Understanding the Information Needs of Low-Income Students to Improve the Impact of the Federal Work-Study

• In Event: The Pitfalls and Promise of Student Financial Aid

Abstract

The Federal Work-Study program has many inherent policy design features that exacerbate economic inequities between low- and high-income college students. The program has thus been uniquely gaining bipartisan consensus on the need for change. This project seeks to understand how informational and structural barriers confine low-income students’ ability to make informed work-study decisions. By collating evidence from focus group interviews, institutional survey, and a six-years of historical data at a highly selective four-year public university in the Midwest, this research unveils the mechanisms of work-study in depth. This study aims to provide higher education scholars, professionals, and policymakers with evidence-based recommendations to enable low-income students to utilize work-study as a vehicle for improving their educational attainment and upward economic mobility.

Author

• Sooji Kim, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor