Obama vows to retrain unemployed

[Joanne98]

Source: AFP


WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama Friday announced a new scheme to use unemployment insurance as a springboard to get laid-off workers back to work, by offering expanded access to retraining education.

"Our unemployment insurance system should no longer be a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future," Obama said in excerpts of a speech he was due to give later on Friday after the release of monthly jobless figures.

"It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, and give them the measurable and differentiated skills they need to not just get through these hard times, but to get ahead when the economy comes back," Obama said.

The plan, coordinated with the Department of Labor and the Department of Education, will help unemployed workers get better access to Pell Grant scholarships worth up to 5,350 dollars and attend local community colleges, a US official said.

States will also be encouraged to change rules that prevent the unemployed from enrolling in education or training courses because they are supposed to actively look for a job while taking government benefits.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i8CaysJUa6K4pxsqccnsUOSwU2pA

[brentspeak]

1. Retraining for what?

[MessiahRp]

13. +1

They shipped manufacturing jobs overseas and then retrained everyone for computer jobs which they then outsourced overseas. Fuck re-training. It's time for a little good ol' fashioned American Protectionism. Long overdue.

Rp

[Tansy_Gold]

17. Exactly.

Maybe we must need to give it a new name? I'll bet if we called it "Homeland Financial Security," the pukes would be on it like caterpillars on a Chinese pasture.


Tansy Gold

[Iowa]

20. Yep... whenever I hear the word "retraining", my bullshit radar starts beeping...

Retraining is nothing but a distraction to keep the masses from storming the palace as the politicians and their corporate handlers continue to ship good jobs to other countries while simultaneously shoveling our tax money to banks & corps. It allows slippery politicians to pretend they're on our side while they continue to destroy our way of life. It's a scam... a big lie that deserves to be slapped down.

Furthermore, retraining is absolutely useless for most people who have families to support NOW. Who in the hell can afford to take a few years off to be retrained? I love this quote: "The plan... will help unemployed workers get better access to Pell Grant scholarships worth up to 5,350 dollars and attend local community colleges, a US official said". Pfft. What a f*cking joke... as if a pittance like that is going to mean squat. And as others have mentioned, what in the hell would you retrain for? The total number of jobs is shrinking rapidly, and most of those jobs aren't coming back.

We need another political party. All we're getting from these useless sell-outs is the same old tired distractions disguised as solutions.

[HughBeaumont]

39. What we need is a violent overthrow of the Bean Counter Friedmanite wealthy that run this country.

In all their "costs, major shareholders, costs, major shareholders, costs, major shareholders, costs, major shareholders" blather, they seem to be forgetting that firing millions of workers means no business, no recovery and more debt.

But hey, this assumes wealthy bean counters care about the interests of their customers. They're accumulating theirs before the whole shithouse goes up in flames, it seems.

[bitchkitty]

56. It is time for technology education in the US.

It's inexcusable that things like http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42086/108/">this have happened. Time to stop outsourcing our brain power!

[Delphinus]

19. That was my question.

We need some visionaries, don't we? As well as Single Payer Universal Health Care.

[Rage for Order]

22. Didn't you hear? they could work at GM

Provided they're willing to move out of the country. See:

Under Restructuring, GM To Build More Cars Overseas

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/07/AR2009050704336.html?hpid=topnews

[NeoConsSuck]

42. Exactly

I "retrained" in the late 90's, BS in Comp. Sci. Should I now learn to speak Indian so I can relocate to Bangalore?

[Old Hob]

64. The 21st century.

[Mojambo]

2. To do what? Buy plane tickets to India?

Or flip burgers at Denny's?

[bluestateguy]

3. I've never been a big fan of retraining

People need their old jobs back, not retraining.

[Hugin]

4. Hey, somebody has to clean up after the 'service visa' workers.

Eeew, I'm going to Hell for that one... Aren't I?

[bamacrat]

5. I think this is a good idea, but I bet some neocon will scream reeducation camps.

Theyre trying to retrain us to be slaves. ahaha

More so than we already are.

[PassingFair]

6. Unless it's rocket surgery or brain science...the average person

can become fairly proficient in ANY position
in about 6 months.

"Training" and "Education" is not the answer.
(Especially if it sinks you into debt.)

