the Student Earned Income Exclusion can help support secondary education by increasing monthly disposable income, on top of SSI benefits (also eligible for federal and state medical benefits while under SSI).

Total Income After SSA Exclusions

The additional disregard and exclusion amounts have not changed since 2002.

Note Concerning the Additional SSA Income Exclusions

After the exhaustion of the student earned income exclusion, additional income exclusions for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are possible. The Social Security Administration (SSA) offers two additional exclusions: an Earned Income Disregard of \$65 from countable earnings, and a General Income Exclusion of \$20 applied to unearned income or, if there is no unearned income, to remaining countable income.

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In 2002, the SSA allowed students under 22, who attended school and met the criteria, to exclude up to \$1,320 of earned income per month. Hence, students could earn up to \$5,340 per year and not have their SSI benefits reduced. The exclusion is applied only to earned income until it reaches the monthly and annual limits. Necessary documentation regarding educational attendance and monthly earnings must be provided.

SSA Student Earned Income Exclusion as of 2002

Golden, T. P., & Jones, M. A. (n.d.). SSI and Postsecondary Education Support for Students with Disabilities.

SSI and Postsecondary Education Support for Students with Disabilities

On the current SSA website, the exclusion as of 2024 states that working students with disabilities can exclude up to $1,640 per month, but not more than $6,600 in a calendar year.

Student Earned Income Exclusion as of 2024

Based on the data, there has only been a 24.24% increase in the monthly cap since 2002. Notably, working student income and necessary expenses have gone up since then. Tuition and required fee has gone up immensely since then as well, going from roughly $8,000 to $13,600 according to the NCES. With a considerably low exclusion change, students thus have to report more income, leading to a greater loss of benefits with bigger impact nowadays considering inflation. In other words, the cap change is not reflective of current economic changes.

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