Poverty and Income Security

The Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community (CJTC) at UC Santa Cruz is a progressive research institute tackling issues of social justice, diversity and tolerance, and the building of collaborative relationships between the university and local community. Our overall mission is to promote EQUITY. We define this broadly, including studies of the roots of prejudice, the sources of economic inequality, and the obstacles to the building of community. We seek to work at the cutting edge, combining rigor and relevance, as we focus on what might be termed the civil rights issues of the new century. Most of all, we seek to promote research that translates into action.

The Role of Postsecondary Education in Welfare Recipients' Paths to Self-Sufficiency

London, Rebecca

(2004)

Today's welfare system does not encourage postsecondary education, focusing instead on services aimed at immediate employment. The loss of postsecondary education as a route out of poverty for welfare recipients may be detrimental to some women. College graduation is associated with lower rates of return to aid and post-welfare poverty than attendance without graduation or no attendance. However, graduation rates for welfare recipients are well below national graduation rates.

Welfare Recipients' College Attendance and Consequences for Time-Limited Aid

London, Rebecca

(2004)

Welfare recipients’ abilities to attend college while receiving aid has been severely curtailed by the TANF program, due in part to concerns about long-term education in a time-limited program. Yet, prior research indicates that college enrollment, and particularly graduation, are strong indicators of positive future outcomes. Findings from the NLSY indicate that during the pre-TANF period, 17 percent of welfare spells had some overlap with college enrollment. Among women who enroll, however, just 36 percent graduate at any point in the 20-year NLSY panel and receipt of financial aid loans is a strong predictor of graduation. Attending college while on aid is associated with up to an additional one and a half years of aid receipt. Graduation may help to ameliorate this, although women who are already enrolled in college when they begin to receive welfare are more likely to graduate than those who start college as welfare recipients.