JOBS is the answer. On the job training.
Bring back the apprenticeship model...

[KillCapitalism]

58. That's spot on man.

It really is true that a lot of jobs, especially paper pusher type of positions can be trained for with OTJ training. I like the idea of apprenticeships for more occupations, because in an apprenticeship you actually earn while you learn.

Leave the intensive stuff like nursing, engineering, and biochemistry to the universities of course.

[Mythsaje]

59. I could see this working...

In fact, it sounds similar to the system Germany has in many respects--or used to have?

[JDPriestly]

7. Retraining costs a lot of money, and it is irrelevant when there are no jobs.

Besides, many of those who are now unemployed have already "retrained" a couple of times. Is there evidence that lack of education, lack of job skills are causing or even related to the unemployment?

Bite the bullet,Mr. President and renegotiate the trade agreements. Free trade is hurting ordinary Americans. And the only way that "free" trade can be maintained is by bullying the whole world with a huge military force. Americans can no longer afford that military power -- not with so many people out of work and generating no tax revenue.

It's not lack of training or education that are causing the economic crisis. It's lack of industry, lack of production, lack of jobs. The trade agreements are the root cause of America's decline.

[HughBeaumont]

8. Not to mention it costs a lot of time, which the average person doesn't have.

They only have NOW and the bills in front of them.

[JDPriestly]

16. Good point!

[DemBones DemBones]

18. +1

[Ian David]

9. Tomorrow on Fox "News": President Obama Proposes Putting Unemployed in Re-Education Camps. n/t

[Regret My New Name]

25. haha... I heard that was why we're gonna build those high-speed trains...

Quicker transport, ya know?

heh, I'd find some of the stuff people say amusing... if I didn't think they actually believed it.

[Coyote_Bandit]

10. Once again

there is nothing for you if you happen to be long-term unemployed or if you demonstrated the iniative to become some form of self-employed after losing your job. No hope, no change, no positive expectations for you. You are own your own - and if you have some savings you just might be required to pay taxes to underwrite somebody else's benefits.

Don't tell me these folks will eventually benefit. It is not a certainty. It is inequitable to require that they sacrifice more for longer periods of time. Trickle down or trickle up - either way if you are not the one who is directly benefitted then you are shortchanged. Whatever might trickle through the economy floats the boat of everyone - even those who were directly benefitted.

Long-term unemployed or self-employed? You're fucked again.

But hey its great for some folks.....

[JVS]

11. That is not an adequate response to the unemployment problem

These people need jobs. Education just means that they are more skilled and in need of a job.

[Baby Snooks]

12. You have to have jobs to retrain for...

This is another example of how Washington is totally disconnected from reality.

[treestar]

41. the jobs keep changing!

The economy moves so fast that if you were trained in the 80s, what you did then is no longer needed now, but something new is.

[Dr.Phool]

14. Retraining is really easy when you're working 2 lower paying jobs

To support your family.

I tried that in 2002. Applied in March, they were out of funding by May, before they got to my application.

Applied the next year. Jeb Bush stole the money.

[XemaSab]

15. I don't want to be retrained

I want a job in my current field.

[Triana]

21. Retraining for WHAT? We don't f*cking DO or make anything here anymore!

This "retraining" shit is for the birds when all our jobs are being insourced/outsourced to the cheapest damn labor possible. WHO wants to TRAIN for that? WHO wants to "Train" for a job you can't even make a damn living at?

BULLSHIT.

There are NO industries left to retrain for. People who HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR AT LEAST ONE COLLEGE DEGREE cannot afford to pay for ANOTHER one and don't WANT to go through that again at 50+!

This is BEYOND stupid, unrealistic, short-sighted, and it makes it v.obvious that SOMEBODY up there is seriously lacking CLUES.

:mad:
:grr:

[Igel]

27. And you've nailed one of the problems.

Most college-educated people don't want industrial jobs. "Retraining" does *not* mean getting another college degree. If that psych degree didn't help you get a job as a machinist, the degree in French probably won't. Nor would a degree in math or chemistry. Now, being trained as a machinists, *that* might help. But it's not a college degree.

What's hilarious is to hear people in Houston say, "We have no industry." "We don't make anything any more."

Then you ask them about certain parts town and they have no idea what's there. Or they do--"I don't go there, it's too industrial." They avoid roads because all the trucks going to the port to export manufactured goods have "ruined the roads."

