Three years after welfare reform, nearly five million welfare recipients have left the rolls. But the journey from welfare to work has not led most of them out of poverty.
A recent Urban Institute study of people who left welfare from 1995 to 1997 has found that the average wage for welfare “leavers” is just $6.61 an hour. Even for those former recipients who work full-time and year-round, that amounts to less than $14,000 a year -- barely above the poverty line for a family of three. In addition, only 23 percent of employed former welfare recipients receive health insurance through their employers.
Beyond those grim statistics, the Urban Institute study identified an even more unsettling trend: Almost one-third, or 29 percent, of people who exited welfare during the three-year period eventually returned to the rolls.
The results of the study send an urgent message: Now is the time for many people who have gotten off welfare -- or are about to leave -- to do what other workers do when they want to obtain, and keep, better jobs. Now is the time for them to go to college.
Yet federal law requires most states to move a steadily increasing share of their welfare recipients directly into the work force. In fact, federal welfare policy says that when states calculate the rates of work-force participation, they cannot consider more than one year of job-related education and training as “work.” In addition, some national and state officials have resisted any efforts to encourage greater educational opportunities for welfare recipients -- asserting that it is unfair to support and encourage people on welfare to attend college, while other individuals have to work during college in order to afford it.
Welfare recipients, however, differ from most other college students. College students often rely on their families for help with housing, food, transportation, and tuition, but welfare recipients lack such support. Most college students begin their education before they have children to care for, but welfare recipients always enter the higher-education system with dependents.
If welfare recipients are willing to strive to become self-sufficient, society should not begrudge them the extra help they need to reach that goal. Moreover, at a time when lifelong learning is universally acclaimed, our goal should be to invest in education and training for all low-income parents who are trying to build skills required in the new economy, while meeting their work and family responsibilities.
A popular perception holds that present and former welfare recipients who start in low-wage jobs can gain skills in the workplace and move on to better jobs. Analyses conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, however, show that most of those workers increase their earnings by only $500 or $600 annually by advancing in their current employment or changing jobs.
If they are to become truly self-sufficient, people leaving welfare need jobs that result in decent paychecks -- and such jobs demand higher skills than many welfare recipients possess. But people once on welfare can get those jobs if they receive the necessary education. That is the conclusion of “Getting Down to Business,” a recent study by the Educational Testing Service. It was conducted by Anthony P. Carnevale, vice president for public leadership, and Donna M. Desrochers, a senior economist at the organization.
The E.T.S. study examined the skill levels of some 1,600 women who identified themselves as welfare recipients. E.T.S. researchers also used occupational employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compare those welfare recipients’ skills with the skills required in current and projected jobs. The study found that, while one-third of the welfare recipients lacked the preparation that they needed to consider higher education, another one-third could have benefited from basic skills preparation that would allow them to pursue college work. And another third already had the basic skills they needed to benefit greatly from postsecondary education and training.
As part of the study, researchers gave participants who were enrolled in a skills-training course two separate but similar tests -- one before and one after the course -- to track average gains in skills. The results showed that, with a relatively limited amount of additional education, welfare recipients with “basic” skills -- those expected of a high-school graduate -- could move from jobs that pay $15,000 to $20,000 to those that pay more than $20,000 to $30,000 a year. Recipients with “competent” skills -- those of people with some college education -- could qualify for jobs paying $30,000 or more.
People with basic skills know simple math and can perform functions like comparing and contrasting several pieces of information. For example, they can interpret instructions from an appliance warranty, or calculate postage and fees for certified mail. Individuals with competent skills can interpret complex tables and graphs, and understand and respond to lengthy, complicated documents. Both groups of welfare recipients needed only about 200 hours of training, which is equivalent to one semester of full-time course work, to improve their skills and qualify for significantly higher salaries.
State governments have money available for education and training programs. Because welfare rolls have dropped dramatically -- declining 30 percent across the nation -- states now have more than $4-billion in unspent federal funds. In addition, state governments have their own funds available for welfare reform.
Colleges, especially community colleges, are well positioned to use some of that money to help educate individuals currently on welfare, so they can get off -- and stay off -- welfare. Community-college tuition averages only $1,500 annually. For states and welfare recipients alike, that seems like a small investment with a large potential return.
Furthermore, as Kevin Concannon, Maine’s Commissioner of Human Services, said in an interview we conducted, community colleges are the best places for most welfare recipients to start. Concannon calls those institutions “more permeable” than four-year institutions. They don’t require students to make a long-term commitment, and they offer flexibility for nontraditional students, who may have to attend classes on nights and weekends. In addition, community colleges respond more quickly to market trends and the occupational needs of local employers.
According to a survey of more than 1,100 community colleges by the American Association of Community Colleges, most community colleges either already offer welfare-to-work programs or plan to offer them. A 200-hour training program run by a community college -- or, far better, an extended course of study leading to an associate or bachelor’s degree in a career-related field -- could give more than two-thirds of current welfare recipients the tools they need to get good jobs that will keep them off welfare in the future. But most current programs provide only very short-term job training or basic-skills training to individuals who receive welfare benefits. Many recipients do not attend programs that lead to college degrees, because federal law allows them to meet their work requirements through education for one year only.
