[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ENGINES OF ECONOMIC MOBILITY:
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF COMMUNITY
COLLEGES, HISTORICALLY BLACK
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, AND
MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTIONS IN
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE INVESTMENT
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
AND LABOR
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 22, 2019
__________
Serial No. 116-25
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: www.govinfo.gov
or
Committee address: https://edlabor.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
36-600 PDF WASHINGTON : 2020
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman
Susan A. Davis, California Virginia Foxx, North Carolina,
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona Ranking Member
Joe Courtney, Connecticut David P. Roe, Tennessee
Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Tim Walberg, Michigan
Northern Mariana Islands Brett Guthrie, Kentucky
Frederica S. Wilson, Florida Bradley Byrne, Alabama
Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Mark Takano, California Elise M. Stefanik, New York
Alma S. Adams, North Carolina Rick W. Allen, Georgia
Mark DeSaulnier, California Francis Rooney, Florida
Donald Norcross, New Jersey Lloyd Smucker, Pennsylvania
Pramila Jayapal, Washington Jim Banks, Indiana
Joseph D. Morelle, New York Mark Walker, North Carolina
Susan Wild, Pennsylvania James Comer, Kentucky
Josh Harder, California Ben Cline, Virginia
Lucy McBath, Georgia Russ Fulcher, Idaho
Kim Schrier, Washington Van Taylor, Texas
Lauren Underwood, Illinois Steve Watkins, Kansas
Jahana Hayes, Connecticut Ron Wright, Texas
Donna E. Shalala, Florida Daniel Meuser, Pennsylvania
Andy Levin, Michigan* William R. Timmons, IV, South
Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Carolina
David J. Trone, Maryland Dusty Johnson, South Dakota
Haley M. Stevens, Michigan
Susie Lee, Nevada
Lori Trahan, Massachusetts
Joaquin Castro, Texas
* Vice-Chair
Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
Brandon Renz, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE INVESTMENT
SUSAN A. DAVIS, California, Chairwoman
Joe Courtney, Connecticut Lloyd Smucker, Pennsylvania,
Mark Takano, California Ranking Member
Pramila Jayapal, Washington Brett Guthrie, Kentucky
Josh Harder, California Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Andy Levin, Michigan Elise Stefanik, New York
Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Jim Banks, Indiana
David Trone, Maryland Mark Walker, North Carolina
Susie Lee, Nevada James Comer, Kentucky
Lori Trahan, Massachusetts Ben Cline, Virginia
Joaquin Castro, Texas Russ Fulcher, Idaho
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona Steve C. Watkins, Jr., Kansas
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Dan Meuser, Pennsylvania
Northern Mariana Islands William R. Timmons, IV, South
Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon Carolina
Alma S. Adams, North Carolina
Donald Norcross, New Jersey
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on May 22, 2019..................................... 1
Statement of Members:
Davis, Hon. Susan A., Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Higher
Education and Workforce Investment......................... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 4
Smucker, Hon. Lloyd, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Higher
Education and Workforce Investment......................... 5
Prepared statement of.................................... 6
Statement of Witnesses:
Boham, Dr. Sandra L., ED.D., President, Salish Kootenai
CollegeS................................................... 46
Prepared statement of.................................... 48
Dubois, Dr. Glenn, Ph.D., Chancellor, Virginia Community
College System............................................. 35
Prepared statement of.................................... 37
McHatton, Dr. Patricia, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of
Academic Affairs, Student Success and P-16 Integration,
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley...................... 26
Prepared statement of.................................... 28
Verret, Dr. Reynold, Ph.D., President, Xavier University of
Louisiana.................................................. 8
Prepared statement of.................................... 11
Additional Submissions:
Chairwoman Davis:
Graduation Rate Initiative............................... 91
Takano, Hon. Mark, a Representative in Congress from the
State of California:
Letter dated May 20, 2019, from SEARAC................... 93
Prepared statement from OCA - Asian Pacific American
Advocates.............................................. 95
Trone, Hon. David J., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Maryland:
HBCU's Make America Strong: The Positive Economic Impact
of Historically Black Colleges and Universities........ 99
Questions submitted for the record by:
Grijalva, Hon. Raul M., a Representative in Congress from
the State of Arizona
Levin, Hon. Andy, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Michigan
Norcross, Hon. Donald, a Representative in Congress from
the State of New Jersey................................ 110
Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, a Representative in
Congress from the Northern Mariana Islands
Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'', a Representative in
Congress from the State of Virginia
Trahan, Hon. Lori, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Massachusetts
Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
Dr. Boham................................................ 116
Dr. Dubois............................................... 119
Dr. McHatton............................................. 126
Dr. Verret............................................... 137
ENGINES OF ECONOMIC MOBILITY:
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF COMMUNITY
COLLEGES, HISTORICALLY BLACK
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, AND
MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTIONS IN
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS
----------
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
House of Representatives,
Committee on Education and Labor,
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Washington, DC.
