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Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College
Columbia University
The Campaign for Educational Equity
The Campaign for Educational Equity
Fall 2005 Symposium on the “Social Costs of Inadequate Education”
Fall 2005 Symposium on the “Social Costs of Inadequate Education”

For more information call:
1-866-92-EQUAL

October 24th and 25th at  Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University

Public Assistance Programs: How Much Could be Saved with Improved Education

Presenter:

Summary:

“Improvements in the educational attainment of American students hold the potential to sustain the declines in welfare utilization and produce significant savings to the public.”

  • America could save between $7.9 billion and $10.8 billion annually in spending on TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), Food Stamps and housing assistance.by improving the educational attainment of those who currently do not complete high school
  • Much of those savings could come from improving educational attainment among single mothers, who make up 57% of the TANF caseload, 18% of Food Stamps, and 80% of non-elderly housing assistance.

TANF

  • 1.2 million single mothers were on TANF in 2002, including 500,000-plus high school dropouts.
  • Single mother high school graduates are 24% to 55% less likely to be on TANF than single mother high school dropouts.
  • If all single mothers who are high school dropouts earned high school degrees, 125,000 to 292,000 fewer women would be on the welfare rolls, saving $1.5 to 3.5 billion annually.
  • If all single mothers who are high school dropouts attained a high school degree and one-third attained some additional schooling, 177,000 to 322,000 fewer single mothers would be on the welfare rolls, saving $2.2 billion to $3.8 billion annually.

Food Stamps

The Food Stamps program served 8.2 million low-income households in 2002. Families with children make up 54% of the caseload; of those, 60% are headed by single mothers.

  • If all single mother dropouts earned a high school degree, there would be over 140,000 fewer recipients on Food Stamps, saving $353 million annually.
  • If all single mother dropouts earned a high school degree and one third also attained additional schooling, 228,000 fewer would be on the program, saving $655 million annually.

Housing Assistance

The public housing and Section 8 vouchers/certificates programs offset housing costs for just over 2 million single mother families. More than 25% of single mother dropouts receivie housing assistance.

  • If all single mother dropouts earned a high school degree, 3,600 fewer single mother families would be on the programs, saving $18 million. If all single mother dropouts earned high school degrees and some also attained additional education, 63,000 fewer single mother families would be on housing assistance, saving $313 million annually.

Additional populations

  • If one third of all Americans without a high school education (not just single mothers) went on to get more than a high school education, the savings would range from $3.8 billion to $6.7 billion for TANF, $3.7 billion for Food Stamps and $0.4 billion for housing assistance.

Presentation Papers