However, the tide may be beginning to turn. At least six states now use their own funds to send welfare recipients to college for two years or more, and nine other legislatures are considering the idea. Maine is using state funds for its “Parents as Scholars” program, a system to train welfare recipients at the state’s four-year institutions and two-year technical colleges. Several more states subsidize education and training for people who have left welfare.
The new emphasis on education cuts across partisan lines. In Delaware, Governor Thomas R. Carper, a Democrat, recently signed a bill allowing welfare recipients to meet their work requirements through postsecondary education. When he was governor of Illinois, James Edgar, a Republican, signed an executive order allowing welfare recipients to go to two- and four-year colleges.
Wyoming’s Republican governor, James Geringer, is a strong supporter of one of the nation’s most innovative education programs, one that allows welfare recipients to pursue four-year-college degrees. Welfare recipients can enroll at the University of Wyoming, any of the state’s community colleges, or any other educational institution that offers bachelor’s degrees through classes at the community colleges. Wyoming takes into account the difficulties of balancing school and family responsibilities by allowing welfare recipients to collect public assistance for as long as six years. When students are no longer eligible for federally funded benefits, state funds provide the extra support.
Of course, higher education is not for everyone. The E.T.S. report points out that, for the one-third of welfare recipients who lack the most basic skills, attending a college or university is not appropriate. But for the vast majority of welfare recipients, either basic-skills remediation or higher education makes sense. The challenge for America’s colleges is to make it work for those individuals.
For those colleges and states that choose to rise to that challenge, some early lessons are available.
First, colleges need to identify welfare recipients who are already students on their campuses. In the survey by the community-college association, two-thirds of all respondents indicated that they could not identify current students who received public assistance. If colleges don’t know which of their students are on welfare, it is almost impossible to ensure that the students are receiving the support they need -- whether for securing child care, obtaining financial aid, or finding jobs.
By forging closer ties with welfare offices, colleges can also identify welfare recipients who are not yet enrolled but who could benefit from higher education. Colleges could assess the specific needs of those individuals and set up tailored courses of study for them. For example, in Portland, Ore., community colleges receive funding from the state’s Department of Human Resources to help administer the welfare program. They station a community-college representative in each welfare office to test welfare applicants to determine what jobs might be suitable for them, link recipients to education and training while they look for jobs, and act as career-placement specialists.
Second, community and technical colleges should continue and even expand their long tradition of responsiveness to market trends and the needs of local employers. Through close ties with local employers, colleges can identify new jobs and provide tangible incentives for welfare recipients to enroll in campus programs.
One good example comes from Michigan, where Oakland Community College designed the Advanced Technology Program, a 20-week, full-time course that trains welfare recipients for jobs in the information-technology industry. The program manager of work-force-development services, Sharon Miller, says local high-tech businesses have guaranteed jobs, with full benefits and starting salaries of $20,000, to all graduates.
Third, in states that limit the time that welfare recipients can spend on education, community colleges need to redesign their classes. More colleges need to follow the example of those institutions that condense courses for welfare recipients into much shorter time frames. Such shorter courses enable clients to go to work sooner and to complete their studies before their benefits expire. For example, Moraine Park Technical College, in Fond du Lac, Wis., now offers intensive 10- to 12-week courses in child care, basic office skills, and hospitality and housekeeping.
Fourth, colleges and universities must offer welfare recipients, who are often single parents, the support they need to stay the course. Too often, welfare recipients fail in postsecondary education because they can’t find child care during class and study hours, can’t find transportation to class, or can’t fit classes into their work schedules. Maryland and Iowa are dealing with that problem by offering evening and Saturday courses, makeup classes, on-site child-care facilities, and transportation from work to colleges.
Fifth, institutions of higher education and states alike should be aggressive about getting their programs to count toward federal work requirements. While federal law allows states to count vocational education for welfare recipients as work for only one year, “job-skills training directly related to employment,” “on-the-job training,” and “work experience” can be counted indefinitely. Savvy program administrators use those definitions broadly enough to ensure that welfare recipients complete their degrees while still meeting welfare reform’s work requirements.
Finally, and perhaps most important, colleges need to make sure that welfare recipients and other low-income students take full advantage of federal and state financial aid. A recent investigation by the Los Angeles Times found that 96,000 community-college students in California were poor enough to qualify for welfare but did not receive federal financial aid. Pell Grants, Perkins loans, and other financial-aid programs could be key to getting students off welfare and keeping them in degree programs that would ensure their economic well-being.
In short, welfare recipients, who may be entering college after many years away from academic life, are likely to need special treatment. And colleges and universities, with their emphasis on lifelong learning and career planning, are ideally situated to provide it.
Now that millions of Americans are leaving welfare, our challenge is to make sure that they stay off -- and that they earn enough to support and care for themselves and their families. Higher education has been the path to economic security for the majority of our nation’s citizens. Why not for welfare recipients?
Anthony P. Carnevale, vice president for public leadership at the Educational Testing Service, chaired the National Commission for Employment Policy during President Clinton’s first term. Kathleen Sylvester is director of the Social Policy Action Network, which analyzes and develops public policies that benefit low-income families.
http://chronicle.com Section: Opinion & Arts Page: B6
