Education Advancement, Poverty
Conditions
Keywords
Cash transfer
Brief summary
In partnership with a local community college in in Omaha, Nebraska, the Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR) at the University of Pennsylvania will conduct a randomized controlled trial to determine the impacts of a negative income tax for MCC students, with particular attention to educational and career advancement outcomes. The sample will include students in a degree-seeking program, as well as those in non-degree programs, such as those working towards professional certificates.
Interventions
OTHERNegative Income Tax
Negative income tax calculated by the supplemental poverty measures less the household's prior tax year adjusted gross income, then divided by 12 to arrive at a monthly cash transfer
OTHERControl
No negative income tax payment
Sponsors
University of Pennsylvania
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* 19 years of age or older, and * Currently in 2nd semester of MCC Associate's program OR completed at least one Level-1 credential OR within one month of completing a Level 2 credential, and * Have a total adjusted gross income (AGI) $6,000 below the SPM for the reported family size, and * Compliant with community college's enrollment, participation, and documentation requirements
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Educational Program Completion | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | Number of participants who complete academic program, whether Associate's Degree or credential |
| Workforce participation | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | Number of participants who become employed in industry associated with earned degree or credential |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Food security (Household Food Insecurity Access Scale) | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | 9 items to assess past four week food insecurity: 1) worry about not having enough food, 2) inability to eat preferred foods, 3) eating a limited variety of foods, 4) having to eat foods that they did not want to eat, 5) eating a smaller meal than needed, 6) eating fewer meals in a day, 7) having no food to eat, 8) going to sleep at night hungry, and 9) going a whole day and night without eating. Items scored as "yes" (1) or "no" (0). |
| Financial wellbeing (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Financial Wellbeing Scale) | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | Each item is scored 0 to 4 and summed to a total. The sum total is then converted to a total response value on the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale score from 0-100, where higher scores indicate a greater sense of financial well-being. |
| Psychological distress (Kessler 6) | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | Each item is scored from zero "none of the time" to four "all of the time." Scores of the 6 items are then summed, yielding a minimum score of 0 and a maximum score of 24. Low scores indicate low levels of psychological distress and high scores indicate high levels of psychological distress. |
| General health | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | Self-reported general health as measured by one question from the RAND Short Form Health Survey (known as SF-36): "In general, would you say your health is:", with a 5-point scale from Poor to Excellent. |
| Health Behavior Inventory-20 | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | Assessment of health promotion and risk behaviors, Likert scaled inventory with 5 subscales |
| Housing status | Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months | Number of participants who report a change in housing status (e.g., renter, homeowner, rent-to-own, etc.) or report stable housing status in the prior month. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTStacia West, PhD
Outcome results
None listed