Student mamas, WIC, food stamps and all those things questions

[sharr610]

Hi there! I hope its ok I'm over here although I'm currently in the SAHM category myself.

So DH is in the last 2 years of a PhD program. We are living on his teaching stipend and student loans right now. My question is, for those of you student mamas who receive WIC, food stamps, medical assistance, the like, do you get loans AND a stipend? When I look at it all on paper, it makes it look like we might not qualify, which is kinda baffling to me, but I also know that his income varies from month to month, term to term and the like. When it averages out its less, but I'm not sure if thats what a case worker will see.

TIA for any stories you can share.

[nolansmummy]

I'm just getting my undergrad degree, but our loans do not count as income. We qualify for wic, and food stamps.
We have to notify the case worker when our income varies by a certain amount, and they adjust the food stamps. We also do a verification every six months, where we resubmit about 3 months worth of pay stubs and other paperwork and they readjust.

Sorry, don't know if this info helps you, i have no idea how a teaching stipend works.

[sharr610]

Huh. Thanks for that info. They totally ask about it on the paperwork, his loans that is... I wonder if it varies by state.

[77sugaree]

I'm in Missouri and my caseworker told me that my loans don't count since I am an undergrad. She said that I would have to report them if I was in grad school.

[sharr610]

Ah. There you go. He's a grad student... what a weird rule...

[2lilsweetfoxes]

I think it has to do with the whole "why don't you just go out and get a job" mentality. I was in law school (didn't finish but that's a whole nother story and I wasn't "allowed" to work while in the program) and I applied for child-care assistance. Rejected because I was in grad school, but I got food stamps and wic no problem. Had I been undergrad, I would have been handed it. If I had gone out and gotten a job, I would have been given it.

[sharr610]

Thats what I was thinking. I COULD go get a job, but in order to make it worth it at this point, we'd have to get assistance for childcare, otherwise, I'm not bringing home anything extra. DH's take home pay from his teaching stipend is minimal at best.

Interesting. I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and go down there and talk to people today. Thanks, ladies, for your info!

[sharr610]

So....just for those of you who may come across this thread and are wondering...here is the case in Oregon, perhaps elsewhere, in terms of food stamps at least(I'm going to WIC this afternoon):

It would seem that loans, as long as they are FEDERAL loans, do not count one bit. The teaching fellowship, he has to be working at least 20 hours a week on.
And we qualify, for a lot! I feel like I just got us the equivalent of me having a part time job worth of freed up money every month. Sigh. of. relief.

[FourTrees]

Here the rules are the same - federal student loans are not counted as income, until a certain amount of time elapses assuming you have any of it left... However, my food stamp and medicaid caseworkers gave me a really hard time about that. They kept repeating that if I claimed no income that it is a red flag and said they must use my loans as my income. Luckily, I still qualified so I didn't argue very much. If the loans would have disqualified me I would have faught to make sure the loans were not counted as my income.

[remijo]

My loans count. After they take out tuition and cost of living that its supposed to be used for and stretch it across the term - which doesn't leave much as income. But it still counts. Guess its different everywhere.

[sharr610]

Originally Posted by remijo

My loans count. After they take out tuition and cost of living that its supposed to be used for and stretch it across the term - which doesn't leave much as income. But it still counts. Guess its different everywhere.

Are your loans federal loans? Are you grad/undergrad? We do the same thing, get the loan money back to help us live on.

I still have a couple more pieces of paper to turn in before they are activated and am all scared that its going to fall through.

[remijo]

They are federal and I am undergrad.

[Thystle]

Update?