Overview of 2015 Community College

Priorities

Moderator and Presenters

Jee Hang Lee, ACCT Vice President for Public Policy and External Relations

David Baime, AACC Senior Vice President for Government Relations & Policy Analysis

Jim Hermes, AACC Associate Vice President of Government Relations

Jennifer Stiddard, ACCT Senior Public Policy Associate

Federal Funding Priorities for Community Colleges and Students

• Provide strong funding for community college priority programs; nullify sequestration cuts for FY 2016 and beyond

• FSEOG, Work-Study, TRIO and GEAR UP• Perkins CTE programs and Adult Basic Education

Federal Funding Priorities for Community Colleges and Students

• Title III and Title V institutional aid programs, including Strengthening Institutions, HSIs, PBIs, AANAPISIs, HBCUs and Tribal Colleges

• Workforce training funds for WIOA programs• NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program

Federal Pell Grant Program• Provide funding to support inflationary increases to the maximum

Pell Grant award without limiting eligibility• Restore the Year-Round Pell Grant• Reinstate full eligibility for “ability-to-benefit” students• Extend lifetime Pell eligibility to 14 full-time equiv. semesters

Higher Education Act Reauthorization• Reauthorize HEA to support community college access & success by

• Improving federal student aid programs• Ensuring accurate measures of student success• Reducing regulatory burden• Improving institutional support

Higher Education Act Reauthorization• Revise federal loan borrowing limits• Separate federal loan default rates and institutional Pell eligibility• Replace cohort default rates with better metric

Higher Education Act Reauthorization

• Develop accountability measures that more accurately reflect community college success including transfers

• Create a national unit record data system• Ensure maintenance of effort by states• Allow students in short-term workforce training to receive federal aid

Federal Support for Reduced Community College Tuition

• Authorize and fund legislation comparable to President Obama’s America’s College Promise proposal

• Create new federal-state partnerships to fund this initiative with emphasis on state maintenance of effort

Please visit the ACCT and AACC Web sites for legislative news, upcoming activities and events.

ACCT – www.acct.org

AACC – www.aacc.nche.edu