Allowing unemployed to go to school and keep their benefits *OUTSTANDING*

[Peacetrain]

Just heard on the TV, it will be announced that the unemployed can keep their benefits and go back to school.

Now that is thinking outside of the box. Give people laid off a chance to retool.

I am so pleased.

:bounce:

[Peacetrain]

1. BUMP BACK..

Sorry for the self serving bump..but this is huge good news

[Pab Sungenis]

2. Agreed.

Very good news.

[mopinko]

10. hey this is du

who wants to hear good news?








:hide:



knr

[polmaven]

24. Yeah!!!

How can we complain if there is only good news?

Gooorrly!

[Mika]

3. Just like Cuba does (and has been doing for 40+ years).

Maybe we can follow Cuba's lead on health care next.

:thumbsup:

[Peacetrain]

4. Good Point!

The republicans are so tooled into their old ideas, I wonder how they are going to try and spin this one?

We have a whole new industry in wind turbines here in Iowa, and you need trained people to build, install, and maintain.

This is hard economy not soft.

I am just a happy camper

[ejpoeta]

11. i can imagine!! they will probably say, as i have heard some say that the unemployed

aren't looking for work.... that this is just a way for the unemployed to milk the system or something. i like the idea though, because if people can't find jobs then helping them get the education to find work in a different field could be helpful. plus updating their skills so they are more current can't hurt either.

[Mika]

14. Shutting down "free trade" agreements that are killing our domestic production would help.

What's the point of retraining at huge expense if the jobs Americans are training for are being outsourced to another nation under the rubric of "free trade"?

[madokie]

5. Back in the early 70's

I was allowed to go to heavy equipement operators school while drawing on my GI bill and still receive my unemployment. In fact the employement office is who set me up for it. So it has happened before.
Its good that President Obama and company will do this for the unemployed. He's a good man.

[intheflow]

6. Fabulous!

Now how do I, someone who's been doing contact work, qualify for unemployment so I can do this? Contract work is all dried up, but as a "self-employed entrepreneur" I'm not eligible for unemployment.

[Coyote_Bandit]

13. I'm right there with you

I was laid off in December 2002. The desk in a corner of a spare bedroom represents job creation. Job creation at below poverty level wages.

In my quest to secure employment I collected over a thousand rejection letters - before I quit counting and determined that I am unemployable. Apparently being a single 40 something well educated woman (3 graduate degrees and 2 professional licenses) with a responsible work history and some minor vision and hearing impairments won't get you shit. But I could get myself sent to prison and have access to both health care and job training. Go figure.

I have been considering enrolling part-time in technical college to study jewelry making if I can figure out how to finance it. Since I'm unemployable I need to find a trade/skill where I can better provide for myself. I'm under no illusions that I will be able to secure employment even after completing technical college. Nobody wants me.

I own my small 60 year old home (which needs some significant updating and repair) and have some savings (intended for retirement but not in a 401k or retirement plan as my previous employers did not offer such benefits) therefore I do not qualify for any kind of assistance.

I live in a society where I'm a throwaway. I'm fucked.

[Merlot]

30. Yes, no one talks about the self-employed who don't qualify

for any of these nifty benefits. The people who gave up on health insurance years ago, don't qualify for UI, and are to "experienced" (over 40) for job retraining.

It's like a lump of clay in your stocking after being good.

[Coyote_Bandit]

34. And some of us

who are self-employed are really just doing whatever we can to bring in a few bucks here and there. We did not choose this manner of earning a livlihood. We were forced into it. In fact, we really are not self-employed in any traditional sense because most of us dabble in multiple endeavors to brting in a few bucks. We might earn a few bucks this week doing some freelance writing. Next week we might earn a few bucks doing some yardwork for somebody. The week after we might be a pet sitter or a temporary fill-in nanny. That is not self-employment - it is scrambling to survive.

If I have learned anything it is that my first priority and deepest loyalty is to myself and my family. Everything and everyone else is secondary at best. And there is no loyalty to those who betray my interests.

[Peacetrain]

23. Thinking this might be the answer.. Looked at the CNN story

and he is proposing upping pell grants from 500 to 5300 .. and that looks like it might apply to all unemployed Obama announces education help for unemployed
Posted: 11:53 AM ET
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Under Obama’s initiative, colleges would consider a person’s current financial situation to make it possible for them to receive Pell grants, which are available for low-income students. The unemployed person would not lose any unemployment benefits and the maximum Pell grant would be increased in July by $500 to $5,350.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

[HopeOverFear]

25. That's a typo, right?

From 500 to $5300?????

[Peacetrain]

26. Yep Typo..and my dyslexia ... I misread it..

[Merlot]

32. Yes, but you don't qualify for a pell grant if you already have a 4 yr degree.

[defendandprotect]

7. You used to be able to do this, right??? Didn't Repugs change it??

THANK YOU, OBAMA AND DEMS -- !!!