They believe a contradiction, and have no problem both complaining that there is absolutely no industry, complaining that we need more industry, while also complaining there's too much industry. Point that out, and they change the subject quickly.

Now, there are those who say there's no industry, and when you ask them about certain parts of town they draw a blank. "There be alligators there" is the look you get. Then it's non-random small-number statistics--they know 100 people out of 10 million, and none of those 100 are employed in industry so there can't be anybody employed in industry, right? Eh. That's what their college education--obviously not in statistics--has told them, so it must be right. (They should request a refund.)

[Politicub]

23. Very awesome proposal

Visionary and realistic - I love it.

[mountainvue]

24. For those of us in our 40's and 50's

who have had several different career paths in life, I think it's a bit late for retraining. We should be thinking about our retirement. I work 50+ hours a week in a job that barely helps me make ends meet. Five years ago I was making in the low six figures which provided for myself and family more than adequetly. Forgive me but I am too god damn old and tired right now for retraining.

[Triana]

30. ditto a WHOLE lot of the rest of us.

That's YET ANOTHER reason this "retraining" crap is just that. Crap.

[Berry Cool]

26. We need a combination of retraining AND jobs.

Obviously, those just starting out in the job market could use all the training opportunities they can get and it would be great for them to have more. So could those who missed out on education earlier in their lives or whose work has become truly obsolete (and not just because it's been outsourced). But older workers and other workers who already have plenty of education and training who can't find jobs in the fields they know so well--they either need good alternatives in other fields that will use the skills they already have, or they need more of the same kinds of jobs they once had.

It makes no sense to take 40- and 50- and 60-year-olds with bachelor's and master's degrees and decades of experience at their line of work, and tell them they need to go to their local community college and retrain for a brand-new career.

[vadawg]

50. problem is those guys with the degrees may have to retrain to work in other areas

due to there no longer being a need for someone with their advanced degrees, problem is i cant see someone who has worked in certain fields being happy to be retrained as an agricultural worker, or road construction etc.

[Igel]

28. Eh.

I saw some stats from a couple of years ago. A few too many college grads, too many people without any school beyond high school, and too many high-school drop outs.

So who do retraining programs target? Well, by definition *not* those with no training beyond high school, nor high-school drop outs. College grads typically aren't interested.

It's one of the major problems with prior retraining programs that didn't target specific, very narrowly defined cohorts. Such programs lack vision and minimize the authority of government, so I don't see that kind of program happening soon.

(Of course, the other problm is training people for jobs that will be created--as though government's done such a stellar job predicting such things.)

[Vidar]

29. We need training. It's a long swim to India.

[OhioChick]

35. No shit.

Retrain to do fucking what? I know of many with degrees that are unemployed now.
As for those "green jobs"...they've already made their way to China and India.

[corpseratemedia]

31. so what so you change rules so the unemployed can take classes while getting benefits

who can afford to enroll even in a community college when you have to pay bills with a minimum-wage not-yet outsourced job?

HELLO MR. PRESIDENT EVEN JACKIN-THE-BOX OUTSOURCES ITS ORDER-TAKING!

THERE AREN'T ANY JOBS BECAUSE OF FREE TRADE.

This country is lost.

[fasttense]

32. Too little, too late.

Back about 9 months ago when my husband first lost his job, we had some money saved and he thought he would work on finishing his masters in education and become a school teacher.

It would take about a year, the unemployment benefits would cover the costs (well, mostly what with my pension) of surviving. But when we approached the unemployment office, the clerk said he couldn't because he had to available 24/7 to take a job. If he was getting educated, he wasn't out there looking for a job and was considered unavailable for work and they would STOP the unemployment benefits.

We couldn't do both, pay the tuition and stop the unemployment benefits.

So we decided to spend that money on getting our own business started instead. The unemployment office would not stop the benefits if we did that. Too bad. My husband would have made a great teacher. He loves kids and has more patience than anyone I know. It's too lat for us but maybe it will help someone in our situation in th future.

[Le Taz Hot]

53. I know this is after-the-fact

but that happened to me many years ago. Unless your husband's previous employment offered 24/7 shifts and your husband was working graveyard, the unemployment clerk was incorrect. You have to be available to job search during the times/days you were previously employed. I was in the same situation years ago and the Unemployment office had no problem with me going to school at night, which I did.

