Public benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program can help low-income young adults pursue education beyond high school and boost their long-term economic status, according to a Child Trends and RAND study released earlier this year.
SNAP benefits increased the likelihood that young adults enrolled in education after high school by 63%, while EITC boosted enrollment by 36%. WIC, Medicaid, and housing assistance did not predict further educational enrollment.
The study analyzed nearly 30 years of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which has followed the life outcomes of Americans from adolescence to mid-life. The researchers focused on 3,735 subjects from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who received public benefits and financial aid between the ages of 18 to 35.
Receiving public benefits, as well as financial aid, also strongly predicted degree completion. Each additional year of receiving benefits while in school increased the odds of earning a degree by 14% to 59%. Having ever received a scholarship or grant more than doubled those odds.
“Public benefits and financial aid shape educational pathways in distinct but complementary ways,” wrote the study’s authors. “Public benefits facilitate enrollment and persistence; financial aid enables full-time engagement with education.”
This can result in significant economic returns later in life, according to the study. Subjects who completed bachelor’s degrees as young adults earned roughly $18,400 more per year at around age 40, while those with graduate degrees earned $40,600 more per year.
Associate degrees did not produce a significant income premium, but it did increase the odds of economic mobility and reduced the odds of living in poverty.
The study authors emphasized that public benefits and financial aid can act as a “springboard toward lasting economic mobility that neither approach can fully achieve alone.”
They recommended that higher education leadership focus:
- Connecting students to public benefits
- Structuring aid packages to make sustained full-time enrollment feasible
- Expanding support for students working while in school
- Reducing administrative barriers to continuous enrollment.
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