----------
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:17 a.m., in
room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building. Hon. Susan A. Davis
[chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Davis, Courtney, Takano, Harder,
Levin, Omar, Trone, Trahan, Castro, Sablan, Bonamici, Adams,
Norcross, Smucker, Guthrie, Grothman, Stefanik, Cline, Watkins,
and Timmons.
Also present: Representatives Scott, Foxx, Wild, and Hayes.
Staff present: Tylease Alli, Chief Clerk; Katie Berger,
Professional Staff; Nekea Brown, Deputy Clerk; Emma Eatman,
Press Assistant; Christian Haines, General Counsel Education;
Ariel Jona, Staff Assistant; Stephanie Lalle, Deputy
Communications Director; Richard Miller, Director of Labor
Policy; Max Moore, Office Aid; Veronique Pluviose, Staff
Director; Katherine Valle, Senior Education Policy Advisor;
Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information Technology;
Courtney Butcher, Minority Director of Member Services and
Coalitions; Bridget Handy, Minority Communications Assistant;
Amy Raaf Jones, Minority Director of Education and Human
Resources Policy; Hannah Matesic, Minority Director of
Operations; Kelley McNabb, Minority Communications Director;
Casey Nelson, Minority Staff Assistant; Brandon Renz, Minority
Staff Director; Alex Ricci, Minority Professional Staff; Mandy
Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of
Education Policy; and Meredith Schellin, Minority Deputy Press
Secretary and Digital Advisor.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Good morning and welcome everyone. The
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment will
come to order. We are happy that you're here. I note that a
quorum is present.
I also want to ask unanimous consent that Ms. Wild of
Pennsylvania and Ms. Hayes of Connecticut be permitted to
participate in today's hearing with the understanding that
their questions will come after all members have completed
their questions.
The committee is meeting today in a legislative hearing to
hear testimony on engines of Economic Mobility, the Critical
Role of Community Colleges, Historically Black Colleges and
Universities and Minority Serving Institutions in Preparing
Students for Success.
Pursuant to committee rule 7c, opening statements are
limited to the chair and the ranking member and this allows us
to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with
adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself now for the
purpose of making an opening statement.
Today we will examine the critical role of historically
black colleges and universities, HBCU's, tribal colleges and
universities, Hispanic serving institutions and community
colleges in providing low income students and students of color
with a quality higher education.
Our first three bipartisan hearings have so clearly
demonstrated that a college degree remains the surest path to
financial stability for Americans across the country. This is
particularly true for low income students and students of color
who's educational and work force opportunities have
historically been limited by intergenerational poverty and
systemic racism.
In fact, studies show that students with parents in the
bottom quintile of the income distribution can double their
chances of moving up the income ladder if they obtain a degree.
However, Federal data released this morning on college
enrollment reveals a 50 percentage point gap between low income
students and their wealthy peers. We have much work to do.
HBCU's, tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic serving
institutions, and community colleges continue to do this work
and demonstrate their commitment and ability to provide these
students with the benefits that come with a quality education.
Founded for the specific purpose of educating black students
because other institutions would not, HBCU's continue to live
up to their mission of providing a community where black
students can thrive.
HBCU's make up less than 3 percent of colleges and
universities yet they produce almost 20 percent of all black
graduates.
Tribal colleges and universities, TCU's were developed as
part of a political and social movement to regain tribal
autonomy and to combat centuries of forced assimilation and
destruction of native communities. Today there are 35
accredited TCU's serving students from more than 230 federally
registered tribes.
Hispanic serving institutions educate more than 3 out of 5
undergraduate Latino students and one quarter of all
undergraduate students. Among 4-year institutions, Hispanic
serving instructions propel low income students to top income
brackets at a rate three times, three times that of
predominantly white institutions.
Hispanic serving institutions can also act as cultural hubs
for Latino students, many of whom earn their degree and return
to work in their own communities. These institutions are
effective engines of economic mobility because they meet
students where they are and are dedicated to educating the
whole person.
HBCU's and TCU's in particular embed appreciation for the
identity and culture of the students they serve in their
foundational missions. Honoring ancestors, sustaining
traditions and engaging honestly with American history all
serve to signal to students that they belong in college.
