So, You’ve Decided to
Do a PASS Plan:
Now How Do You Manage It?
A conversation between two families.
By Lynn Moses, Shirley Maydole & Carol Monson

You’ve heard about PASS plans and that if a person with a disability is eligible they can use a PASS plan to fund employment services and supports. It sounds like a good idea, but what is it really going to mean in terms of monthly accounting? Bottom line: What will YOU have to do and is it worth it?

Recently this question came up for Shirley, who was trying to decide whether or not to pursue completing a PASS plan for her granddaughter. If she did, it could mean some more money to provide job coaching for Melissa’s business. It could also mean more paperwork on top of what she was already doing for the business she and her husband owned. She asked if she could talk to a parent about what it was actually like from the parent’s perspective. We set her up with Carol who had been overseeing her son’s PASS plan for approximately a year. Below is a summary of what they discussed.

Shirley: How difficult is the bookkeeping and keeping track of the PASS money?

Carol: The PASS Cadre set me up with this folder that has sections for bank statements, invoices/receipts and correspondence. Basically, they send us the check in our personal account, and then we transfer it to Ryan’s PASS account. I use Quicken to keep track of what has been paid out Ryan’s PASS account. I keep his bank statements and his check stubs from when he was working. At the end of the year, I copy all of the bank statements, invoices, etc. and then attach a letter that details what we spent the money on and how it corresponds with the employment goals that were developed for Ryan.

Shirley: Is the money that comes for Ryan’s PASS plan the only money that goes into his account?

Carol: Yes, we only put in the amount that he is eligible for. Social Security sends that amount to us each month.

Shirley: Our situation seems a little different because Melissa will need to keep her business account separate from her PASS account.

Carol: Yes, from the PASS account she will only be able to pay for things that will go toward meeting her employment goal like job coaching. Those things can be paid directly from her PASS account. From her business account she can pay for supplies, advertising, her pay and anything else she needs that would be helpful for her business, even if it wasn’t spelled out in her PASS plan. Also, the money she earns will need to go directly in her business account. That way everything will be easy to track for taxes each year.

Shirley: When you applied, did you have to commit to achieving a certain level of employment or to making a certain amount of money by a certain time?

Carol: No, we just need to demonstrate that we are working on the employment goal and that we are making progress toward that goal. The things we spend the PASS money on have to correspond with what was written in the PASS plan and it is up to us to demonstrate how it relates to the goal.

Shirley: One of my biggest concerns is that I will have to be responsible for another business and all that goes along with a PASS plan on top of what I already have to do for the business my husband and I operate.

Carol: Yes, I have to do this part for Ryan too. He will always need someone to support him with the financial aspects of having a PASS plan or working at a job. Ideally, if Melissa’s business grows big enough, she could pay someone to provide that support. Where I have to keep track of paychecks, you will have to keep track of profits for taxes.

Shirley: We have tried to hire people to work with Melissa and her sister, but have trouble down here finding people who want to work part time and have the skills to work with students with significant support needs.

Carol: Ryan was able to hire his sister and brother to teach him some of the computer skills he wanted to meet his goal. It was a little tricky to hire our own family members, but we were able to prove to the PASS Cadre that there weren’t any other qualified people in the area who could provide this type of tutoring and they let us do it. It seems to work well if you can at least hire someone who is familiar with the student, someone who has worked with them before.

In summary we asked Carol some other general questions, and here is what she said:

What are the benefits and disadvantages of having a PASS plan?

Carol: The biggest benefit of having a PASS plan was getting the money to pay for the job development and training that Ryan needed. The biggest disadvantage was the PASS Cadre’s expectation that we needed to very specifically spell out how we were using the funds to prove that we weren’t misusing them. It felt at times like they were scrutinizing what we were doing.

If you could do it over again would you do a PASS plan? What would you do differently?

Carol: Yes, but I would try to better understand what it meant to have a PASS Plan and the long-term effects of it. It is hard to foresee what will come up in the future. If we did it again, I think we would not set such a grandiose goal. We found that it was hard to work on this goal in our area with the resources that were available. Maybe we would have changed the goal to better match Ryan’s abilities and in light of what he would be able to do in the area we live in.

What advice would you give to people/parents who were considering whether or not to do a PASS?

Carol: The biggest thing is to be aware of the goal and how to get there. Don’t be too specific and set the goals so high that you won’t be able to reach them. There will be many variables that you can’t predict. For example, we bought a part that Ryan needed for his printer that we didn’t initially know we needed, so it hadn’t been previously approved. We had to spend some time talking with the PASS Cadre, but when they understood the situation, they allowed the purchase. Also remember that you have to show progress toward the goal that was identified in the PASS plan, so again it is important to set appropriate goals given what the person wants to do and to know that they have the skills or are able to learn the skills to reach the goal.

In the end, Shirley said she felt more comfortable with the idea of doing a PASS plan and keeping it really simple. If she decides to pursue the completion of a PASS plan, we will ask Vocational Rehabilitation if they will pay for it to be completed. Shirley can choose whom she wants to write the plan (adult agency, individual person, herself). She will most likely use it to pay for job coaching and transportation to support Melissa’s pet gift basket business.