The adoption of electronic benefit transfer card for delivering food stamp benefits in Alabama: perceptions of college students participating in the food stamp program

College Student Journal, Dec, 2004 by Andrew A. Zekeri

The reasons for moving from paper coupons to delivering food stamps electronically include potential reduction in the cost of administering the system and in fraud, theft and abuse of the system. Furthermore, the use of EBT is believed o reduce social stigma and embarrassment felt by recipients when using paper coupon. Therefore, using survey data collected from College Students participating in the Food Stamp Program in Alabama, the purpose of this study is to ascertain empirically if the use of EBT card for delivering food stamp benefits reduces food stamp fraud, theft, and embarrassment associated with the paper coupon. Results of descriptive analysis indicate that as expected, EBT card reduces fraud, theft, and embarrassment or social stigma associated with paper coupon. There was a common perception among these college students that the EBT system is a good way to receive food stamp benefits. Implications of the findings are discussed.

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Changes in political structures and innovations in technology have altered the administration of federally-administered/state-operated benefit programs to recipients. Of special significance is the delivery system that has emerged in areas of food assistance program. In response to Vice President Gore's September 1993 call for the development of a nationwide system to deliver government benefits electronically, the Federal Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Task Force was chartered in November 1993. The challenge for the Task Force was that of making EBT, a system that began as a concept in the 1980s by the Food and Nutrition Ser vice of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) nationwide in the fullest sense--one card, user friendly, with unified delivery of government funded benefits (Federal EBT Task Force 1994).

Since the Task Force's report in 1994 and the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act that required all states issue food stamps electronically by October 1, 2002, many states have implemented EBT in delivering Food Stamps to recipients and some are still going through various stages of planning and implementation (Zekeri 1999; 2000; 2003). Alabama converted to the new debit card system for issuing Food Stamps in April 1997. Alabama was the first in the nation to deliver federal program (Social Security and Supplementary Security Income) as well as state programs (Family Assistance and Food Stamps) electronically through the EBT system. Alabama worked with seven other Southern states (Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee) and developed the EBT card system for issuing benefits. Food stamp recipients in Alabama receive EBT card that they present to food stores at checkouts. The recipient swipes the card through a card reader attached to an EBT terminal, and enters his or her personal identification number (PIN) using the terminal's key pad and the entire transaction amount is debited. A food stamp transaction under the electronic system does not include cash back anymore.

Some of the reasons for moving from paper coupons to EBT include reduction in the cost of benefit delivery (administering the system) and in theft, fraud and abuse. EBT is also believed to reduce social stigma and embarrassment felt by recipients when using paper coupon-factors that may lead to lower participation rates.

THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The analysis addressed the following research questions:

1. Does the use of EBT card reduces benefit theft and fraud associated with paper coupon?

2. Does the use of EBT card reduces embarrassment or social stigma associated with using paper coupon?

THE STUDY SITE

The study was conducted in one of Alabama's rural Counties. The county is located in the southeastern part of the state, traversed by Interstate 85 and U.S. Highway 29. The county contains 614 square miles and is the 47th in the state in size. The 2000 population was 24, 105, a decrease from 1990. The 2000 census reported the population as 13% white, 86.4% black, less than 1% American Indians/Alaskan Native and less than 1% Asian Pacific Islanders, with less than 1% of Spanish origin.

The county is one of the poorest in the nation and majority of the residents are welfare dependent. The residents are, as the President's National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty put it in 1967, "people left behind." It is also one of those categorized by the United States Department of Agriculture as counties of "persistent poverty." The Census Bureau's 2000 data indicate that 34.4 percent of all persons in the county were below the 1995 federal poverty line of $15,569 for a family of four compared to 17.6 percent for Alabama's total population.

RESEARCH PROCEDURES

Data for this analysis were drawn from continuing study of benefits and problems associated with the use of Electronic Benefit Transfer for Food Stamps in rural Alabama (Zekeri 2000; 2003). In the study, I employed a triangulated research design (Berg 1998; Leedy 1993; Sieber 1973; Yin 1984). The design includes the collection of survey data and also incorporates ethno graphic field research intended to position the researcher within the natural setting and to give rural residents a more active role in the research process. I observed benefits and problems associated with the use of EBT card through a structured self-administered mail questionnaire. I followed Dillman's (1978) Total Design Method for implementing mail surveys. A total of 1100 randomly selected food stamp recipients participated in the study. Of these, 857 (76%) completed and returned their questionnaires.