Some Follow-Up on Appealing FAFSA Decisions and Job Retraining

Readers sometimes write.  We got a good posting from an anonymous person the other day, full of good stuff, and worth posting for more readers. It was written in response to a posting on retraining/education for older workers:

FAFSA does indeed use an applicant's previous year's tax return to make financial aid decisions BUT the decisions (usually "turndowns") can be appealed with the information about the applicant's current status. This requires "lead time" so a prospective student for Fall 2013 should begin the process no later than January 2013 - because by April 2013 the grants, need scholarships and federal loan availability will largely already be spoken for. SECOND beware of the "Plus" programs, not all are good. In my area (Oregon) the "Plus" program only gets you trained for and then employed in a minimum wage/part-time call center job - few people's idea of gainful employment - a minimum wage part time (20-30 hours) job isn't even a decent "survival" job. THIRD - in some states there is a federal continuing education grant offered through a state's unemployment department twice yearly.

1) On the possibility of appealing the decision to not provide financial aid for a student because of changing financial circumstances, such as a job loss.  Anonymous states that you can do this, and a check of various college, university and government websites prove that this is true.  In fact, some institutions have several forms depending on the cause of the appeal--job losss, loss of dependency on parents, etc.  When you are hit with unemployment or another disaster you should check with the institution that turned you down.  But the devil of it is that you still need some "lead time" to appeal while the institution still has funds available.  If you have a calamity after they run out of money, you're still stuck.

2)  "Beware of PLUS programs."  The funding behind the PLUS program that I mentioned as a career training program for people over 50 in that same entry is specifically to enter careers in health care, education and social services, but many programs aim to retrain workers, may use the word PLUS, and essentially train you for stuff that is low-paying and a waste of time.  You should beware of PLUS as much as any other offer for job training.  Take the time to check out how well-paying and in-demand the job for which you would be training is. In this entry, I mention some research you can do to find out.  You can also check the salaries in job sites for positions offered in indeed.com. 

3) Some states do offer job retraining through whatever agency handles unemployment in your state in various forms and guises, because it may come through different federal funding streams.  It may be twice a year, or it may be continuous.  And by "continuous," we mean until the money runs out.  And since a program might be funded by programs meant to serve different constituencies (displaced workers, veterans, etc), there might be funding for you if you fall into one category of worker, but not another.   Still, the department that handles unemployment claims is an underrated source of retraining money.  In this blog, we have covered stuff from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Families, including their listing of eligible training places that you can get funding to enter (when the department has money for your type of worker).    To identify the department in charge of unemployment in your state, see this site, then check out the site for worker and job retraining, or contact them.

 

What Are Plus 50 Unemployed People to Do? Possible Retraining Courses of Action

A few weeks ago I got a heartfelt comment from an over 50, unemployed anonoymous person who was between a rock and a hard place.  He or she pointed out that many scholarships and financial assistance programs are not set up for people over 50, or for people who have suffered a sudden reversal of fortune--say, who were thrown out of work and don't have time for that loss of income to be reflected in their FAFSA documents.  What are such people to do?

I didn't have a very good answer at the time, except for commisseration, which isn't much of an answer at all.  I could have linked to other entries on money for retraining, which would have been better.  But this week, I was turned on to another possible avenue of help.

It seems that Owens College near Toledo has been chosen as one of the recipients of a grant from the Plus 50 Initiative, which is a program by the American Association of Community Colleges to broaden educational opportunities for baby boomers.  The goal of the Plus 50 Encore Completion Program, a part of the program, "aims to help 10,000 baby boomers earn high-value degrees or certificates in key fields that give back (education, healthcare, social services) by 2014."  Right now, Owens College's program consists of a reduced-cost program to help people prepare for the job search and overcome work barriers.  It will expand in the near future to programs that will help potential workers over 50 to prepare for careers in these three areas, with emphasis on high-demand careers.  For Toledo-area boomers interested in the program, call Gary Corrigan at 567-661-7455.