Sounds like you did OK anyway with starting your own business but I just thought I'd throw that in there for anyone who was thinking about trying to go to school while on unemployment -- it can be done.

[fasttense]

70. Actually it varies from state to state.

We did some research and went back and argued with the clerk. Then she said it would have to go before the board to determine if he could continue to get his benefits. She said most requests get disapproved, unless it is a request for votech skills type training like plumber or air conditioner repair man. They consider a masters degree to be superfluous.

[veness]

33. Thanks for this thread. K & R #1 !! n/t

[NikRik]

34. At 52 where do I fit in ?

As a 52 year old former Jewelry salesman I would like to know if I would be able to be retrained and recieve some kind of support since I have a family consisting of my wife and two young children. Retail sales is at a all time low and it always been a job wth a insecure feeling of the bottom falling out everytime the economy was suffering . I want to repair air conditioniares or something along that line ,in other words a trade job that I can find employment for ! Sadly it seems at 52 you are cosidered to old for a company to look at you seriously . They want the 20-30's group of up comers and not some old geser like me. Unless somoeone has already been inplace working somewhere,getting a company to hire you at my age seems almost impossible, my wife who has been working for the same company for 25 years says she feels they are trying to get rid of her and replace her with a younger lower paid employee ! I know we are a capitialist country ,however must the managers and owners of these companies be so heartless ,it is making me very jaddded as to my feelings about those fortunate enough to be hire up in the management of any company, they seem only to care about making themmsleves look better by squezzing their budget down at the cost of human suffering ! Its very discouraging !
NikRik

[Honeycombe8]

37. I'm over 50, too. Gainfully employed. But I know what you mean...people

our age would be out of luck, even with retraining. New employers would have their pick of hiring from a large pool of younger workers who have not just the training, but also experience in the new field. So there really is no reason they would hire someone our age without experience in that field.

Ins. premiums go up with the age of the workforce at a company. So there is a disincentive to hire workers our age.

I don't blame them, though. They have a business to run. They are not a charitable organization. They really have to hire the best and most economical workers they can for their company. A lot of businesses are on the verge of going out of business, too. This economy is affecting everyone.

What I AM angry about though is age discrimination, since that exists, apart from valid reasons not to hire an older worker. Some people just don't want older workers around. I hope there really is karma in the world.

[raccoon]

52. Another reason we need a national health plan.

"Ins. premiums go up with the age of the workforce at a company. So there is a disincentive to hire workers our age."

[Honeycombe8]

36. This will help a few people. But retraining doesn't work for older folks.

I'm middle aged. No amount of retraining, if I were laid off in my current field, would entice another employer to hire me, a middle aged laid off person, when they have their pick of hundreds of people WITH EXPERIENCE IN THAT FIELD and who are 20 years younger.

This retraining will help a few, younger unemployed people, though. So in that respect, it's good. It doesn't make sense to lose your unemployment benefits because you go back to school.

[No Elephants]

38. Re-training is no help for older people, or for people with college or graduate degrees, but it

will help some. No one thing is going to help everyone or fix the economy. He's trying a variety of things; and training is a very good thing for some. The rest simply will not participate.

Overall, I favor this for those who can benefitt. It's not a panacea for all, but it's one good thing.

[treestar]

40. This is a great idea

In modern times, things change so fast. People can't just say they are going to be in a particular occupation for life when the market does not support it.

Staying in one job for life does not work any more, maybe with few exceptions like Doctors. Even they have to keep up with changes, though.

[SWr]

46. Hmmm

So I guess we wont have experts anymore in anything ... jack of all trades master of none.

Your idology is unrealistic. Its just like multitasking at work ... the more you try to do the LESS you

accomplish.

What do you suggest people waste 4 years in college LOTS of money and in 10 years do it all over again? Who the hell has the money or time for that?

[OhioChick]

49. You're absolutely right.

Don't waste your time trying to debate immigration lawyers.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

47. The responses in this thread are priceless.

Now education is bad. Way to go DUers.

[Fumesucker]

51. Why not respond to a couple of the actual points being made?

Retrain for what? Particularly for those of us who are older.

