Welfare policy and human capital development
Over the past two decades, federal welfare policy has become increasingly less supportive of concurrent college enrollment and cash assistance receipt. Welfare recipients are eligible for Pell and federal loan aid and under the pre-1996 Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, recipients’ ability to attend college while receiving welfare was relatively unconstrained.6 Attending a post-secondary institution while on welfare was not uncommon – one study estimates that 14% of all recipients attended college while receiving AFDC benefits