If you're not in Toledo, you can check out your nearest community college to see if they are part of the Plus 50 Initiative.  The Plus 50 link above listed some of the original participating community colleges, but a distressing number of links are dead.  If you call your local community college, ask for the department dealing with continuing education, or for the Plus 50 program.  They may have a lower-cost program dedicated to helping you recareer.

Comparing Schools for Job Training--Bonus Ohio Goodness

The last post discussed the need to research and compare schools provide training or education. In Ohio, the Jobs and Family Services site has a feature that makes it easier. It's the Site for searching Eligible Training Providers. Click "search by training provider." Then, put in the name of a program, say, for instance, truck driver, in the search box by "program name." Then, under the county search box, click the text that allows you to pick up to five counties. A map appears that allows you to click up to five counties to search for a truck driving program. Pick your counties, click "save and exit," and then click "search." It will come up with those programs, at schools in those counties. Mark the schools that you want on your comparison list, then click "view comparison list." It will show you the costs, fees, accreditation, and length of training for each program. It's a huge help in figuring out the program that best helps you.

Also, when figuring out the potential wages and career outlook for your future, Ohio Labor Market statistics provides lots of information about job pay and growth in particular areas of Ohio. It's a good way to get a realistic picture of what a job will pay and the likelihood of getting it.

For-Profit Schools and You

The Department of Education published proposals to change the rules by which for-profit secondary and vocational schools are eligible for student aid. It’s crucial because for many institution, this eligibility is their bread and butter—no federal aid, no students. The feds have been concerned about the low federal loan repayment rate from students of these institutions (at about 36%, even though the rate for nonprofit and state institutions are not anything to write home about, either—barely more than half). Even worse is a report by the Education Trust, in which they reported that for profit schools have a six-year graduation rate of about 22%.  More to the point, the feds feel that students are oversold on expensive courses of study that will not result in equally high-paying jobs, leaving the Department of Education on the hook for those loans. Under the proposed rules, institutions would have to have a track record of fairly decent repayment among their graduates, and/or their graduate would have to make money that makes them “gainfully employed,” (with a student debt/earning ratio of 12% of their total income, or 30% of their discretionary income. Schools that fall in-between may have restricted eligibility for student aid. The final rules are expected by November 1st.
In the meantime: how do you protect yourself from acquiring an overpriced, worthless piece of paper?
1) Check all the schools in your area for programs in which you are interested. See which ones may be less expensive. See which ones offer different types of aid. How much of the expenses does that aid cover? And, if the aid is in the form of a loan, it’s still not at all worthwhile unless you graduate and make the money to cover it. Could you study the same thing more cheaply at another school in your area? If your library has it, look at the College Blue Book's volume on occupational education, and the volume on college majors to find all schools that carry a particular program.
2) Check out the occupation that you want to enter. Does it require accreditation or graduation from an accredited program? Is the institution you are considering accredited? If not, your education may be entirely wasted, and your job prospects dim. Go to your library and find some national professional organizations for that profession and see if they give accreditation (for instance, the American Library Association accredits library schools. In many places, only graduates of these programs are considered for higher-ranking or even entry positions.)
3) Watch out for the hard sell and misleading information. This problem was featured prominently in the GAO report. If a person from the institution says the occupation is high-paying, there are ways of checking this out. Above all, don’t sign anything right away. If the school is a good deal, it will still be a good deal after a couple of day’s investigation. Also, use sources like the online Occupational Outlook Handbook to see what the job outlook is for that profession, and what you can reasonably expect to make.
4) Does your state require a license to practice that occupation? If so, what are the requirements? Would this school help you obtain them? A good place to start is Govspot. Click on your state and find the part re: licensing. See if your occupation needs a license. Call the state licensing board for that occupation and find out what their requirements are.

***Update***: the U.S. Department of Justice and the states of California, Florida, Illinois and Indiana have filed a massive fraud suit against Education Management, claiming that the second largest for-profit higher education company in the country: "...consistently violated federal law by paying recruiters based on how many students it enrolled. The suit said that each year, Education Management falsely certified that it was complying with the law, making it eligible to receive student financial aid."  Stay tuned.

