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No Assistance And A Diploma Is A Win-Win

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the wage gap between those with no more than a high school diploma and college graduates has never been higher.

College graduates, on average, earned 56 percent more than high school grads in 2015, according to data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute that was the focus of an Associated Press story in January. That was up from 51 percent in 1999 and is the largest such gap in EPI’s figures dating to 1973. Just two-thirds of high school-only grads ages 25 through 64 were employed in 2015, down sharply from 73 percent in 2007. High school-only grads are less likely to own homes. Sixty-four percent are current homeowners, down from 70 percent in 2000.

How bad, then, is the gap for those who don’t even have a high school diploma?

According to data from the U.S. Census, the average drop-out will earn one-third less than a high school graduate, will suffer from unemployment rates that are nearly 501 percent higher and will be nearly three times more likely to live in poverty. High school drop-outs account for nearly 50 percent of the heads of households on welfare and commit about 75 percent of all crimes.

State Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, and state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, introduced legislation in January that would require participation in educational programs leading to a high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma for those seeking public assistance. The legislation would prohibit the payment of public assistance benefits to any person under the age of 35 who does not have a high school diploma or a high school equivalency diploma unless the person is enrolled and participating in good faith toward getting a diploma. The local social services district is given broad discretionary authority to waive this requirement where such a course of study is not practical or cost-effective based on the person’s mental capacity, employment background, job training, career development credentials, health, disability, lack of educational programs, or other factors.

The bill has been introduced in the last three legislative sessions, even passing the Senate in 2015. In 2014 and 2016, it stalled in the Senate’s Social Services Committee. The newest version of the legislation is currently stalled in each chamber’s Social Services committee.

There is nothing wrong with pushing those on public assistance to achieve get a high school diploma. Goodell and Young have come up with a piece of legislation that should be approved in the next legislative session.

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