I'm on my fourth or fifth "career" depending on just how I view things, how many times is it possible to start over from scratch?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

57. Sorry, you're right.

Offering Pell grants to the unemployed is bad. BAD. And god dammit, if you can't have a new career than nobody else should either.

[KillCapitalism]

60. I don't think anyone here is saying education is bad.

The problem is that a lot of people who are already college graduates come out of school with tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt. When their jobs are outsourced a few years later, they definitely can go back for more education, but that would require tens of thousands of more dollars to obtain a masters or a second bachelors. Some of those programs are so intensive that these students can't work full-time while attending school...but there's still rent to be paid, etc. Anyway, it seems to just be an endless cycle where the person may upgrade to better positions in their career, but at the same time digging themselves deeper into debt. I know of some people like that & they are afraid they won't even have their student loans paid off by the time they want to retire.

[OhioChick]

62. Well Said. n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

63. Do you really think those are the people that this program is aimed at?

It's aimed at people with no degree of any kind. And yes, I think bitching about making it so that getting a pell grant doesn't fuck up your unemployment payments is a good thing. Would you prefer the current situation, which makes it basically impossible for someone on unemployment to acquire more education without giving up benefits? Because that strikes me as far, far, far more idiotic than what's being proposed here.

[doc03]

43. I'm 61 and laid off by the time

I get retrained for what, Walmart Greeter? I'll be on SS.

[w4rma]

44. FOR WHAT? (nt)

[HughBeaumont]

45. The retraining canard misses the point on MANY aspects (updated for 2009).

Today's MBA is soon becoming as valuable as yesterday's HS diploma. In this recent round of layoffs, the Bachelors and MBA holders were sent packing from corporations with the rest of the "unpositioned". Nowadays, so many people are getting their MBAs not simply for the purpose of bettering themselves, but merely as a requirement for remaining employable. There's going to come a time where a bachelors degree, which takes enough time and sacrifice to complete, simply isn't going to be enough. Frankly, it really isn't enough now. When does THAT stop?

What do you say to older workers in general, who still have to deal with the wet-carpet mountain known as "ageism"? To pretend it doesn't exist is patently naive at best and perilous at worst. There used to be a time that older workers and their leadership and skill set were valued. Now corporations want the candidates to be 25-34 years old, have 20 years experience and a master's degree, and be able to work for the same average $40,000 a year that they've been paying us for three decades running.

What do you say to older workers who took the GM/Ford buyouts but still don't have the money to retire? What does this administration say to people like my cousin, who in 2006 had to take a buyout from Packard Electric, which lasted him so long and to this day never recovered the wages he made and is still not gainfully employed? He has nothing other than a high school diploma. It's naive to think that at 37, he and his SO can just go to a community college and start over. What would they do? Where would they get the money for the education . . . go into more debt? Where would the experience come from?

They didn't used to have to worry about this sort of thing before. It used to be that we were able to gainfully employ people who aren't meant for college; these people were our industrial and manufacturing base and they built the quality products we used and bought.

A strong economy should be capable of employing EVERYone at a fair wage regardless of education level, and when you cannot do that, all the talking points in the world aint'a gonna mask the reality that you do NOT have any such economy on your watch.

So now we're again bringing up the "retraining" canard. While it was all too insignificant a bone thrown by the Bewsh administration, Obama seems to mean well because I believe he genuinely cares about workers and doesn't see them as economic losers as the previous admin did.

Regardless, it still remains the futile equivalent of plugging up a bursting dam with corks.

Say you get laid off of a career and have to go and re-train for a new one. Honestly, what are you going to pick that can't be offshored/inshored?

Do you got a few years to put your life on hold while you GET this training, as in enough cash to pay the bills, put food on the table and a roof overhead?

Here's another thing they aren't seeing - how can you predict that the career you choose to retrain in won't be following it's predecessor overseas?

Not to mention that "retraining" only works if your competition cannot do the exact same thing. What do they think, that Indians and Chinese DON'T have access to the same universities and opportunities we have? They can get the same degrees we can get. They have THOUSANDS that already HAVE the same degrees we have to get. And they will always, always ALWAYS be cheaper. Gonna get your Ph.D in math? Guaranteed there's already 100 Indians or Chinese or whoever that have them and are vying for your position.