Educational Opportunities for Veterans and Their Families

Via the office of Ohio State Representative Barbara Sears (District 46), there is a pamphlet with links to information about help and opportunities for veterans (insert frowny face here, because she didn't create an online resource.) But I'll put some of them up for Memorial Day.

One whole page is devoted to links about education and training opportunities available to veterans and their families. Among them are links to a page on the GI bill, the Ohio Department of AMVETS job skills training program, and the Ohio jobs skills training program for veterans through the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Ohio's GI Promise program is a bit hazier--from what I can read, it involves broadening the eligibility for in-state tuition rates for veterans and their families, and some cooperative work between the public and private sectors to create more opportunities from veterans, and is still evolving.

Then there are the scholarships, like the Ohio War Orphans Scholarship, the Ohio National Guard Scholarship Program (offering a fully paid scholarship to a public Ohio college or university, and an equal monetary scholarship for a private school, after committing to a six year Guard enrollment), the AMVETS scholarships for the kin of wartime veterans, and the American Legion American Legacy Scholarship.

How Can I Get Money for Work Retraining?

Many people seeking to re-career are hampered by the lack of traditional scholarship money for non-traditional, non-degree education at places that offer certificates instead of 2 or 4 year degrees. How do you get money to go to trucking school, or become a beautician? The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was created partly to address that. One of the things that sprang out of it was the naming of trade schools around the country as "eligible training providers." This means that students attending these schools are eligible for financial assistance to attend via the Workforce Investment Act. Last week, I listed a website for Ohio.


But you can find WIA eligible schools around the country at the CareerOneStop website. Just click your state to get a search engine to identify schools for that state. Once within a state, you can find different search engines that vary in how they allow you to search: by geography, or field of study, etc.


Other options: if you are a veteran, schools that are approved by the Veteran's Administration for education and job training. Or other things previously mentioned in this blog, as well as proprietary schools (private vocational schools) approved for funding within their state, such as Ohio or Michigan.

We Found It! Where to Find Places to Retrain.

I knew for a long time that the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services had a place where you could find education places that were eligible training providers (ETP). But where? Here's where. Click this link, and you can search for ETP's in an up to five county area, by name of program OR name of provider. Thus, if you wished to find cosmetology schools in an area that are certified training providers, you could put in the word "cosmetology" and click on the counties you want, and see the list. It will tell you their course of studies, costs, and what type of financial aid they are eligible to receive.

So Where's the Free Money for Job Retraining?

***IF YOU DON'T FIT THE DEFINITION OF A WORKER DISPLACED BY FOREIGN COMPETITION, SEE THESE OTHER POSTS ON JOB TRAINING HELP.***


Where's that free money to re-train workers displaced by foreign competition? When people ask that, they usually mean the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) or Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) benefits. These benefits were created to help retrain workers who lost jobs because the competition of foreign products caused them to lose their jobs, or because their jobs were moved overseas to foreign plants.

It can seem obvious on the ground when a worker has lost his or her job for these reasons, but a worker isn't eligible for help unless a group of affected workers petition the U.S. Labor Department's Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance, requesting that they be certified as being hurt by foreign trade. So, for instance, a group of workers in a plant that has been or will be shut down can apply. If they receive this certification, the individual workers affected can file to get service like employment counseling, resume writing and interview skill workshops, career assessment, training, and sometimes, relocation allowances.

In the case of workers 50 or more years of age, for which retraining may not be the best way to regain their economic standing, the Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance program might help. Older workers may get the employment retraining help, but also a wage subsidy and a tax credit for part of the montly health insurance premiums they pay. Older workers can chooses to file for either the TAA or ATAA, but not both.

To get the process rolling, workers need to downloand, fill out, and send the petition. You can even get help filling out the petition at the nearest one-stop career center in your area. If your petition is accepted, individual workers can use that one-stop center to file for--and use--all their benefits.