Obama wants to ease rules on aid to jobless

By; Tom Abate

President Obama said he wants to make it easier for people to collect unemployment benefits while they go to school or retrain for jobs, promising to “lay a new foundation for our economic growth by investing in our citizens.” One immediate effect of his announcement should be to help college students obtain federal Pell Grants if they or their families become unemployed since filing for financial aid.

He said he would soon outline plans that would require state governments and colleges to change many of their practices and rules. “I will lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education and community college programs,” said Obama, adding that the unemployment system “should be not just a safety net but a stepping-stone.”

One immediate effect of his announcement should be to help college students obtain federal Pell Grants if they or their families become unemployed since filing for financial aid.

How his plans would affect California – where unemployment is already 11.2 percent – is unclear as state officials await details of this new program, which would touch everything from unemployment insurance to community colleges.

“No one has seen what this proposal is,” said Deborah Bronow, deputy director for unemployment insurance at California’s Employment Development Department.

But administration officials said Obama wants states to let unemployment insurance beneficiaries continue collecting checks while they attend a broader array of educational or vocational programs than is currently allowed.

“We want the states to make use of the latitude they have to make an expansive definition of retraining,” said Deputy Undersecretary of Education Robert Shireman, former director of a Berkeley nonprofit, the Institute for College Access and Success.

Student aid applicants affected by layoffs should get an immediate boost from the president’s program, said Darrill Anderson of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Obama also envisions allowing unemployed workers to collect unemployment checks while pursuing associate or bachelor’s degrees, but state officials aren’t sure how that would work, because benefits – even at the current maximum of 79 weeks – wouldn’t last long enough unless a person had just a few classes to finish.