The best path to a job that pays a living wage capable of sustaining a family is through post-secondary education and workforce training. For far too many people, especially from low-income families and communities of color, barriers stand in the way to successfully completing education and training. Simply affording tuition and fees can be a major hurdle. In addition, there are other barriers faced by these families—food and housing insecurity, child care stability and affordability, lack of transportation, needing to bring wages in to supplement household income—which can undermine someone who is trying to juggle school, work, and family responsibilities.
How are funders working across these systems to offer parents and young adults the best chance of prospering?
The Roundtable post-secondary education and workforce training access work is done in partnership with:
2 out of 3 community college students are food insecure.
1/2 of all community college students are housing insecure.
26% of undergraduate college students have children.
Q&As
With contributions from Emily Martin. Tell us what SFFA v. Harvard/UNC was about. Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) sued Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) alleging that their consideration of race in admissions decisions violates Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (which prohibits federally funded programs and activities, including universities,…
In this brief video, Wendy reviews barriers to college access for workers, current policies affecting access at both the state and national levels, and ideas for ways philanthropy can reduce the barriers to college access and increase college completion. The Shriver Center developed a guide for students called Getting Ahead: An Adult Student’s Guide to…
With contributions from Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield. Why does child care access and affordability matter for students? How common is it for students to be parents? Today’s college students are increasingly low-income students balancing work, family, and school. Assistance with paying for quality child care services could increase student-parents’ ability to make ends meet and finish…
With contributions from Melissa Young. We hear a lot about housing shortages these days. How common is housing insecurity? Are there geographic areas more deeply affected than others? By many measures housing insecurity is at epidemic levels across the country. In no state, metropolitan area, or county can a worker earning the federal minimum wage…
With contributions from Cynthia Liston & David Altstadt. What is the difference between college affordability, total cost of attendance, and unmet need? Why does students’ economic security matter? Economic security matters for college students because too many are failing to complete their education due to financial barriers. The fact is we need more students with…
With contributions from Lindsey Reichlin Cruse & Barbara Gault. At the Roundtable, we’ve been talking about building webs of support that provide stability for children and families. While every family’s web looks different, what are some ways that low-income post-secondary students’ webs may differ from those of other students? Over half of today’s undergraduate students…
Funder Discussions
If you are interested in the intersection of immigration and child welfare, check out: A Threat to Health & Well-Being: Public Charge’s Expected Impact and How Philanthropy Can Respond GCIR webinar September 26, 2019 If you are curious about innovative funding for policy advocacy, check out: Philanthropy’s New Playbook for Policy Advocacy Urban Institute event…
Education and workforce training open doors for families to greater economic security and flexibility, but for many families, there are substantial barriers. This is especially true for low-income families and communities of color. For the past several months, we have explored the dynamics of these barriers, including policies that are quickly changing to restrict access…
Rob Hope, Initiative Officer, Bay Area Workforce Funders Collaborative, The San Francisco Foundation Elena Chavez Quezada, Senior Director, Expanding Access to Opportunity, The San Francisco Foundation The San Francisco Foundation has a creative grantmaking strategy tailored to its community and the urgency created by the Bay Area’s rapid change. All of The Foundation’s work is…
Becca Allen, Program Officer, Melville Charitable Trust Rebecca Allen, Program Officer, Melville Charitable Trust The Melville Charitable Trust is the largest foundation in the US exclusively focused on ending homelessness. Located in Connecticut, Melville works in the intersections of homelessness, health, and economic security. We chatted with Becca about Secure Jobs Connecticut, an effort to…
Sara Levin, Vice President, Community Services, United Way of King County Sara Levin, Vice President, Community Services, United Way of King County United Way of King County has three core missions – help students graduate, end homelessness, and break the cycle of poverty. They seek innovative solutions to challenges in their community that they can…
Released in 2018, ECFC, Funders Together GFE, Workforce Matters, and the Roundtable released a brief that highlights strategies funders can use to increase access to and completion of postsecondary education and job training. This 20-minute video provides an opportunity to get a primer on funder strategies.
Related News & Updates
The Government Accountability Office released findings from a study looking at whether student parents are accessing funds available to help them pay for child care. Almost 20% of undergraduate students are parents and child care costs can keep students from being able to graduate. One big finding is that student parents were not aware of…
A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research finds that “free college” programs, often called Promise Programs, often “unintentionally” exclude college students raising children. 1 in 5 college students in the United States are raising children. This often means they are juggling school, work and family care responsibilities. Unfortunately, most college Promise Programs…
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlights the pervasiveness of hunger on college campuses and its effect on college completion. Approximately one third of college students are food insecure. Low-income students and parents are particularly susceptible. This study provided an overview of 31 research studies completed over the past decade to try…
Developed by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, this guide provides advice on how students can access much-needed supports that increase college completion. These include child care, health care, food assistance, cash assistance, housing, tax benefits, and more. To learn more about students’ access to public benefits, view our video conversation with the…
Ascend at The Aspen Institute is a hub for resources, ideas, and collaboration on two-generational approaches that help parents and their children achieve economic security. This brief covers the state and national policies affecting parents’ access to and completion of postsecondary education. Find more resources at Ascend’s website here.
ECFC, GFE, Funders Together, Workforce Matters and the Roundtable developed this series of recommendations for ways funders can improve access to and completion of postsecondary education and workforce training programs. Suggested strategies include capacity building, direct supports, policy advocacy, narrative and strategic communications, and research.
The National Skills Coalition identifies two barriers to family-supporting wage level positions, especially for women – pre-employment training and child care access. Using case studies and a review of the research, this brief makes the case for federal and state policies that can help women enter the workplace.
This policy report from The Annie E. Casey Foundation uses national and state-level data to identify the greatest challenges faces young parents as they enter the workforce. The report includes policy recommendations that can help parents return to school, get job training, or acquire a job with family-sustaining wages.
The Wisconsin HOPE Lab does an annual survey of post-secondary students’ basic needs. This recent update found that 36% of students are food insecure, 36% are housing insecure, and 9% are homeless. For more information and a detailed look at college students’ current needs, check out the report here.
Balancing Work and Learning: Implications for Low-Income Students, a new research paper from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, details the implications of working while getting a post-secondary education and how these impacts differ for low- and high-income students. High-income students tend to benefit from work, which is likely to be in…
Friday, September 28 1:00-2:00 pm eastern Students and state policymakers understand how important post-secondary education is to financial well-being and state economic productivity. Today’s college students are no longer 18- to 22-year-olds from middle class families who attend full-time and can depend on family support. They are increasingly low-income, working adults balancing work, family, and…
This incredibly useful white paper from Jobs for the Future outlines approaches to increasing students’ economic security, from providing direct services like food banks to financial aid reform to benefits access. The paper lists examples and evidence of what’s worked. For a detailed account of students’ economic security and what we can do to improve it,…
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research is a hub for information on college access and job training, with a plethora of resources focused on women and the effect of post-secondary education access on their families. IWPR is launching a new series on “the new college majority” – independent students. This briefing paper outlines what we…