Income, Education and Our Children’s Future

Maureen Lane

Income, Education and Our Children’s Future

Students from poor families even with good grades often fail to go to college, or if they do go to college, they fail to complete degrees, says a new report by the Economic Mobility Project.

The report further determines that it is the college educated that are advancing in income. Clearly, there is a substantial disconnect between those able to get into college and those actually applying, registering and finishing.

At Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI) we have been working to keep students receiving welfare in college for the last 12 years. Our high school organizing has shown us that students in New York City (NYC) Public High Schools are not aware that when they graduate they have a seat at CUNY (City University of New York). CUNY is important because it is a great university and it is affordable. The students we speak to qualify for PELL and TAP (federal and state tuition grants) which combined cover classes and books needed to get degrees at CUNY. Yet, most students respond “Columbia, Harvard and NYU” when WRI asks what colleges they know.

The report summary from the chapter on Education and Economic Mobility states,

“There is good reason to expect that education will continue having only moderate impact on economic mobility in the United States until more poor children develop school readiness skills during the pre-school years, until K-12 schools are more effective in imparting basic skills, and in helping more poor children complete high school and until more poor students enter and complete college.”

Making the point another way, The New York Times’ “Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility” quotes Ron Haskins, a former Republican official and welfare expert and chapter author saying “A growing difference in education levels between income and racial groups, especially in college degrees, implies that mobility will be lower in the future than it is today.”

Over the last decade, the implications Haskins refers to have been playing out in the lives of low-income, poor and families receiving welfare. Children from these families are our precious resource for our future-building. We don’t want to squander them as we have their parents.

Prior to 1996 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families legislation, education was an approved activity for people receiving welfare. CUNY data on the effectiveness of education as a route out of poverty is astounding. For example, research shows that 88 percent of women on welfare who attain college degrees move permanently off welfare. I know this statistic from the experience of my own life. I was receiving welfare when I came to college and moved from welfare after just two years. I was lucky.

To date, we have lost over 21,000 students receiving public assistance due to present welfare policy. Almost 90 percent of them would be resounding successes of economic mobility by anyone’s measure. The message that poor women and others receiving public assistance "were not college material" was a change in public policy that has had far-reaching affects. As I've written before, time spent going to school should be counted as part of welfare's work requirement. If people receiving welfare are forced to be both full-time students and work almost a full time job they are unlikely to finish their college degree.

WRI students know that welfare regulations as well as education and higher education policies are inter-related and need to be seen as intersecting by policy-makers. If policy is going to reflect our values, it can’t say that college is a good pathway to economic mobility for some poor people but not families receiving welfare. When policy makes that distinction it sets another generation back rather than clearing a way forward.

As noted in the NYT article, policy experts, while agreeing that mobility is flagging, might disagree on policy recommendations. We need to hear those disagreements. As a nation, we need to have those discussions if we are going to make headway. Progressive, conservative, liberal or other we need to open the public arena to this discussion.

In this political climate of change, we want to remember that policies change continually, laws, too. From my experience and holding the political rhetoric I have heard, what is missing presently is a vision that circumscribes 'change' with our values.

Comments

As a welfare recipient struggling through poverty to complete my degree, I can attest to the urgency of necessary assistance. If success lies across the river and no has ever taught me how to swim, I will not ask for a ride in anyone’s boat. I will, however, ask for the materials to build my own boat so I can take myself across. In doing so I am no longer a shunned statistic, but rather a force that has broken the cycle of poverty.
-Chantale
Hunter College Student

Posted by: Chantale | February 28, 2008 11:05 AM

This article raises a great point about welfare; the author suggests that “time spent going to school should be counted as part of welfare's work requirement. If people receiving welfare are forced to be both full-time students and work almost a full time job they are unlikely to finish their college degree." Of course school should count towards a person's work requirement; it is WORK and substantial work I might add. It's work that leads to the permanency of financial security. It’s work that prevents people from ever having to return to public assistance. It’s work that helps people to more effectively contribute to society. I won’t even get started on the fact that this has already been passed on the federal level, however New York is (not surprisingly) yet to implement a law that reflects the federal decision to not only count school hours but also the time students spend studying. Let’s face it New York State, more specifically New York City is infamous for its terrible welfare reform. What good are benefits that, when compared to the work requirements they come with, are to quote a lawyer friend of mine “contrary to law?” Because let’s face it when you divide the amount of money a person is receiving from welfare by the number of hours they are expected to work, the majority of time you come up with a number that is less than minimum wage. And that my friends is how New York City (you know the supposed “Greatest City in the World”) takes care of their poor.

Posted by: Rebecca Daverin | February 28, 2008 05:51 PM

Chantale and Rebecca are right on in their response to Maureen's blog. We all know that real access to education is essential to the long-term success of our families and larger communities. As mothers, Roxanna and I want to pass on the legacy of real access to education to our children. On March 4th, 2008 our student leaders at Hunter College are heading to Albany to educate policy-makers about the important role that education plays in their lives. We hope to have more voices included as we proceed to make New York the "education state."

Posted by: Dillonna C. Lewis and Roxanna Henry | February 29, 2008 01:01 PM

Tragically but none the less truthfully this country has been struck by the societal ills of poverty; furthermore, the disease has obscured all possibility for future success in the lives of the individuals it holds within its grasp. The disease spreading like a malignancy is frequently untouched by those with the greatest capacity to occasion a remission! One may ask why wouldn’t those in a position to help stem the tide of poverty do so? Especially through programs to educate, and empower the less fortunate members of our society. Perhaps the wealthy have been slow to act because locked away in suburbia, or in gentrified, and gated communities of this nation the wealthy have become immune to the effects of such common suffering. I believe it was Cook who once commented on the subject of education in his day: "Better build schoolrooms for "the boy" / Than cells and gibbets for "the man" (Eliza Cook, A Song for the ragged schools). Similarly today we as a society must use education as the only lasting cure to the societal trappings of poverty. I commend the work of institutions for change like the Welfare Rights Initiative who have sought to change the lives of those living in poverty one person at a time.

In hopes of a better tomorrow,

Lervan

Posted by: Lervan | March 1, 2008 08:11 PM

Hi Maureen

I don't know if you will remember me but I am Rosie Martinez, who use to be enrolled in WRI in the 2 year class. I was wondering if you could tell me how to get in touch with Ricky Blum, Sandy Socolar and Melinda? I would appreciate it very much. Thank you. Hope you are well. Best wishes from Arizona.

Posted by: Rosie Lora | March 30, 2008 06:08 PM

Posted by: Rosie Lora | March 30, 2008 06:11 PM

Maureen Lane

Income, Education and Our Children’s Future

Comments

Post a comment