SSA administers the SSI program, one of the largest federal programs providing assistance to people with disabilities. The SSI program was established in 1972 under Title XVI of the Social Security Act. The program provides cash benefits to low-income individuals, including children and youth, who meet financial eligibility requirements and who are blind or have disabilities. In December 2016, SSA paid SSI benefits to over 8.25 million individuals, including more than 1.2 million under age 18. In calendar year 2015, SSA paid almost $55 billion in SSI benefits. The average monthly payment in December 2016 was $542; however, the average payment for recipients under 18 was higher ($650). According to SSA, in many states, eligibility for SSI also confers eligibility for Medicaid benefits. To be eligible for SSI on the basis of disability, an individual must meet both financial and medical requirements. To determine eligibility, SSA staff, located in more than 1,200 field offices across the country, review SSI applications and verify financial eligibility. Following SSA’s initial review, state disability determination services (DDS) offices assess applicants’ medical eligibility for SSI. SSI has two sets of medical eligibility requirements to determine disability; one for adults (individuals age 18 and older) and one for individuals under 18. To be considered disabled, individuals under age 18 must have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment (or combination of impairments) that causes marked and severe functional limitations and that has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months or result in death. For adults to be considered disabled, they must have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment (or combination of impairments) that prevents them from doing any substantial gainful activity (SGA), and that has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months or result in death. SSI recipients, including those under age 18, undergo periodic continuing disability reviews (CDR) to ensure they continue to meet medical eligibility criteria. When a DDS first finds an individual medically eligible for SSI, it also assesses the likelihood that his or her disability will improve and, depending on that likelihood, develops a schedule for future CDRs. For SSI recipients under age 18 whose impairment is considered likely to improve, federal law requires SSA to conduct a CDR at least once every 3 years. Under SSA policy, in cases in which medical improvement is not expected, a CDR is scheduled once every 5 to 7 years. During these CDRs, DDS collects evidence such as medical and educational records to determine whether the individual continues to meet medical eligibility criteria based on their disability. In addition, SSA also periodically conducts redeterminations on a sample of SSI case files to determine whether individuals continue to meet financial eligibility requirements. All SSI recipients are required to report certain information to SSA to help ensure that they continue to receive the correct benefit amounts. For example, SSI recipients must notify SSA when their earnings change and this reported information, in turn, may trigger a redetermination. Federal law also requires that SSI recipients undergo a redetermination at age 18 to evaluate whether they meet adult (rather than youth) medical eligibility criteria. At the same time, SSA assesses whether the recipient continues to meet nonmedical (financial) eligibility requirements. This redetermination generally occurs within the year after a youth turns 18. If SSA determines a recipient does not meet adult eligibility criteria, he or she receives an unfavorable redetermination and ceases to receive SSI benefits. SSA reported that in fiscal year 2015, almost 57 percent of age 18 redeterminations resulted in an initial unfavorable determination by DDS; however, approximately half of those decisions were appealed, so the final percent with unfavorable redeterminations is likely lower. Education’s VR State Grants program, authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, assists individuals with disabilities, including transition-age youth who may also be receiving SSI, find and keep employment, among other things. This program, administered by Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, is the largest program authorized under this Act and provided approximately $3.1 billion in formula grants to state VR agencies in fiscal year 2016. The grants support a wide range of services, individualized based upon the needs of the eligible individual with a disability, including: assessments; counseling, guidance, referrals, and job placements; vocational and other training; transportation; and, in certain circumstances, postsecondary education and training. Individuals must apply and be determined eligible by the state VR agency to receive individualized VR services. If VR agencies lack the financial and staff resources to serve all eligible individuals in the state, they are generally required to prioritize individuals with the most significant disabilities. Individuals receiving disability benefits, including transition-age youth on SSI, are generally presumed eligible for VR services and considered individuals with a significant disability. However, depending on their disability, including level of functional impairment, SSI recipients may not be considered as having a “most significant” disability by the VR agency; and, if the VR agency has implemented an order of selection, the individual may be put on a waiting list to receive services. In 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was enacted, which, among other things, amended the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and required VR agencies to provide additional services to students and youth with disabilities. Specifically, WIOA requires that states reserve at least 15 percent of their state’s allotment of federal VR funds for the provision of pre-employment transition services to students with disabilities. To receive pre-employment transition services, a student with a disability need only be potentially eligible for VR services and does not have to apply to VR. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides formula grants to states, which pass them to eligible local education agencies to assist in providing special education and related services. IDEA generally requires schools to provide special education and related services to students with disabilities specified under IDEA. For each student with an IDEA-specified disability, schools must establish an individualized education program (IEP) team that generally includes the child’s teacher and other school and school district personnel, the student’s parents, the student (as appropriate), and, at the discretion of the parent or public agency, others with relevant knowledge, including related service providers. The IEP team is required to develop a written IEP for each student that includes, among other information, a statement of the student’s academic achievement and functional performance, measurable academic and functional goals, and the special education and related services to be provided. Also under IDEA, beginning with the first IEP to be in effect when a student turns 16, or earlier if determined appropriate by the IEP team, and updated annually thereafter, the IEP must include, among other things, appropriate, measurable postsecondary goals for training, education, employment, and, where appropriate, independent living skills, and transition services needed to help the student reach these goals. Schools may invite representatives from VR agencies to these transition planning meetings. Students with disabilities who do not qualify for special education and an IEP under IDEA may qualify for services under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (section 504). Education’s section 504 regulations require school districts to provide qualified students regular or special education and related aids and services designed to meet the educational needs of students with disabilities as adequately as the needs of students without disabilities are met. Transition services may be documented in a 504 plan, but they are not a requirement of such plans. SSA’s role in encouraging employment for transition-age youth on SSI as they move into adulthood is focused on administering work incentives and other employment supports that allow them to keep at least some of their benefits even if they have earnings. However, very few youth on SSI benefit from these supports. As a provider of means-tested transfer payments, SSA does not provide direct employment services to SSI recipients, including youth on SSI. However, for recipients who want to work, the SSI program is designed to support their efforts and reduce their reliance on benefits, according to SSA’s Annual Report of the Supplemental Security Income Program. Federal law provides several work incentives and other employment supports that help SSI recipients—including youth—to enter, re-enter, or stay in the workforce. Most transition-age youth are also students, and the importance of education is emphasized by the primary work incentive for this population, the Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE), which encourages work, but requires recipients to attend school to be eligible for the exclusion. SSA also administers other work incentives and employment supports that are available, but not targeted to transition-age youth. See table 1 for a list of key work incentives and employment supports available to this population. Few transition-age youth on SSI benefit from SEIE—the only SSA- administered work incentive targeted specifically to younger SSI recipients. SEIE allows SSI recipients under age 22 who also regularly attend school, college, university, or vocational or technical training to exclude a portion of their earnings—$1,790 a month, up to $7,200 a year, in 2017—from their countable income for the purposes of determining SSI eligibility and benefit amounts. Based on data provided by SSA, we found that 1.3 percent and 1.4 percent of all transition-age youth (ages 14 to 17) on SSI had income excluded under SEIE in calendar years 2012 and 2013, respectively. Our analysis of SSA data further suggests the possibility that some youth who may be eligible may not be benefiting from this SSI provision. SSA data show that few transition-age youth benefit from SEIE, in part, because few have earned income.