Off Welfare, On to College

A recent General Accounting Office report on the progress of the welfare reform law passed two years ago found a sharp decline nationwide in the welfare rolls. The number of people on welfare has fallen 37 percent to 8.9 million in March 1998 from 14.1 million in January '93. The report also found significant increases in the numbers of welfare recipients who obtained jobs. Getting off welfare is one thing. Getting out of poverty requires training and education. Research …

…work, it seems to strain their credulity that people on welfare would even consider college or that indeed it should be available to them as a matter of right as it is to all other American citizens. In fact, President Clinton has made higher education a centerpiece of his second term, promising the American people that a college education will be accessible and affordable to everyone. Changing the welfare law will help fulfill that promise.