Federal Work-Study: Keeping Equity in Mind

Federal Work-Study (FWS) seeks to “stimulate and promote the part-time employment of students in institutions of higher education who are from low-income families and are in need of the earnings from such employment to pursue courses of study at such institutions.” (Higher Education Act of 1965). In 1972, there was a revision that broadened the language from low-income students to “students in the greatest financial need.” (Education Amendments of 1972). In short, FWS aims to ensure access to financial assistance for post-secondary going students in need, through providing a part-time employment experience to subsidize the cost of attendance. However, in spelling out the objective of FWS, there isn’t any language that explicitly focuses on equity. This post highlights three aspects of FWS that have equity implications.

Equity of Access

Funding Structure: The current FWS allocation structure disproportionately benefits four-year public and private institutions, which serve fewer lower-income students (Baum 2019). “In 2017-18, the public two-year college made up 32% of full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate enrollment, but students in this sector only received 17% of FWS funds. In contrast, four-year private institutions made up 19% of FTE undergraduate enrollment, but received 42% of FWS funds.“ (Baum et al. 2018, figure 8). 

Information: Access to information is key in applying to college, including information on applying for financial aid through FAFSA. The National College Access Network notes that, “just 61% of high school seniors complete the application by the time they graduate, leaving $24 billion in federal aid unclaimed.” A 2018 NCES study that focused on FAFSA completion rates cited multiple informational barriers ¹ as reasons why the surveyed students didn’t fill out the FAFSA (Bahr et al. 2018). FWS eligibility is determined when a student fills out the FAFSA, so inequities of who has access to information about the FAFSA directly result in inequities of who the FWS program benefits.

Equity of Experience

Intentional Employment: FWS provides financial assistance through part-time employment. The equity focus here centers on FWS employment regulations. The FWS handbook states that on campus work at for profit schools “must provide student services that are directly related to the FWS student’s training or education”, whereas such a provision doesn’t extend to non profit schools. Recent accounts such as the Community Detail outlined in Anthony Jack’s book, The Privileged Poor, or the Dorm Crew cited in Dirty Jobs, a 2019 Inside Higher Ed article, indicate a need for intentionally considering cost of inclusion and belonging in addition to the cost of attendance with respect to FWS employment. Implementing a similar measure at non profit schools could improve accountability around ensuring on campus FWS students are employed in positions that go beyond the transactional nature of FWS and contribute to a formative undergraduate experience.

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^{1. Reasons for not filling out the FAFSA in the sample population included the belief that the student or their could afford school or college without financial aid,  the student or their family may be ineligible or may not qualify for financial aid, not wanting to take on debt, and not having enough information about how to complete a FAFSA.↩}

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Author:

Mark Joy: Senior Research & Programs Associate for The Hub for Equity and Innovation in Higher Education