Attending College While Receiving Welfare Benefits

Information for Current or Prospective College Students Receiving Welfare Benefits
Following the release of the 2004 report from the Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth, Michigan’s welfare system started to move away from its “get a job, any job” philosophy and become more open to the idea of letting parents on welfare attend college. The state’s welfare program was renamed the “Jobs, Education and Training” program, or JET.

Individuals receiving public assistance who wish to attend college should know their rights as they relate to education:

A Family Self-Sufficiency Plan (FSSP) will be developed jointly by the welfare recipient and caseworkers from the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Michigan Works agency (MWA).

Based on family size and use of child day care subsidies, the individual will be required to work between 20 – 40 hours per week. If the welfare recipient or someone she cares for is disabled, or if she has other barriers to employment, she may be exempt from work requirements. She should tell her caseworker about these barriers and if possible, make a written record of this conversation or have a witness present.

In addition to high school/GED classes, vocational training programs and life skills classes, the FSSP can include college classes, college internships, clinical training programs and/or practicums. Classes leading to an associate’s degree can be counted as a “Core” activity toward your work requirement. Certain programs leading to a baccalaureate or advanced degree can be counted as a “Non-core” activity. Supervised study time can also be counted.

Parents interested in pursuing education should discuss this with their DHS and MWA caseworkers. If a welfare recipient who is academically eligible to attend college believes she is being held back from educational opportunities by the DHS or MWA, she can seek legal help.

To locate free legal assistance in Michigan, see: http://www.michiganlegalaid.org/
Residents of other states should see: http://www.lawhelp.org/

For background on the experiences of poor parents trying to complete college degrees, see:

Staying in School After Welfare Reform: How Beyond Welfare, Inc. Supports Student Mothers in Higher Education by Leslie Rebecca Bloom, Associate Professor, Iowa State University & CEW Visiting Scholar
This 2004 paper examines how the program Beyond Welfare, based in Iowa, supports college students who receive welfare. It assesses the program’s affect on student mothers' school retention and success and makes recommendations for community-based organizations and policy makers who are concerned with alleviating poverty through increased access to education.

Struggling to Stay in School: Obstacles to Post-Secondary Education under the Welfare-to-Work Regime in Michigan Written by Professors Valerie Polakow and Peggy Kahn–both CFITE members–this report documents the experience of low-income single mothers in Michigan pursuing postsecondary education while receiving public assistance.