Social Security Disability Benefits & College Degrees

A five-step process determines Social Security disability benefits. The first is if the person claiming disability (the claimant) is working. You cannot work and be disabled from work. Step three is if the claimant has a diagnosis Social Security considers disabling. The third step identifies if the condition does not meet certain diagnoses but is severe and impacts the ability to work. What is then determined is if the claimant can continue working or is able to do other work. Education has a significant impact on whether or not a claimant can be retrained to do other work.

College Education

• Social Security considers a claimant with a college education capable of being retrained to do many other types of work. As many jobs are sedentary or require light work to perform (lifting and carrying 20 pounds occasionally and only walking a few minutes a day), it would be hard for a college-educated claimant to have a severe condition and be unable to do any other types of work.

Previous income

• It's important to remember Social Security does not consider income level when determining disability. A surgeon earning six figures or more who may no longer able to practice medicine can be told the condition may prevent doing surgery but does not prevent answering phone or doing secretarial work for less than ten dollars an hour. The surgeon's claim could be denied on that basis.

Training

• A college education indicates a claimant exhibits not only advanced knowledge in certain work but also the ability to study and learn difficult topics. This will aid the claimant when training to learn a new trade and thus makes the severe medical condition even less likely to be disabling.

College Tuition

• Social Security benefits are cash payments made monthly directly to claimants determined disabled. The money can be spent in any way the beneficiary desires. The money can be used to pay tuition or other expenses related to continuing higher education. Payments can also be used to pay living expenses and other bills while college scholarship money is used to finance the education. Again, benefits are paid in cash to beneficiaries and are not restricted by any conditions on how the money is spent.

Disability Review

• One thing the disabled worker should remember, however, is every disability claim is regularly reviewed at one, three or seven-year intervals. If the claimant earns a college degree during that time, then the claimant's ability to learn and be retrained may change. The college degree can be a gateway to better opportunities and also indicate the claimant is no longer too disabled to work.