Summary

We discover the extent to which colleges have an effect on kids’s purposes to Supplemental Safety Revenue (SSI).  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges various within the extent to which they provided in-person studying through the 2020-21 faculty yr.  We use this variation to raised perceive the way in which colleges, probably by trainer referrals and casual networks, affect purposes to SSI.

The paper discovered that:

• Functions had been about 15 p.c decrease in counties with digital studying relative to counties the place all studying was in particular person.
• Functions bounced again to some extent as college students returned to in-person studying.
• The consequences had been largest amongst elementary faculty kids.
• Subgroup analyses point out that faculty workers and the identification and referral providers they might supply, in addition to casual networks play an vital position.

The coverage implications of the findings are:

• Colleges are an vital channel by which kids and households study and finally apply for SSI.
• Educating academics, faculty psychologists, and different faculty workers about SSI to make sure that they find out about it and might determine college students prone to be eligible (at the very least from a incapacity perspective) would possibly assist promote better entry.