WIA Grant

We've found an approved school in Akron for the Associate's Degree program in which Don is interested. As is customary with financial aid, there is a long, laborious paper trail necessary to actually be awarded the WIA Grant money. In your own state, find WIA grant information by just typing "WIA guidelines", and your state's name, in your browser. Being on unemployment was not listed as a prerequisite for Ohio. It is a Federal grant, administered by individual states, so rules may be slightly different for each state. Technical schools qualify, as do universities and community training programs. You can earn a certificate, or a degree, depending on your area of interest. The maximum amount of financial aid is $10,000.

It appears Don might not be able to continue with unemployment insurance; we'll see what happens with that. He now has two part-time jobs, totaling 23 hours per week, so it won't matter a whole lot if they discontinue his unemployment. We aren't receiving much anyway.
School attendance is only problematic for unemployment insurance receivers if you started it after losing your job.

Don will probably qualify for a Pell Grant, in addition to the WIA Grant. Beyond that, I suppose we'll get the living-expenses loan. If I work part-time, Don wouldn't have enough time to watch the kids or do any homeschooling, due to his own study-time commitment, so a living-expense loan may be our only option. Neither of us sees an alternative to Don getting another degree, even though it will require a lot of sacrifice from all of us. In the long run it will serve our family well.