Despite the fact that the working poor who take college courses think of themselves as students first and employees second, their work place commitments, financial stressors and familial obligations pose particular challenges to full-time attendance and degree completion, as detailed in a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

The conundrum faced by the working poor in a nutshell: “Despite working long hours to provide for their families, their incomes still teeter on the brink of poverty. They understand that enrolling in college and earning a degree will help them improve their skills and increase their earnings potential. However, given their work and other responsibilities, it is difficult for them to enroll full time, thus making it harder for them to receive financial aid and complete the classes necessary for a degree,” according to the report released today, “College Access for the Working Poor: Overcoming Burdens to Succeed in Higher Education.”

Yet, the very fluidity of the term “working poor” was one of the more surprising findings of the report, said Alisa F. Cunningham, head of the research department at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The working poor can periodically move into the “nonworking poor” category and vice versa as individuals make constant trade-offs about whether to take time off from work and attend college full time — with full-time status being a major predictor when it comes to degree completion — or step up the hours in the work place to pay for course work and the cost of living, Cunningham said. (more…)

On Spetember 27th, 2007, President Bush signed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, which will make college more affordable for low-income students by increasing funding for Federal Pell Grants by more than $11 billion.

The Pell Grant program helps ensure low-income students have access to higher education by providing need-based grants to help students meet education costs. The bill the President signed today will expand this program by increasing funding for Pell Grants by $11.4 billion over the next five years and allowing the maximum Pell award to increase from $4,310 in 2007 to $5,400 by 2012.

* Since 2001, the Administration has increased funding for Pell Grants by nearly $5 billion dollars. The number of students receiving Pell Grants has increased by more than one million since the President took office. In addition, President Bush last year signed legislation creating Academic Competitiveness and SMART Grants to further reward Pell Grant-eligible students who completed rigorous high school programs of study, or who are majoring in math, science, engineering, or critical foreign languages. (more…)