Education is a fundamental right, yet access to tertiary education remains a challenge for marginalized communities worldwide. To address this, the Philippine government launched the Expanded Students' Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) in 2013, offering free college education to impoverished but academically inclined students.…

America's labor market presents a paradox. Although the unemployment rate is just 3.9%, there are more jobs open than people who can fill them. Nationwide, there are roughly 68 workers for every 100 open jobs. Many factors contribute to this workforce shortage, but one of the most significant is a growing skills gap -- millions of workers across…

Women are the majority population in Texas that participate in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and public housing assistance programs. TANF focuses on mandatory work requirements with a time-limit on assistance and lack of education opportunities. This dissertation documents post-secondary education opportunities for Texas women…

Increasingly, parents of young children need postsecondary credentials to compete in the labor market and meet basic family needs. This study uses a quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of Career"Advance," a two-generation education intervention that offers postsecondary career training in healthcare for parents paired with…