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Facilitating and hindering factors pertaining to completion of an associate degree or certificate program: A phenomenological study of selected welfare women in a community college system
Abstract
A new national welfare reform, Family Support Act of 1988, has created relentless pressure among Welfare organizations to provide training for its recipients in preparation to make the transition from welfare to the work force. This reform mandates that all recipients (most of whom are women) whose youngest children are three years of age and are not exempted for other reasons participate in vocational training or basic skills education. One of the major components of the reform is an education assistance program. Typically, the aid consists of child care, transportation, and, in some cases, books. This new Act will make eligible tens of thousands of welfare recipients to enroll in vocational and basic skills programs. In Connecticut, the Welfare organization has endorsed many of their recipients' selection of a community college for educational training. Like most other community college systems, Connecticut offers a wide variety of vocational degree and certificate programs that are linked to its community work force needs. For factors unknown, some welfare students do not remain in college to the point of completing their programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the facilitating and hindering factors for women on welfare who are enrolled in community colleges under the benefits of the Welfare Assistance Program. A qualitative, phenomenological study using in-depth, semi-structured personal interviewing as a research method was used to collect data. The study was conducted with a small group of selected welfare women students from four community colleges. The data were analyzed for constructing composite profiles of the participants, and for identifying significant themes. Most notably, three hindering factors that are paramount to the success of the education reform were not only recurring themes but, even more significantly, fixable. Broadly, the themes were "Ineffective Communication", "Negative Attitudes of Welfare Service Personnel", and "Insensitivity of Faculty and Administrators". Finally, recommendations for further research were made, including a comparative study with male students and a study that would examine the issues and concerns of students who have completed their vocational training and are in transition to the work force.
Subject Area
Adult education|Womens studies|Public policy|Vocational education
Recommended Citation
Martin, Mary Remona, "Facilitating and hindering factors pertaining to completion of an associate degree or certificate program: A phenomenological study of selected welfare women in a community college system" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9329642.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9329642