Will my going to school when I apply for SSDI hurt my chances of success?

I had previously posted a blog talking about the possible problems a claimant raises in applying for social security disability while working a part time job.  

Another situation that comes up more often then I would like to see is the claimant who is  in school, college or technical college and applying for benefits.  This throws up as many issues as the claimant who is working part time.

The social security administration concern and its investigation is trying to determine whether or not the course based work, i.e. the course load, is similar in time requirements, schedule requirements and exertion as a full time job.  The argument is that the tasks, skills used day to day in school provide evidence that the claimant has the functional capacity to do a job at some acceptable exertional level.

In these cases, it is important to introduce all modification, alterations, and or accommodations the claimant may have been granted to allow participation in school. The claimant would not succeed with out the accommodations and the accommodations are such that no employer would grant them to an employee, i.e. more then three days off a month, late turn in times etc.

The claimant and his/her attorney will have to show to social security that the  day to day requirements of the school attendance does not conform to the day to day requirements of competitive employment. There are questions to think about. Is the course work all on line?  Is the claimant given substantial time off?  Is the claimant given additional time to finish it task or submit his/her assignments?  Is the claimant given a large amount of assistance?

Social security needs to be convinced that the accommodations given the claimant, the day to day stress in doing school work is an environment not nearly as demanding as competitive employment. 

Going to school, attending the class work and obtaining acceptable grades adds an additional obstacle in obtaining benefits.  I always explain this to a client at time of the application.



This is not to be construed as legal advise, nor is there any attempt to establish an attorney client relationship between myself and anyone reading this blog.  It is simply my thoughts on the subject matter.

Recently attended a hearing in which this was an issue.  The judge spent a lot of time trying to get the claimant to explain how lessons were completed, i.e. typed.  I spent a lot of time, questioning my client trying to show the accommodations, plus referencing exhibits from the school.  The bottom line, it added a real issue that need not have been there.