The importance of engaging students on public assistance: New insights and recommendations for practice
| Author | Madeleine Marrin,Nicole M Elias |
| DOI | 10.1177/0144739419851149 |
| Published date | 01 October 2019 |
| Date | 01 October 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The importance of engaging
students on public
assistance: New insights
and recommendations
for practice
Nicole M Elias
Department of Public Management, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New
York, USA
Madeleine Marrin
Center for Career and Profes sional Development, John Jay College of Criminal Just ice, City
University of New York, USA
Abstract
Student engagement in institutions of higher education has become a central priority for
educators and administrators. What “student engagement” means for a diverse student
body is an important question for public institutions with justice-related missions. As
social welfare policy shifts to allow more recipients of public assistance access to higher
education, research regarding their engagement experiences remains scarce. To support
a socioeconomically diverse student body, consistent with the Network of Schools of
Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards, this project explores the
nature of engagement among student recipients of public assistance by asking the fol-
lowing research questions: what forms of engagement with students on public assistance
take place? Why is engaging students on public assistance important? How can we foster
greater engagement with students on public assistance? To answer these questions,
student and faculty focus groups are conducted. From this analysis, we highlight nor-
mative implications of engaging a socioeconomically diverse student population and
present recommendations for fostering greater engagement.
Keywords
Student engagement, engagement models, socioeconomic disparities, social equity
Corresponding author:
Nicole M Elias, Department of Public Management, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New
York, 524 W. 59th Street, Room 53307 Haaren Hall, New York 10019, USA.
Email: nelias@jjay.cuny.edu; Telephone: 212 393 6422
Teaching Public Administration
2019, Vol. 37(3) 341–364
ªThe Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0144739419851149
journals.sagepub.com/home/tpa
Introduction
Since the emergence of a formal theory of engagement in the mid-1980s, student
engagement has increasingly become a buzzword at institutions of higher education.
This is largely due to the strong link between student engagement and positive academic
outcomes (Astin, 1984). More and more, questions emerge about how best to engage
diverse student populations. Moreover, academic programming is often mandated to
promote diverse engagement, such as by the Network of Schools of Public Policy,
Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA, 2014) accreditation standards which encourage
accessibility to an economically diverse student population. Attempts to understand
engagement with a diverse student body often focus on common “non-traditional” stu-
dent groups, such as students of color, first generation students, or adult learners.
However, as shifts in welfare policy grant greater access to higher education for reci-
pients of public assistance, socioeconomic diversity has emerged as an important facet of
diverse student engagement. In order to better understand the perspectives of student
welfare recipients on student engagement, this project will use a focus group format to
study the experiences of student participants in City University of New York: Educate,
Develop, Graduate, Empower, known as CUNY EDGE, a support program for student
recipients of public assistance at John Jay College, CUNY.
The Human Resource Administration’s approval of baccalaureate degrees was a large
and significant policy shift. New York City is the only area in New York state that allows
clients to count these degrees as a work activity. Under Mayor DeBlasio, the Human
Resource Administration has been supportive of education and training – including
college. However, students enrolled in four-year degree programs who are also reci-
pients of public assistance are rarely studied and often overlooked, in part because they
themselves are a relative rarity. Out of the roughly 200,000 public assistance cases that
are open in New York City at any given time, only about 3000 cases document any kind
of educational activity as a part of their work requirement (New York State Office of
Temporary and Disability Assistance Bureau of Data Management and Analysis, 2016).
Those enrolled in four-year degree programs are likely even scarcer, as the pursuit of a
bachelor’s degree did not so much as merit its own subsection among listed educational
activities on a 2016 statistical report, and was only approved as a work activity in New
York City in 2014. This is often attributed in part to the emphasis on traditional work
activities by the Human Resources Administration, who oversees public assistance
activities in New York City. However, it may also be linked to low feelings of student
engagement among student public assistance recipients and subsequently low rates of
retention
1
from year to year. Because of the low visibility of these students, little
emphasis is put on fostering their retention, which in turn may cause their numbers to
dwindle.
In addition to low awareness of their presence on campuses, student welfare recipients
often represent demographics that statistically report lower student engagement and
retention rates (Terenzini et al., 2001). This project’s sample, student welfare recipients
at the College, are exclusively commuter students. They are also predominantly of non-
traditional college age, with a quarter reporting that they are over the age of 25, and most
342 Teaching Public Administration 37(3)
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