Setting Aside Money in a PASS

Most people who do a PASS already get SSI benefits. However, some people who don't get SSI can also do a PASS, if the PASS plan will help them qualify for SSI.

Here are a couple of examples of how this could work:

• If you don’t qualify for SSI benefits because of your SSDI benefits, you could put the money you get from SSDI into a PASS. Once you put the SSDI money into the PASS, it will no longer count as income for SSI and you could qualify for SSI benefits.
• If you don't qualify for SSI benefits because of the resource limit, you could move your savings into a PASS and become eligible.

Note: If you are getting SSDI and you apply for SSI because of your PASS, Social Security may do a new disability determination to make sure you are still eligible for benefits.

Fred’s only source of monthly income is $1,110 from SSDI. He does not currently qualify for SSI because his total countable income is too high.

Fred wants to attend a vocational training program. He wants to set up a PASS plan to pay for the tutition, books, and other fees. He knows that if he sets aside some of his SSDI benefits in a PASS account, his countable income will drop low enough to qualify him for SSI.

Fred can apply for the PASS program for this reason.

Once he has a PASS plan, he will be able to get SSI benefits that can help cover his living expenses. But how much of his SSDI benefit can he put in his PASS account, and how much SSI will he get? He meets with a benefits expert to discuss his questions. The benefits expert explains that Social Security will use the SSI Countable Income Calculation to figure out his monthly SSI benefits amount.

Here is how the SSI Countable Income Calculation would work in Fred’s situation.

Step 1: Figure Out Countable Unearned Income
Even though Fred gets $1,110/month from SSDI, he will not be able to set aside the whole amount for his PASS. According to program rules, he will only be able to use the countable unearned income portion of his SSDI.

So Fred has $1,090 of SSDI benefits he can set aside in his PASS each month.

Step 2: Figure Out Countable Earned Income
Fred is not working so he does not have any countable earned income.

Step 3: Figure Out Total Countable Income
To calculate his total countable income, Fred will add his countable unearned income ($1,090) to his countable earned income ($0), then subtract his PASS contribution ($1,090). Because he is putting all of his countable SSDI benefits into his PASS account, his total countable income drops to $0.

Step 4: Figure Out Monthly SSI Cash Benefit
The Federal Benefit Rate is $967 in 2025. To calculate his monthly SSI benefit, Fred would subtract his countable income from that amount. Because of his PASS contribution, Fred doesn't have any countable income, so he gets the full $967 each month in SSI.

Summary:

Before PASS: Fred gets $1,110/ month in SSDI benefits.

After PASS: Fred gets $1,110/month in SSDI and gets $967/month in SSI benefits. And he’s saving a lot of that money to pay for his vocational training program.