If you receive assistance from a state welfare agency, it’s important that you follow their eligibility requirements. When you receive medical assistance, food stamps or other aid from the government in your state, you must have assets and an annual income that falls below a specific threshold. Unfortunately, if you have a higher amount of liquid assets or earn more money than is allowed, your benefits may be canceled.
Eligibility Thresholds
If you have the opportunity to increase the annual earnings that you bring in or boost your portfolio assets, it’s important that you check the eligibility thresholds at your state welfare agency. You can do this by searching the internet for “food stamps” and “your state.” You may also want to search for listings in your city.
To be eligible for food stamps, you must not have a higher amount of liquid assets than is allowed. This may vary between states as it is often dependent on political policies and the costs associated with living in a certain area. For example, the eligibility threshold in California is going to be higher than a state like West Virginia as the cost of living in California is relatively higher than the latter state.
The eligibility requirements for liquid assets will also vary state-by-state. You will need to check with the welfare agency in your local area to determine which assets are considered to be “liquid.”
Student Loan Refunds
If you recently graduated or decided to drop out of school, you may be eligible for a student loan refund. The size of the refund will determine if you are still eligible for receiving assistance from the state for food stamps.
If you had a large number of credits that you didn’t use, you may be eligible for a refund that is as large as $1000. In this situation, it’s likely that your eligibility for food stamps will be affected.
Reporting Income
If you do receive a student loan refund for unused credits, there may be a way that you can avoid reporting a portion of that income. After the refund is posted to the account at your bank, you may be able to utilize some of the funds by paying for clothing and food as these are necessities that you use every day. By utilizing cash to pay for these items, you may be able to claim a lesser amount of the refund that you receive when you complete an annual income statement for eligibility.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!