Summary: The Social Security Act provides for the payment of benefits to children aged 18 to 22 of entitled retired, disabled, and deceased workers, if they are attending school full time and are not married. Payments of social security student benefits have rapidly grown from $325 million in 1966 to $1.6 billion during 1978. The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that the program will continue to grow, reaching $2.5 billion in 1982. Areas of concern include: (1) the social security system has financial problems; (2) benefits payments have substantially increased; (3) some benefits duplicate financial assistance provided by other programs; (4) social security student benefits are paid without regard to need, cost of education, or academic progress; and (5) SSA has experienced serious problems in implementing the student benefit provisions. Since SSA began paying student benefits, a number of other federal programs have been established in the Office of Education to provide student financial assistance. Parental income and other characteristics of social security students indicate that the majority of the students are eligible for assistance from these programs.