:loveya:

[Peacetrain]

8. I don't know..but it just makes so much sense...

Having people chase after the same jobs that have disappeared is not working. This on the other hand, could be just the ticket for a lot of people.

[prolesunited]

33. Even though unemployment is federal

the states have the freedom to enact their own guidelines. Many don't allow schooling while on unemployment.

The states STILL have the right not to go along with this. Some turned down the extended unemployment (free money) because they didn't want to enact any required rule changes.

[barbtries]

38. in 1995

i collected unemployment AND the state paid for my computer training, a six month professional certificate course. without that i don't know that i could have ever made a living with the antiquated skills i possessed.

and as my SIL said at the time, "pennies on the dollar" - it was way smarter for the STATE to prepare me to be a contributing member of society than it would be to relegate my son and i to poverty, which would result in the state being responsible for housing, clothing and feeding us. the state MADE money off that investment. that's how it works. only short sighted greedy and heartless people could fail to understand that.

[pnutbutr]

9. I wonder

how someone is going to be able to pay for education while only receiving unemployment benefits?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

43. Public colleges, borrowed books, library?

[appleannie1]

12. That is how we survived the Reagan Recession. It was called TRA.

The only way you could continue to receive benefits was if you went to school to train for something different. My husband graduated and was called back to his previous job a week later.
Apparently that program was nullified and they are bringing it back. It is a very good thing.

[Lars39]

15. Letting people keep their benefits until they find a job afterward

would be great. Husband and wife family members lost their jobs a few years back when their company moved to Mexico. They had unemployment benefits, were put on a waiting list for retraining, eventually got into the vo-tech school for the retraining. They lacked a year graduating when their benefits ran out,forcing both of them out of school and back scrambling for jobs in an area that basically has no jobs.

Continued benefits until you are trained *and* find a job are a necessity, anything less and you are setting people up for failure.

[Raineyb]

16. Really?

I went back to school this spring after getting laid off in Sept. (Separated from the company in November) This would be so helpful.

[Peacetrain]

18. Yes Raineyb.. Opportunity. GOV

It will be helpful

[Peacetrain]

17. He's announcing it now~~

[ieoeja]

19. I had no idea you couldn't. That was f'ing insane!

I can usually understand a Rightists point. But the mind boggles as to what line of reasoning they could possibly have had for not wanting unemployed people to retool except to ensure they would still be available if the factory ever started to re-hire.

Oh. Okay. I did figure it out. But what possible reasons could they have used to argue in favor of this? That one still has me stumped, cause I'm fairly certain the above argument wouldn't go over too well with much of the American public.

[tridim]

20. Did he say anything about independent contractors who don't get unemployment insurance?

This is obviously great news, but it still ignores a big chunk of the devastated IT workforce.

[Peacetrain]

21. Honestly I don't know.. I got a call in just as he was making the announcement

[Peacetrain]

22. Just looked this up on CNN

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/08/obama-announces-education-help-for-unemployed/


It looks to me, by the jumping of the Pell Grant, from 500 to 5200 that it is open for all unemployed.. :)

Obama announces education help for unemployed
Posted: 11:53 AM ET

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama announced new steps to help unemployed Americans Friday, targeting people out of work who want to go back to school.

The president outlined a plan under which the Department of Education will send colleges legal guidance encouraging them to increase financial aid packages for the unemployed so they can enroll in educational and training programs, while keeping their unemployment benefits.

Under Obama’s initiative, colleges would consider a person’s current financial situation to make it possible for them to receive Pell grants, which are available for low-income students. The unemployed person would not lose any unemployment benefits and the maximum Pell grant would be increased in July by $500 to $5,350.

“In a twenty-first century economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, education is the single best bet we can make,” Obama said.

The unemployment system should not just be a safety net, but “a stepping stone to a new future. … 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.”

[Peacetrain]

28. Never mind.. I misread the numbers it is a 500 bump in pell grant

money.. but every 500 helps!!

[shanti]

27. additionally

they should allow welfare recipients to attend college too. it used to be allowed but was stopped.

[Joanne98]

29. YAY! I can go to school now!!!!!!!

[prolesunited]

31. I would love to be able to go back to school

It's the only way I'll be employable since my industry is dying.

[2Design]

35. that is good n/t

[Wednesdays]

36. K&R

:kick:

[Sirveri]

37. You were always able to go back to school. But it had to be specific schools.

Like trade schools or other things that quickly got you back into the workforce. I could have gone to truck driving school if I wanted to. I don't know about an actual COLLEGE type school though. This might also only be specific to CA.

[ColbertWatcher]

39. Anyone know when it starts? 30 days? 6 months? Immediately? n/t

[shireen]

40. yes, finally some common-sense policy! nt

[Fumesucker]

41. This is nice...

But what *exactly* are people going to retrain for?

Some of us have already retrained several times, at what point may we be considered to be overly qualified for just about any job you can imagine?

[rucky]

42. Federal or State policy?