Proposed adjustments to a Welfare program would allow students more time to hit the books and get extra credit for work activity under federal regulations.
Under the proposed legislation, recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families would be able to count more of their time pursuing higher education as "work" under federal welfare restrictions. The program, established in 1996, requires welfare recipients to meet work requirements, with limits set for receipt of welfare benefits. Currently, those receiving benefits may consider up to twelve months of postsecondary education as "work" under the program. The bills introduced in the House of Representatives would double that time to twenty-four months.
TANF was originally created as a means of moving people from receiving Welfare checks to receiving pay checks. State governments are expected to show progress in helping those collecting benefits become gainfully employed in the workplace. If states don't show satisfactory progress in moving certain percentages of Welfare recipients into work-related activities, including postsecondary education, they risk losing federal funding.
According to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than forty percent of TANF recipients don't have a high school diploma. Many of those in the program would require remedial courses in order to seek postsecondary education.
Some argue that stringent requirements of the TANF program actually discourage recipients from seeking higher education. Students are currently required to have their classroom attendance or distance learning studies verified by their schools, as well as having their homework supervised. Proponents of the bills say not only will the twelve month extension allow students the time to take remedial courses, but make significant progress in their postsecondary courses as well.
The bills may be eighty percent of estimated job openings between now and 2014 will require at least some postsecondary education. The average income of adults with at least an associate degree is thirty percent higher than those with only a high school diploma or GED, according to U.S. Census Bureau Statistics.