Presented by: Betsy Rodriguez Diversity Chair - NCASFAA Do You Have Class?

Objective This session provides an overview of the various socio-economic classes within the population of students who receive financial aid and how to counsel students within the various populations successfully.

What is socio-economic status? An individual's or group's position within a hierarchical social structure. Socioeconomic status depends on a combination of variables, including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence. Sociologists often use socioeconomic status as a means of predicting behavior.

What does that mean? Key words Socioeconomic status depends on a combination of variables, including education, occupation, income, wealth, and place of residence. Sociologists often use socioeconomic status as a means of predicting behavior.

Education Socioeconomic status appears to create achievement gaps for Black and Hispanic children, when compared to the achievement levels of White children (Duncan and Magnuson, 2005). Children from low-SES families often begin kindergarten with significantly less linguistic knowledge (Purcell-Gates, & Freppon, 1995). Children from less-advantaged homes score at least 10% lower than the national average on national achievement scores in mathematics and reading (Hochschild, 2003). Children in impoverished settings are much more likely to be absent from school throughout their educational experiences (Zhang, 2003), further increasing the learning gap between them and their wealthier peers. While national high school dropout rates have steadily declined (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002),dropout rates for children living in poverty have steadily increased. Between 60 and 70% of students in low-income school districts fail to graduate from high school (Harris,2005).

Demand for Education Statistics have shown that countries with high enrollment/ graduation rates have grown faster than countries without. The United States has been the world leader in educational advances, beginning with the high school movement (1910–1950). Educational advance is not the only variable for economic growth, though, as it only explains about 14% of the average annual increase in labor productivity over the period

Occupation Occupational status reflects the educational attainment required to obtain the job and income levels that vary with different jobs and within ranks of occupations. Additionally, it shows achievement in skills required for the job. Occupational status measures social position by describing job characteristics, decision making ability and control, and psychological demands on the job.

Income Income refers to wages, salaries, profits, rents, and any flow of earnings received. Income can also come in the form of unemployment or workers compensation, social security, pensions, interests or dividends, royalties, trusts, alimony, or other governmental, public, or family financial assistance. Education also plays a role in income. Median earnings increase with each level of education. The highest degrees, professional and doctoral degrees, make the highest weekly earnings while those without a high school diploma earn less. Higher levels of education are associated with better economic and psychological outcomes.

Socio-economical Issues Violence Psychological Health Physical Health

Violence Browne, Salomon, & Bassuk (1999) found that women who resided in households that earned less than $10,000 annually had a 4-times- greater risk of experiencing violence than women in wealthier households. Bassuk et al. (1996) found that homeless mothers reported significantly more severe instances of physical and sexual assault over their lifetime than low-income housed mothers. Buka, Stichick, Birdthistle, & Felton, (2001) found youths from low-income neighborhoods witnessed significantly more severe violence (viz., murders and stabbings) than youths from middle- and upper-income neighborhoods.

Violence and Employment Research on post-violence consequences finds that exposure to violence can negatively affect the ability to sustain employment. Intimate partner violence causes U.S. women to miss about 8 million days of work and lose about $727 million in wages each year (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2003). After experiencing a violent incident, low-income women who worked 40-hour work weeks had only one-fifth odds of maintaining that full-time status for 6 or more months than women who did not experience violent incidents (Browne et al., 1999). Low-income women who experienced intimate partner violence or aggression had only one-third odds of maintaining a 30-hour work week for 6 or more monthsthan women who did not experience violence

Psychological Health Research finds that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has negative consequences for income and employment. Individuals with untreated PTSD had significantly lower long-term income and employment rates than those receiving treatment (Murdoch, 2006; Savoca & Rosenheck, 2000). Veterans with PTSD were 3 times more likely to be unemployed (Zatzick et al., 1997). A lifetime diagnosis of PTSD was associated with a nearly 50% lower probability of current employment (Savoca & Rosenheck, 2000). Individuals with more severe PTSD symptoms were less likely to have full- or part-time employment (Smith. Schnurr, & Rosenheck, 2005).

Physical Health Socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity have been associated with avoidable procedures, avoidable hospitalizations, and untreated disease (Fiscella, Franks, Gold, & Clancy, 2008).

Tips Do not judge a book by its cover. Be sensitive towards other cultures. Remain open minded. Put yourself in the student’s shoes. Remind yourself why you have a job. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Remain positive.

Questions?