Doctoral Dissertation Research: Women Pursuing Higher Education After the 1996 Welfare Reform

博士论文研究：1996年福利改革后追求高等教育的妇女首席调查者：凯伦·坎贝尔联合首席调查者：希拉·卡茨·范德比尔特大学国家福利制度的全面变化使“工作优先”政策成为优先事项，并减少了领取福利的母亲的教育机会。这项研究的目的是了解为什么一些母亲在福利制度改革后受教育机会大幅减少的情况下，仍将接受教育作为脱贫的途径。这项研究将回答的研究问题是：(A)为什么TANF的单身母亲选择高等教育项目？(B)她们选择高等教育路线的叙述是什么？以及(C)参与倡导组织的单身母亲的叙述与不参与的单身母亲的叙述是否不同？我将对目前正在注册或最近完成高等教育项目的福利母亲以及参与旧金山湾区一个专门的福利和教育倡导组织的这一群体的一部分进行采访和焦点小组。这项研究的更广泛影响是，它可以通过提出如果扩大教育和就业培训计划，福利母亲可能会如何发展的建议，为国家福利改革辩论做出贡献。它还可以为加州或其他正在考虑扩大教育和就业培训计划的州一级的辩论提供信息，方法是建议州一级的政策和资源，帮助或阻碍低收入妇女在教育和就业培训计划以及当地劳动力市场上的进步。

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Women Pursuing Higher Education After the 1996 Welfare ReformPrincipal Investigator: Karen CampbellCo-Principal Investigator: Sheila KatzVanderbilt UniversitySweeping changes to the national welfare system prioritized "work first" policies and decreased educational opportunities for mothers on welfare. The purpose of this study is to understand why some mothers still pursue education while on welfare as a route out of poverty although the opportunity for education decreased dramatically after welfare reform. The research questions this study will answer are (a) why do single mothers on TANF pursue higher educational programs?; (b) what are their narratives for choosing the higher educational route?; and (c) do the narratives of single mothers involved in an advocacy organization differ from those who are not? I will conduct interviews and focus groups with mothers on welfare who are currently enrolled or who have recently completed higher educational programs and a subset of this group who are involved with a specialized welfare and education advocacy organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. The broader impacts of this study are that it can contribute to the national welfare reform debate by suggesting how welfare mothers might fare if education and job training programs were expanded. It can also inform the debate at the state level in California or in other states that are considering expanding education and job training programs by suggesting state level policies and resources that help or impede low-income women's progress in education and job training programs and in the local labor markets.