Social Security and You: There's a Reason for All the Rules
Sometimes readers take me to task for not explaining a particular facet of the law when I write a column about some Social Security topic or another. I usually respond by pointing out that if I tried to cover every "if, and or but" associated with whatever Social Security topic I am trying to explain, my column would fill up half the newspaper or website in which it appears. And I recently came across a good example of this.
A reader asked me when benefits to his daughter would end. He is getting retirement benefits and has one minor daughter left at home collecting dependent benefits on his record. I responded by saying this: "Student benefits end when the child reaches age 18 but can continue until 19 if the child is still in high school."
But then out of curiosity, I checked the Social Security Administration rule book about this issue. And that rule book went on for about 10 pages answering the same question I answered in that one sentence!
It started out by going over the general policy (essentially my one-sentence answer), but then it went on and on and on to cover all the possible exceptions that could occur. Here is just a brief summary. (In the sections below, "FTA" means full-time attendance.)
No. 1: Student graduates and benefits terminate before age 19.
James attained age 18 in March and graduated from a secondary level program in May. He has no plans to continue attendance in a secondary level program, so his benefits terminate in June.
No. 2: Student graduates before age 19 and continues in FTA in a secondary level course. Her student benefits terminate before age 19.
Emily attains age 18 in April and graduates from a secondary school in June. She is on vacation in July and August and plans to continue FTA at a secondary school September through December. Her benefits terminate in January because she is no longer in FTA.
No. 3: Student graduates before age 19 and continues in FTA in a secondary level course. Her student benefits terminate at age 19.
Emily attains age 18 in April and graduates from a secondary school in June. She continues in FTA in a secondary level course in September, planning to attend through June. She receives benefits based on her FTA in a secondary level program through March. Her benefits terminate in April, the month she attains age 19, because she already graduated from secondary school.
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