write an essay addressing a low income, welfare life style comparing two budgets, one with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Food stamp benefits only and the other with benefits and a minimum wage income. Students will be given a realistic monthly budget for a TANF (welfare) parent and will then be asked to develop a detailed household budget for expenditures including food, housing, utilities, laundry, transportation, day care, and other items. Itemizing household and food budgets in tabular form (i.e. table form or in an excel document) are very important to making the paper readable and should be included. Failure to do so will result in a point penalty. When you prepare your budgets do not mingle your Food Stamp (SNAP) and cash incomes. Students must discuss and reflect on the type of lifestyle that they would have if they really lived in these circumstances.

Your TANF budget is based on the following: You have a family of four (one adult and three children). At least one of your children must be over 6 and none can be over 16. Your cash budget is $245 per month (TANF) in cash and you receive $668 per month in food stamps (food only). You may own a car, but no assets worth more than $2,000. Just demonstrating that you spent the allotment for food will not be sufficient. You must provide details and make a reasonable attempt to provide a decent diet. You will have Medicaid coverage for most of your medical expenses. You may make use of any additional government or charitable programs that you can find. However, be aware that taking contributions from friends, family, or working on a cash basis without reporting is welfare fraud. It is strongly suggested that you provide itemized budgets for the sake of clarity.

Student should then develop a budget for a minimum working lifestyle. Remember, that once you start earning money from a wage, you begin to lose TANF and Food Stamp benefits. A minimum of 15% needs to be deducted from your gross wage earnings to account for various withholding taxes. You may also expect an additional reduction in your TANF benefits equivalent to 20% of your net earnings because you are working. In other words, you cannot add your 25 hour per week earnings to your benefits to get a total budget. You may still assume that you get Medicaid, but your TANF and Food Stamps should be reduced by one-third. Note: there have been some modifications made here to make the budgeting process simpler for you. At the conclusion developing this budget, answer the following question “Would it be worth your while to take a 25 hour per week job at $7.25 per hour (minimum wage)”?