Working (and Learning) Hard for the Money

With the disastrous rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, many community colleges are facing a time crunch packaging student financial aid. At the same time, community colleges that were using the data to inform students of their eligibility for other government benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), now have to pause, leaving many students in a lurch. In this environment of extreme uncertainty, now is the time to think of new solutions so that students can both afford and have the time to continue their education. Paid work-based learning opportunities show strong promise in helping to fill the gap in addressing students’ basic needs. 

Despite the fact that nearly 75 percent of community college students work, many still face significant financial insecurity. A 2017 Community College Equity Assessment Laboratory survey found that a third of community college students experienced housing insecurity, and more than one in 10 struggled to feed themselves and their families.

Over the last decade, there has been a growing understanding of how poverty and precarity affect community college students’ ability to complete their studies. In response, many colleges have developed strategies to help their students access affordable housing, transportation, food, childcare and health care. Some colleges have built housing for students, and many have established food pantries. Others have expanded student services to include help navigating public benefits, such as housing vouchers.

Over the same time period, there has also been a growing appreciation for the value of work-based learning, like internships, apprenticeships and co-ops, for students. These programs build work experience as well as professional networks. While people often view this as the point of paid work-based learning, community colleges should also prioritize making these opportunities holistically supportive of students given the population they serve. The first priority should be economic security, the second academic progress and the third building a professional network.

What these students really need is more financial resources to meet their basic needs. Integrating work-based learning with the other supportive services colleges offer could go a long way toward providing students with the benefits of work-based learning while supporting their basic needs, thus allowing them to stay enrolled in college. Work-based learning opportunities could be restructured in several different ways.

First, community colleges could create long-term work-based learning opportunities that last the entire time a student is enrolled. We heard from students in focus groups conducted by New America last year that they did not feel work-based learning was an option for them because the opportunities were only a semester long, making it hard to quit their current job. But colleges could design these opportunities to make them more accessible to students who need to work. For instance, Salt Lake Community College’s Campus Internship Program provides a range of paid, on-campus positions. These positions are typically for one semester but can be renewed until the student graduates, provided they meet the eligibility criteria.

Colleges could also ensure students engaging in work-based learning opportunities are paid a local living wage and provide them with things like health benefit subsidies through their enrollment in college. As one student put it, “You don’t want to go into a job … knowing that you’re not going to get paid a lot and you might not get anything out of it as far as experience or even insurance.” There is typically a large gap between a living wage for a single adult and the pay from work-based learning opportunities, which tend to pay around $15 an hour and prohibit full-time work. These wages and hours are too low for many adults with families to live on and far less than they can make in a different employment arrangement.

Of course, paying wages at this level can be difficult. Community colleges should work to create dedicated funding from the state, employers and philanthropic partners to get as close as possible. For instance, Bunker Hill Community College guarantees its Learn and Earn participants $18 an hour plus a travel stipend. While this is not a local living wage in Boston, the college has shown it is committed to paying learners more and increasing those wages over time.

Colleges could also evaluate students’ current employment and see how connected it is to their course of study. In our focus groups, several students were working in connected fields with employers who were very supportive. Working with these employers, the college could create an augmented learning experience in the job the student already has. Colleges could then add additional basic needs support if the student is struggling to make ends meet with this job.

At the same time, colleges could identify working learners dissatisfied with their current employment and struggling to make ends meet. They could connect these students with basic needs resources and career services to explore work-based learning opportunities or jobs related to their field of study. Such opportunities could offer economic stability while allowing students to begin their career journey in their desired field.

Community college students are more likely to work, support families and be food or housing insecure than students at four-year institutions. But that doesn’t mean they should be excluded from work-based learning opportunities. Instead, we should use work-based learning to make students more secure in covering the cost of their basic needs while providing them with the clear benefits of work experience connected to their field of study. Given the confusion around the FAFSA rollout, this redesign is more urgent than ever.