[quote=spdrun]Bearishgurl: I’d argue that the welfare reforms of 1996 did more harm than good, and actually risked trapping more people in poverty.
Take the case of someone with kids who wants to leave work to go to school full time. Between that and kids, they’d have a “full time job” on their hands.
The reform of 1996 limits their assistance to two years without a job, and places a lifetime limit of five years on total assistance. Barely enough time to get bachelor’s degree.
So more people who want to better themselves either end up sleeping four hours a night (more risk of health issues and dropping out) or end up up to their nipples in debt. Or they just skip the education and survive as best they can.
In the guise of taking “welfare queens” off the rolls, it essentially made having a family (especially as a single parent, even if not by choice) an educational dead end.[/quote]
If my parents and my generation chose to have children first and then pursue a college degree (in that order), they took 3-6 credit hrs (1-2 classes) per semester at night and on Saturdays. Yes, it took 7-10 years that way, but eventually they got a degree with losing $1 of pay or benefits and were eligible and in line for whatever promotion they were aiming for while studying for the degree.
My stepfather (now deceased) joined Rockwell as a HS dropout after getting married at the age of 21. He and his spouse had three kids and he eventually received the title of “metallurgist” there through his work experience only. He divorced and married my mom, received his GED and began attending a local 4-yr college at night and some Saturdays and graduated ~5 yrs later with a degree in Geological Engineering (he was able to CLEP out of several GE’s and use his work experience for some credits). Of course, he was then promoted at work to an engineering position and worked in that position until retiring with 38 years of service and a very nice monthly pension.
Dozens of my own co-workers over the years actually got a 3-year LAW degree attending nights and weekends for ~5 yrs, studied hard during their one-hour lunches and hardly ever missed a day of work (except for vacations). 80% of them had minor kids at home.
That’s the way life is.
It’s not the taxpayers’ responsibility to pay for a college student’s living expense because the student chose to make important life decisions in a particular order.
