• Social Security disability benefits are not generally affected by going to school."LotofWheelChairs" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: Dan Kamminga (Dan Kamminga) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Social Security Disablity Payments

• The Social Security Administration (SSA) pays disability benefits to certain people who cannot work because they have a medical condition that is expected to last at least one year or to result in death.
  
  

Who Is Eligible?

• Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is available only to individuals who are "insured," that is, only individuals who have made contributions to the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax either personally or through their spouses. This means that to receive benefits, in addition to being disabled, an individual must have done a minimum amount of work and must have paid taxes. For instance, a person who becomes disabled at age 30 must have worked at least two years to be eligible for benefits, while a person who becomes disabled at age 50 must have worked seven years to be eligible for benefits.
  
  

Time Frame

• In addition, an individual may qualify for benefits only if she worked within a prescribed amount of time immediately prior to becoming disabled. For example, a person age 31 or older must have done some work in each of five years out of the 10-year period ending with the quarter when her disability began in order to be eligible for benefits.
  
  That means that if a 34-year-old man becomes disabled in December 2009, he will only qualify for disability benefits if: (1) he has worked at least a total of three years at any time before becoming disabled; and (2) he did some work in each of five years out of a 10-year period beginning when he was 24 years old and ending in the fourth quarter of 2009.
  
  

Can I Attend School?

• There are no regulations prohibiting a person who is collecting disability benefits from attending school. However, it is important to remember that there is often more to attending school than simply taking classes. Internships, externships, working part time for a professor are all activities that the SSA could consider "substantial gainful activity." Such activities could result in a forfeiture of benefits.
  
  

Other Activities

• Substantial gainful activity is not just work done for pay or profit; it also includes anything typically done for pay or profit. Therefore, even if your internship is not paid, if you are doing the type of work that is typically done for pay, you may be risking your benefits.