Many other institutions such as Asian American and Native
American Pacific Islander serving institutions and
predominantly black institutions also serve low income students
and students of color. These institutions are forced to do more
with less.
To be designated as a minority serving institution,
colleges must not only enroll a substantial number of students
of color but it must also enroll a substantial number of Pell
students and have fewer resources than peer institutions.
In my own State, the California State University system is
a model for how minority serving institutions can help students
overcome barriers to higher education. Reflecting the
population of the State, more than half of CSU students are
people of color. One in 3 students are the first in their
family to attend college and more than half of all students
receive Pell grants.
Community college also play a crucial role in providing
higher education to low income students and students of color.
These 2-year colleges often provide a local and affordable
option for students who are priced out of 4-year institutions.
In fact, community colleges enrolled 1 in 3 black students
and nearly half of Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander
and first generation students. More than a third of low income
students attend community colleges.
The great work being done cross the country by HBCU's,
TCU's, minority serving institutions and community colleges is
unfortunately hampered by deeply inadequate funding. Persistent
and systemic underfunding of HBCU's has been extensively
documented.
The Federal Government has never fully fulfilled its
obligation to support native students at TCU's and less than
half of designated HSI' have received a grant through HSI
specific programs. And the average community college receives
about half the amount of per student funding received by public
4 year colleges.
With this funding inequity, we must ask ourselves how are
these institutions still producing such strong results? How is
that? As our witnesses will highlight, when we invest in HBCU's
and tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic serving
institutions, and community colleges, we empower hundreds of
thousands of students each year with the most powerful tool
available to achieve success, a college degree.
And lastly, as we honor the 65th anniversary of Brown v.
Board, and wrestle with the promise unfulfilled, it becomes
evident that just like our K12 system we spend more money to
educate wealthy college students and students who are
underserved by our education system.
Depriving the institutions that serve our most vulnerable
college students of the resources made available to
predominantly white 4 year universities is contrary to our
values and the best interest as a Nation.
Congress has a responsibility to strengthen and invest in
institutions that are promoting economic mobility as we
continue to work toward a reauthorization of key Federal higher
education policy. We must understand the critical work these
institutions are doing to address the specific needs of today's
students and invest, invest in these initiatives. Thank you
President Verret to Dr. McHatton, Chancellor DuBois, and
President Boham for being with us today.
I now yield to the ranking member, Mr. Smucker, for his
opening statement.
Prepared Statement of Hon. Susan A. Davis, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on
Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Today, we will examine the critical role of Historically Black
Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-
serving institutions, and community colleges in providing low-income
students and students of color with a quality higher education.
Our first three bipartisan hearings have so clearly demonstrated
that a college degree remains the surest path to financial stability
for Americans across the country. This is particularly true for low-
income students and students of color whose educational and work force
opportunities have historically been limited by intergenerational
poverty and systemic racism. In fact, studies show that students with
parents in the bottom quintile of the income distribution can double
their chances of moving up the income ladder if they obtain a degree.
However, Federal data released this morning on college enrollment
reveals a 50-percentage point gap between low-income students and their
wealthy peers. We have much more work to do.
HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving
institutions, and community colleges continue to do this work and
demonstrate their commitment and ability to provide these students with
the benefits that come with a quality education.
Founded for the specific purpose of educating Black students
because other institutions would not, HBCUs continue to live up to
their mission of providing a community where Black students can thrive.
HBCUs make up less than 3 percent of colleges and universities yet
produce almost 20 percent of all Black graduates.
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) were developed as part of a
political and social movement to regain Tribal autonomy and to combat
centuries of forced assimilation and destruction of Native communities.
Today, there are 35 accredited TCUs serving students from more than 230
federally registered tribes.
Hispanic-serving institutions educate more than three out of five
undergraduate Latino students and one quarter of all undergraduate
students. Among 4-year institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions
propel low-income students to top income brackets at a rate three times
that of predominantly white institutions. Hispanic-serving institutions
can also act as cultural hubs for Latino students, many of whom earn
their degree and return to work in their communities.
These institutions are effective engines of economic mobility
because they meet students where they are and are dedicated to
educating the whole person. HBCUs and TCUs, in particular, embed
appreciation for the identity and culture of the students they serve in
their foundational missions. Honoring ancestors, sustaining traditions,
and engaging honestly with American history all serve to signal to
students that they belong in college.
Many other institutions, such as Asian American and Native American
Pacific Islander Serving Institutions and Predominantly Black
Institutions, also serve low-income students and students of color.