ALL offshoring and inshoring/visa abuse should be stopped until you have several new emerging technologies for the displaced to assimilate to. Oh wait, that TOO can't happen. Not only has nano-, bio- and whatever-o-tech already got the jumpstart over in Asia and India during the last administration (which was fervently anti-science to it's own detriment), but now were seeing reports of green jobs being shipped overseas as well . . . the jobs that were supposed to be leading US to a greater long-term economic foundation.

We cannot afford to follow the same path our predecessors have taken for the past 20 years.

If one was conspiritorial to the n-th degree, one would think this was all a foolproof plan by the wealthy, corporations and colleges to keep the middle class, poor and all of us 95%ers in "our station" for life. But I'm starting to go with a certain director who said "I don't believe in conspiracies, except the ones that are true".

A powerless, uneducated, fearful and divided work force is an OBEDIENT work force. It's simply sad beyond belief that Democratic administrations who saw the monumental damage caused by 28 years of Republican and Moderate free-trade follies are still falling for the same Republican and regressive way of conducting business.

I'm not one of those who believe they don't care. I just think this new administration cannot do anything to rein in ubiquitous corporate rule. These spoiled brat wealthmongers are going to learn soon enough just how cancerous their selfish ways will end up being the bullets through their own feet.

[OhioChick]

48. Good post as usual, Hugh. n/t

[Hugin]

55. Good post, Hugh.

My original chosen training was in Engineering... Last I looked, nothing has changed in my field other than a bunch of 'Financiers' believing they were entitled to a 20% yearly growth in THEIR OWN incomes. To accomplish that... They've outsourced or undercut all domestic labor by shipping it somewhere else so an under-qualified and untrained person can be said to be doing the same work for a 10th of my already diminished earnings.

Physics hasn't changed.
Applied Science hasn't changed.

These people in Washington need to look outside of their Lobbyist's pocket books now and again.

[KillCapitalism]

61. You hit the nail on the head right here.

A powerless, uneducated, fearful and divided work force is an OBEDIENT work force. It's simply sad beyond belief that Democratic administrations who saw the monumental damage caused by 28 years of Republican and Moderate free-trade follies are still falling for the same Republican and regressive way of conducting business.

Very good post altogether.

[workinclasszero]

54. Retrain to what?

As soon as a career field is identified that an American can make a decent living at, it is shipped overseas or H1B visa slaves are brought in to take it over.

Is China/walmart hiring door greeters again?

[Old Hob]

69. There are career fields available to Americans still but manufacturing doesn't seem 2 be one of them

[cambie]

65. Downward mobility

Obama says that without "enough post-high-school training to be competent in fields that demand technical expertise" "it would be very hard to imagine getting a job that pays a living wage."

[LiberalEsto]

66. We're struggling to pay our KIDS' student loans

so there is NO money for me to get "retrained." And retrained for WHAT?

I had a good, if not lucrative, career as a newspaper journalist from 1972 to 1990 and 1993 to 1997. I haven't worked for a paper in 12 years. And 5 of the 6 papers where I worked have gone out of business. The sixth is cutting back drastically, and many of my former colleagues are now struggling to find work.

Newspaper reporters, in my experience, work very long hours and have no energy or time for night classes. I once had to miss an evening art class because my editor sent me out to cover a sniper. I didn't think anything of it, but my instructor freaked out about the risk of my getting shot. When we end up losing our jobs after living, sleeping and breathing the news for decades, we don't generally know what the hell to do with ourselves. And because there are now so many of us on the job market, and more getting laid off every week, the competition for freelance writing work is fierce.

My part time job as a marketing writer is now over, because there aren't any clients coming in with projects for me. I would be happy to bag groceries if I could stand for 8 hours on my flat feet, and lift bags with my herniated disc and sciatica.

I am 57, and for all intents and purposes, obsolete. Thank Goddess my husband has a decent job, but for how long?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

67. It's a Pell grant.

It's not a loan.

Newspaper reporters, in my experience, work very long hours and have no energy or time for night classes.

This is simply to make Pell grants available to the UNEMPLOYED. In my experience, the unemployed do not work long hours.

[LiberalEsto]

68. I wouldn't qualify for a Pell Grant

It's a wonderful idea and I hope these grants are extended to more people. I'd love to be able to go back to school.