Putting Poor People to Work: How the Work-First Idea Eroded College Access for the Poor

CHAPTER THREE. WELFARE REFORM AND ACCESS TO POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION:NATIONAL TRENDS

CHAPTER THREE WELFARE REFORM AND ACCESS TO POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION: NATIONAL TRENDS When examined within a broader context of beliefs about higher education and its role in American society, it is quite remarkable that federal welfare reform so clearly discourages access to college. Postsecondary education leads to a wide array of individual and collective benefits, both monetary and nonmonetary . Scholars have found that postsecondary education is linked to higher levels of happiness and satisfaction in an array of life factors such as family, home, job, and community (Astin et al. 1997). Postsecondary education is also related to increased levels of citizen involvement, particularly with regard to voting and volunteerism (Putnam 2000). Increased college access for minorities has resulted in the gradual creation of a black middle class (Hochschild 1995, 43), and recent court decisions regarding access to selective institutions of higher education put in sharp relief the value placed upon college attendance among the general populace (Bowen and Bok 1998). The evidence regarding the relationship between education and employment and income outcomes is even more clear-cut. Those with more education are more likely to be employed, and to earn more when they are employed . Recent data supporting this conclusion are presented in table 3.1. Those without a high school diploma are much more likely to be unemployed than those with more education. Of women who had not completed high school in 2004, 8.5 percent were unemployed, compared with 5.0 percent of high school degree recipients. Those with some college, even if they had not completed a degree, fared better, as did those with an associate’s degree . Needless to say, those with a bachelor’s degree were the least likely to be unemployed (their unemployment rate was 3.0 percent). The same pattern holds for earnings. Associate’s degree recipients earned more in 2003 ($37,605) than did those with some college but no degree ($35,714), who in turn earned more than those with a high school diploma ($30,766), while those without a high school degree earned the least ($22,939). In comparison, the median earnings for bachelor’s degree recipients in 2003 were $49,889. Scholars seek to refine these statistics by attempting to correct for the possibility that those with the most education might have earned more even in the absence of additional schooling, perhaps because they are more ambitious , are quicker learners, or have stronger connections to the employment sector. The clear conclusion of research in this area is that statistical adjustments to the raw figures presented in table 3.1 reduce but do not eliminate the employment and earnings benefits of additional schooling (see, for example , Grubb 1997; Kane and Rouse 1995; Levy and Murnane 1992; Mayer and Peterson 1999).1 In short, postsecondary education has a real and concrete impact on quality of life in terms of happiness, employment, and income ; and traditional postsecondary education leading to certificates or degrees is particularly valuable. Notwithstanding empirical evidence about the relationship between education and earnings, the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), otherwise known as welfare reform, explicitly shifted federal welfare policy toward a work-first philosophy (Gais et al. 2001; Greenberg, Strawn, and Plimpton 2000; Weaver 2000). This shift, as we will demonstrate with both quantitative and qualitative evidence, curtailed access to postsecondary education in several ways. First, the policy is explicitly designed to reduce the size of the welfare caseload—to move individuals as quickly as possible from welfare receipt to work, which often does not lift them out of poverty. In reducing the caseloads, welfare reform has reduced the raw number of individuals who receive access to postsecondary education as welfare recipients. This is important, since welfare receipt provides a set of supports and benefits critical to the health and well-being of a poor woman’s PUTTING POOR PEOPLE TO WORK 38 Table 3.1 Unemployment Rate and Earnings by Educational Level Unemployment Median Annual Educational Level Rate in 2004 Earnings in 2003 No high school diploma 8.5 $22,939 High school graduate or equivalent 5.0 $30,766 Some college, no degree 4.5 $35,714 Associate’s degree 3.7 $37,605 Bachelor’s degree 3.0 $49,889 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics. family. Moreover, a greatly reduced number of welfare recipients enrolled in college provides little incentive for community...