An interventional study of Negative Income Tax and Control in Poverty and Education Advancement, sponsored by University of Pennsylvania. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-08.
Sponsored by University of Pennsylvania · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
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.
University of Pennsylvania is the lead sponsor of 1,635 studies on the registry; 239 are open to participants now.
Of its 154 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 104 (68%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Inclusion criteria:
Students currently enrolled in an Associate's Degree program at the community college will receive a negative income tax for a duration of two years followed by a linear titration of payments for one year
Other: Negative Income Tax
Students currently enrolled in a credential program at the community college will receive a negative income tax for a duration of one year followed by a linear titration of payments for six months
Other: Negative Income Tax
These students will not receive the negative income tax
Other: Control
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
No negative income tax payment
Educational Program Completion
Number of participants who complete academic program, whether Associate's Degree or credential
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
Workforce participation
Number of participants who become employed in industry associated with earned degree or credential
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
Housing status
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.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
Food security (Household Food Insecurity Access Scale)
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).
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
Financial wellbeing (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Financial Wellbeing Scale)
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.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
Psychological distress (Kessler 6)
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.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
General health
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.
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
Health Behavior Inventory-20
Assessment of health promotion and risk behaviors, Likert scaled inventory with 5 subscales
Time frame: Baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
University of Pennsylvania