The Working Poor in College—Does School or Work Come First?
For many of the working poor, a college degree is the key to a better job, more opportunities, and, ultimately, a way out of a life of poverty. But even though the working poor who are enrolled in college classes may regard themselves as students first and employees second, their job schedules, financial obligations and family responsibilities can interfere with their ability to take classes full-time, which can limit their access to financial aid and make it more difficult for them to earn their degree, according to a report released today by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, “College Access for the Working Poor: Overcoming Burdens to Succeed in Higher Education.” Two articles published today, one by Elizabeth Redden at Inside Higher Ed (“The Working Poor and College Access”) and one by Elyse Ashburn at The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Report Suggests Steps That Lawmakers and Colleges Can Take to Help the Working Poor”), discuss some of the salient points of the report.
Who Are the Working Poor?
The authors of the report define the working poor as adults who work at least 25 hours per week and have family incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty level. The “nonworking” poor are those who work fewer than 25 hours per week or for less than half of the weeks enrolled in a higher education program. But one of the surprising findings of the report, writes Redden, is the fluidity of the term “working poor.” “The working poor can periodically move into the ‘nonworking poor’ category and vice versa as individuals make constant trade-offs about whether to take time off from work and attend college full time … or step up the hours in the workplace to pay for course work and the cost of living.”
A Financial Obstacle Course
As both Redden and Ashburn note in their articles, even after receiving financial aid, working poor adults must be able to come up with an average of about $4,000 a year to cover their college costs. The report makes this observation, as quoted in Redden’s article: “Like poor students in general, working poor students are left with significantly higher amounts of financial need after all aid has been awarded compared with their counterparts with greater economic resources.”
The report also found that working poor adults are less likely to attend college full time, with 37 percent of working poor undergraduates attending school exclusively full time, versus 48 percent of the nonworking poor. And because more working poor adults tend to enroll as part-time students, their financial aid eligibility seems to be affected, Redden writes. In 2003–04, 54 percent of working poor adults received a grant averaging around $3,000. In the nonworking poor category, however, where full-time attendance rates are higher than among the working poor, 67 percent received a grant averaging more than $3,500.
The net effect of these financial and time constraints on the working poor is measurable: According to the report, only 18 percent of working poor adults have earned an associate, bachelor's, or advanced degree, compared with 22 percent of the nonworking poor and 46 percent of nonpoor working adults
Reaching Out to Keep College Doors Open
As far as current financial aid policy, the report advocates congressional reform that would (1) increase the amount of money working students can earn and still qualify for full student financial aid benefits and (2) increase the amount of income a family can earn before being expected to contribute to a dependent student’s college costs. But the solutions proposed by the report go beyond just giving out more financial aid, as Ashburn discusses in her article. The report also proposes changes to the current welfare system, to allow college attendance to count as work. Another of the report’s recommendations is to make Hope and Lifetime Learning education tax credits refundable—which would allow students and families who don’t earn enough to owe any federal income taxes to receive money back to cover education expenses.
The report also calls on schools to make changes, to expand their outreach programs to students from low-income families and to bolster their institutional support by offering evening or weekend hours for student services like academic advising and offering extended hours for libraries and computer labs.
Even though the difficulties the working poor face are significant, the report doesn’t see them as insurmountable. There are, Redden quotes, “many examples of programs and practices—such as improved counseling, child-care services and flexible schedules—that help the working poor overcome these obstacles.”
Talk to the education finance advisors at NextStudent. They have all the information and advice you need on student loans. Check out www.nextstudent.com.
Be sure to tune in next Tuesday for my next blog about this week in student loans.
Student Loan Girl