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From Center for Law and Social Policy:
This paper was jointly developed by CLASP and the Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis. It explores the potential coordination of Individual Development Accounts with Workforce Investment Act programs to increase access to postsecondary education, job training, and related services for low-income individuals.
Adults with postsecondary education earn more than their less-educated counterparts.
We benefited from the comments of participants at the Center for Social Development/CLASP meeting on IDAs and WIA, which took place in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 19, 2005.
Under WIA, each of over 600 local workforce areas is responsible for implementing a one-stop delivery system to make a broad array of employment and training services available to job seekers and employers.
Given limited federal funding for postsecondary education and job training and the increasing cost of higher education, it is important that low-income individuals be able to leverage a variety of resources to pay for education and training.
There is no available data concerning the number of individuals participating in postsecondary education under WIA, but the number of program exiters who received training has fallen under WIA as compared to under the predecessor program, the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA).
There are several potential benefits to greater coordination between IDA programs and the WIA system: Given limited federal funding for postsecondary education and job training and the increasing cost of higher education, it is important that low-income individuals be able to leverage a variety of resources to pay for education and training.
A potential incentive for the WIA system in partnering with IDA programs is access to financial education services for WIA participants.
Specifically, we recommend that: Congress or the DOL should clarify that, like other assets, IDAs should be excluded from consideration in determining eligibility for and amounts of ITAs.
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Posted on December 6, 2006 05:31 PM
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