Community Colleges Helping Low-Income Parents Get Better Jobs: New Data from California Show Increased Earnings and Employment 5/13/2004
From: Gayle Bennett of CLASP, 202-906-8024, gbennett@clasp.org or Cheryl Fong of CCCCO, 916-323-5954, cfong@cccco.edu SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 13 -- Women receiving welfare in California who complete an Associate degree or certificate work more and earn substantially more in the two years after college than they did before college, according to a new report from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO). The report, From Jobs to Careers: How California Community College Credentials Pay Off for Welfare Participants by Anita Mathur, with Judy Reichle, Julie Strawn, and Chuck Wiseley, tracks the employment rates and median annual earnings of female welfare participants who exited the California community college system in 1999-2000. The welfare program in California, known as CalWORKs, allows participants to attend a California community college for up to 18 to 24 months as a way to satisfy the work requirements mandated by federal welfare law. Key findings of the report include: -- The year-round employment rate for all exiting female CalWORKs students doubled from before college to one year after exit. In addition, the more education received, the greater the employment rate after exit. -- CalWORKs students increased their earnings substantially after college. For example, by the second year out of school, median annual earnings of CalWORKs women with Associate degrees increased by 403 percent compared to earnings prior to entering college (rising from $3,916 to $19,690). For those who earned credentials, CalWORKs women quickly narrowed the initial earnings gap between themselves and other women students. -- Longer educational programs lead to greater median annual earnings. In particular, vocational certificates for female CalWORKs students must be at least 30 units long for earnings to top $15,000 the second year out. -- While attending school, CalWORKs women (even those who entered college without a high school diploma) were more likely to be employed than the general CalWORKs population. Furthermore, CalWORKs students' earnings were 20 percent greater than the general CalWORKs population who were employed during the same time period. -- Associate degrees take a minimum of 2.5 full-time academic years to complete due to the number of courses required. CalWORKs students, along with the majority of all community college students, take an average of 3.5 years to complete an Associate degree. This is due in part to the need for remedial coursework and to part-time attendance. "This study shows that allowing welfare participants access to postsecondary education is a shrewd long-term investment," said Anita Mathur, lead author of the study. "Community colleges are helping low-income parents prosper in the labor market and are reducing the need for welfare." -- To read the new CLASP and CCCCO report, From Jobs to Careers: How California Community College Credentials Pay Off for Welfare Participants, visit http://www.clasp.org/Pubs/Pubs_PostsecEd after May 12 or e-mail gbennett@clasp.org A national, nonprofit organization founded in 1968, CLASP conducts research, policy analysis, technical assistance, and advocacy on issues related to economic security of low-income families with children. The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the world with 109 colleges and 72 districts providing educational, vocational, and transfer programs to over 2.8 million students each year. |