These institutions are forced to do more with less. To be designated as
a minority-serving institution, colleges must not only enroll a
substantial number of students of color, but it must also enroll a
substantial number of Pell students and have fewer resources than peer
institutions.
In my own State, the California State University system is a model
for how minority-serving institutions can help students overcome
barriers to higher education. Reflecting the population of the State,
more than half of CSU students are people of color, one in three
students are the first in their family to attend college, and more than
half of all students receive Pell Grants.
Community college also play a crucial role in providing higher
education to low-income students and students of color. These 2-year
colleges often provide a local and affordable option for students who
are priced out of 4-year institutions. In fact, community colleges
enroll one in three Black students and nearly half of Latino, Asian
American and Pacific Islander, and first-generation students. More than
a third of low-income students attend community colleges.
The great work being done across the country by HBCUs, TCUs,
minority-serving institutions, and community colleges is unfortunately
hampered by deeply inadequate funding:
* The persistent and systemic underfunding of HBCUs has been
extensively documented.
* The Federal Government has never fully fulfilled its obligation
to support Native students at TCUs.
* Less than half of designed HSIs have received a grant through
HSI-specific programs.
* And the average community college receives about half the amount
of per-student funding received by public 4-year colleges.
With this funding inequity, we must ask ourselves how are these
institutions still producing such strong results? As our witnesses will
highlight, when we invest in HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities,
Hispanic-serving institutions, and community colleges, we empower
hundreds of thousands of students each year with the most powerful tool
available to achieve success: a college degree.
Last, as we honor the 65th Anniversary of Brown v. Board and
wrestle with a promise unfulfilled, it becomes evident that just like
our K-12 system, we spend more money to educate wealthy college
students than students who are underserved by our education system.
Depriving the institutions that serve our most vulnerable college
students of the resources made available to predominantly white 4-year
universities is contrary to our values and our best interest as a
Nation.
Congress has a responsibility to strengthen and invest in
institutions that are promoting economic mobility. As we continue to
work toward a reauthorization of key Federal higher education policy,
we must understand the critical work these institutions are doing to
address the specific needs of today's students and invest in these
initiatives.
Thank you--President Verret, Dr. McHatton, Chancellor DuBois, and
President Boham--for being with us today.
I now yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. Smucker, for his opening
statement.
______
Mr. SMUCKER. Thank you, Madame Chair, for yielding. We are
all here today because we believe that every American should
have the opportunity to pursue post-secondary education and we
know doors are opened by college degree and we understand the
importance of making this kind of opportunity achievable for
everyone in our country.
Higher education can help set individuals on the right path
to achieve the American dream. And while it's not the only
pathway to a high quality, family sustaining job, it provides
many with the opportunity to get their foot in the door to a
lifelong career.
As a result of the economic policies that we put in place,
the good news is today's graduates are entering a booming job
market. We have over 7 million job openings and at least 6.7
million unemployed. So I'm very proud of the opportunities our
economic growth will create for the next generation and believe
that if we give students access, those who are willing to work
hard, make good decisions have an excellent opportunity to
succeed. That access is a critical piece of the pie.
Higher education should be accessible and attainable
regardless of circumstance which is why the Federal Government
has made it a clear priority to ensure that low income and
first generation students have the tools that they need to
prepare for post-secondary education commitments and manage the
costs associated with earning a degree.
As we continue to consider what must be done in any
reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, we have the
opportunity to ensure that restructuring and innovation of our
higher education system provides all students that access to
opportunities that offer those pathways to success, both inside
and outside of the conventional classroom.
That could mean alternative pathways to a 4 year degree
such as offering programs to teach in demand skills so that
students can take only the courses they need to do their jobs,
dual enrollment pathways and opportunities later in life to
rescale.
For any of these changes to take place, we must recognize
that the dollar, the money is an important part of the
conversation and institutions need to be willing to take
responsibility for the outcomes of their students.
Stories like one from this weekend where a billionaire
gifted an entire graduating class with paying off their student
debt are great examples of one person's capacity for excellence
and generosity. But they also illustrate something that's too
easily forgotten, that nothing is free and someone always pays
the price.
This means that Congress and other institutions need to
step up to the plate, do all that we can respectively to make
higher education an investment that doesn't cost more than it
reaps. And that is true for students and for taxpayers who are
investing.
In the Promoting Real Opportunity Success and Prosperity
through Education Reform, the PROSPER Act, that was a
comprehensive proposal to reauthorize the HEA in the last
Congress, Republicans included reforms that allowed students
greater access to Federal student aid, promoted earn and learn
programs, increased flexibility in spending institutional aid
and reform the Federal work study program to better prepare
students for future employment in their chosen fields.
