Summary of Continuing Education

To summarize the findings regarding participants’ continuing education:

• Education is seen as the pathway to career advancement and personal enhancement.

• Informal education is seen as an alternative or supplement to formal education.

• According to their Informal Interviews, 79 percent of participants were engaged in formal and/or informal education; another seven percent discussed specific plans for future education.

• Forty percent of participants enrolled in higher education; 20 percent have earned degrees ranging from associate to doctorate; 10 percent are currently continuing their studies.

• Conflicting pressures of health, employment, family concerns and financial resources determine if and when participants can engage in higher education.

• Community colleges are the prevalent entry path for GED graduates on their way to college or advanced degrees.

• Ninety-three percent of higher education graduates entered college immediately after completing ABLE programs; 86 percent of them finished in the normal (two or four year) time frame.

• Forty-three percent of higher education graduates had financial assistance in the form of pensions, scholarships or internships; the remaining participants came from families where both spouses worked.

• Participants with learning differences and participants with funding difficulties may take ten years or more to complete higher education degrees.

• Federal and/or state funding designated for GED graduates who have shown the determination and the ability to do college work would make a difference in the participation and completion statistics for higher education.

Employment

Learning for Life shows that one powerful outcome of ABLE participation can be long term employment benefits. For years at a time, determined participants juggled jobs, family responsibilities and finances with the education and training they needed to pursue their American dream. The quantitative study informs us that employment figures for participants show a series of jobs as they move through life. The interviews reveal the exact nature of their changing employment. The quantitative study tells us there has been a striking reduction in the usage of public assistance and food stamps after ABLE program completion. The interviews reveal that many former welfare clients now have careers not merely jobs. Without funding specifically designated to aid GED graduates engage in continued vocational and higher education, we can only speculate as to how many participants could have received the education that leads to financial security.

This section will examine four aspects of participant employment: 1) the benefits and challenges incurred by welfare recipients whose ABLE involvement led to constructive employment; 2) the problems and advantages accruing to workers who chose ABLE programs to upgrade their skills; 3) participants’ overwhelming choice of “helping” professions and the satisfaction their derive from these career choices and 4) participants’ ongoing plans for future employment.