You are so right, Sherri - and your honest story is what everyone believes "should" happen (aside from them telling you that you had an overpayment and making it so $!$$!@@ hard). It seems as though these things only get harder every year for those who are on their own, i.e. single moms or those who don't come from rich families. It did start in the Reagan years. I had a CETA job as a young student, which morphed into working fulltime by the time I was a senior in college (double major). I was trying to complete a full double program & work full time to pay my bills which had gotten to the same point as your entire monthly benefit for you to try to take care of your kids. It was just me so I managed to earn, survive, and pay. It's always been hard and gets harder every day. Why????