FOOD STAMPS. Feel free to ask Eligibility Worker any questio

Boni

Sat, Oct 13 2012, 10:48 pm

amother wrote:

Good morning!
I re-applied for food stamps about 6 weeks ago and received emergency food stamps a week later. I went in for the fingerprints the following week, the first week in September and havent received this month's food stamps (for the 11th). Am I supposed to receive a letter in the mail that my fingerprints were received or should I just keep checking my balance? How long from when I go in for fingerprints until food stamps come in regularly?

Thank you!!

Call your worker, there may be another reason

amother

Sat, Oct 13 2012, 11:35 pm

My son is in grad school full time, out of state and living solely on loans.
Unfortunately we are not able to give him any money at all.
Would he be eligible? And if so, what paperwork would he need to provide?
Thank you so much for answering these questions.

Boni

Sun, Oct 14 2012, 2:41 am

amother wrote:

If he has a meal plan at the school then he is ineligible. If he responsible for his own food then as a student of higher education taking 6 or more units per semester he has to meet student eligibility requirements:
1. working at least 20hrs a week
OR
2. be approved for Federal or State Work Study - it's part of financial aid.
So, he has to provide class schedule, financial aid award letter with federal work study on it, or separate letter verif. federal work study approval, they may ask for student expenses verification (tuition, books,..), if under 1. then paystubs, plus all the other verif not related to student status
Addition to all other readers: there are exemptions from students requirements for student with children, disabled, placed in school by employer, or by other program. Vocational school, GED program - not higher education, so doesn't have to meet student eligibility requirements

wereafamily

Mon, Oct 15 2012, 11:07 am

Wow, thank you so much for doing this!!
I gave birth recently and got a lot of money as baby present ( people were really generous) I would like to put it into my bank account today, but im afraid since it's way above the amount per month, what do I do?

seeker

Mon, Oct 15 2012, 10:45 pm

wereafamily wrote:

I also wonder about things like this, when you get some money one time that will put you over the limit for that month and will look really bad if someone's looking over your papers, but otoh it's not changing your income situation at all! wereafamily, maybe open a separate trust/savings account for the baby, it is a good idea for the future anyway and that way it will be clear that it isn't income flowing into your bank account.

Boni

Tue, Oct 16 2012, 4:08 pm

wereafamily wrote:

Here is some info
1. New household member is to be added on the case from the following month after you report him in your home
2. Gift counted as unearned income the month you received and as resources starting from the following month
So, if it's clear, that it's baby's income and it was received the month he was born, it will be counted as resourses the folowing month once he is on your Food Stamps case. Resources are exempt in most states but not in all. Also other programs such as Medical or cash aid that have different income and resources limits receive alerts if any change reported on Food Stamps.

Boni

Tue, Oct 16 2012, 4:15 pm

seeker wrote:

wereafamily wrote:

Only earned income (income from work) of a child under 18 is not counted. Any unearned income such as gifts, child support, social security benefits - counted

seeker

Tue, Oct 16 2012, 4:49 pm

So what do you need to do to report a new family member? The pregnancy I already reported at the time I first applied but they didn't give any instructions of what should happen when the baby is born IY"H

Boni

Wed, Oct 17 2012, 3:50 pm

seeker wrote:

Submit a new born record from the hospital. Later you will need to provide SScard and Birth Certif. Better call them first since they may ask you to complete a special form to add a new member on your case - depends on your county.

amother

Thu, Oct 25 2012, 11:01 am

Thank you so much for doing this!
Here is my situation:

I live and work in NJ. I recently got more hours at my job so I am making 2400-2500 dollars a month. I pay a mortgage of 1,075 per month and am paying about 600-700 dollars a month in childcare.

I was originally only making 960 a month and paying less in childcare (I think like 400) and recieving about 650 a month in foodstamps.

Oh, also I am married and have two children.

Would I be eligible for foodstamps now? And if so, do you know about how much money I would be getting per month? (if its very little im not sure if it is worth it to go through the whole hassle of applying!!)

Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boni

Thu, Oct 25 2012, 2:47 pm

Tip how to find out your monthly gross income
If paid semi-monthly (always twice a month), find gross income from your 2 most recent check stubs, gross 1 + gross 2 =monthly gross
If paid bi-weekly (for example every other friday), find gross income from your 2 most recent pay stubs,
(gross 1 +gross 2) divide by 2 and then multiply by 2.167 = monthly gross income
If paid weekly (for example every friday), find gross income from 4 most recent pay stubs:
(gross 1 + gross 2 +gross 3 + gross 4) divide by 4 and then multiply by 4.33 =monthly gross income
If irregular pay - add gross income from all paystubs issued the same month (do not look at the pay periods, look at the pay dates or issue dates on the stubs)
If self employed - substract business expenses from the total amount you received for one month (or from average amount for three months). You can claim your actual business expenses only if you have verifications, or you can get standurd deduction of 40% for your business expenses. So in this case just 60% of the total money you receive will be counted as your gross income.

amother

Thu, Oct 25 2012, 7:14 pm

Household size - Max Gross monthly income
1 $1211
2 $1640
3 $2069
4 $2498
5 $2927
6 $3356
7 $3785
8 $4214
each additional person +$429

I have a question on this. Lets say I make over the limit for the income for my size familu BUT I have a huge mortgage and tons of childcare expenses! I am still not eligible??????????

amother

Thu, Oct 25 2012, 8:10 pm

Thanks so much for taking your precious time to help us out.
My husbands income varies greatly. He gets paid by commission & he could have $0 income for 2 months & then the next month 10k. Am I still eligible? My household size is 4.
TIA!

amother

Thu, Oct 25 2012, 8:45 pm

Boni, thanks so much for your help on this thread. I've been reading the questions and answers and have a couple of questions of my own. First, are the income limits you listed a few posts back for a specific state, or are they federal guidelines? Second, do the income guidelines vary for different types of income? For example, if a family's entire income is unearned income, such as unemployment income, do the maxiumum income threshholds change?

amother

Thu, Oct 25 2012, 10:31 pm

Hi, thank you for helping answer our questions.

I am a new amother. Lets call me worriedmom.

Would you be able to tell me if I am eligible for food stamps- both my husband and I are not US citizens. Neither are my kids. We are in the country on visas and frankly we are sinking fast. I am having trouble finding a job and my husband was promised a lot more than he is getting. We are officially in `survival mode` and I promised my husband I would start looking into getting some sort of aid. Do we qualify for food stampsÉ where can I find more informationÉ

Boni

Fri, Oct 26 2012, 1:24 pm

amother wrote:

Sorry......welcome to my club

busydev

Fri, Oct 26 2012, 1:26 pm

timeout wrote:

Does being pregnant count as anything or u wait to count the baby after ???

not a caseworker, but baby in the belly counts as 1 from my experience. (meaning you have 1 kid and are pregnant then you go by the family of 4 guidelines)

in IL the mom and babies plan doesnt even have an option for family of 1, since being pregnant makes you 2

ETA: boni said not for food stamps. the above has been my experience for medicaid only.

Last edited by busydev on Fri, Oct 26 2012, 1:32 pm; edited 1 time in total