These bold ideas for affordable and accessible post-
secondary education recognize that for too long, the Federal
Government has complied with a myopic view of what post-
secondary education is and why people pursue any kind of higher
education. We must recognize that postsecondary education needs
to work for students and not the other way around.
This committee should continue to consider these reforms
top priorities as it discusses policy changes that could be
included in the reauthorization of the HEA. We need to be
striving on both sides of the aisle for new ideas that will
increase opportunities for all American students regardless of
circumstance and support their efforts to succeed and prosper.
With that I yield back.
Prepared Statement of Hon. Lloyd Smucker, Ranking Member, Subcommittee
on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Thank you for yielding.
We're all here today because we believe that every American should
have the opportunity to pursue postsecondary education. We've seen the
doors opened by a college degree, and we understand the importance of
making this kind of opportunity achievable for everyone in our country.
Higher education should be accessible and attainable, regardless of
circumstance, which is why the Federal Government has made it a clear
priority to ensure low-income and first-generation students have the
tools they need to prepare for postsecondary education commitments and
manage the costs associated with earning a degree.
As we continue to consider what must be done in any reauthorization
of the Higher Education Act, we have the opportunity to ensure that
restructuring and innovation in our higher education system provides
all students equal access to opportunities that offer pathways to
success--both inside and outside of the conventional classroom. This
could mean alternative pathways to a 4-year degree, such as offering
programs to teach in-demand skills so that students can take only the
courses they need to do their jobs, dual enrollment pathways, and
opportunities later in life to re-skill.
For any of these changes to take place, we must recognize that
money is an important part of the conversation, and institutions need
to be willing to take more responsibility for the outcomes of their
students. Stories like one from this weekend, where a billionaire
gilted an entire graduating class with paying off their student debt,
are great examples of one person's capacity for excellence and
generosity. They also illustrate something too easily forgotten: that
nothing is free, and someone always pays the price. This means Congress
and institutions need to step up to the plate, and do all they can
respectively, to make higher education an investment that doesn't cost
more than it reaps-for students and taxpayers.
In the Promoting Real Opportunity Success and Prosperity through
Education Reform (PROSPER) Act, which was a comprehensive proposal to
reauthorize the HEA in the 115th Congress, Republicans included reforms
that allowed students greater access to Federal student aid, promoted
earn and learn programs, increased flexibility in spending
institutional aid, and reformed the Federal work study program to
better prepare students for future employment in their chosen fields.
These bold ideas for affordable and accessible postsecondary education
recognized that for too long, the Federal Government has complied with
a myopic view of what postsecondary education is and why people pursue
any kind of higher education. We must recognize that postsecondary
education needs to work for students-not the other way around.
The committee should continue to consider these reforms top
priorities as it discusses policy changes that could be included in the
reauthorization of the HEA. We need to be striving, on both sides of
the aisle, for new ideas that will increase opportunities for all
American students, regardless of circumstance, and support their
efforts to succeed and prosper.
______
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Without objection, all other
members who wish to insert written statements into the record
may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk
electronically in Microsoft Word by 5 p.m. on June 4. And I
will now introduce our witnesses. Again, thank you all very
much for being here.
Dr. Reynold Verret is the 6th president and second leg
leader of Xavier University of Louisiana, a private Catholic
liberal arts historically black college and university. Before
his presidency in 2015, Dr. Verret served as provost as
Savannah State University and Wilkes University. Dr. Verret
received his undergraduate degree cum laude in biochemistry
from Columbia University and a PhD in biochemistry from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Patricia McHatton is the Executive Vice President for
Academic Affairs, Student Success and P-16 Integration at the
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a Hispanic serving
institution. Dr. McHatton has served in a variety of leadership
positions including Dean at the College of Education,
Department Chair, and Associate Dean for Teacher Preparation.
She earned a PhD from the University of South Florida in
curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in special
education and urban education.
Dr. Glen DuBois is now the longest serving chancellor in
the history of Virginia's community colleges, hired in 2001.
Since then, he has led the system of 23 colleges and 40
campuses through two successful strategic plans and a third
called Complete 2021 which aspires to triple the number of
credentials that colleges put into Virginia's economy.
Dubois earned his PhD in higher education administration,
research and policy from the University of Massachusetts. He
holds a master's degree from Eastern Kentucky University, a
bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University and an
associate of science degree from the State University of New
York and Farmingdale.
Dr. Sandra Boham is the President of Salish Kootenai
College, a tribal college and university, a TCU, located in
Montana after serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs.
She has more than two decades of experience working in higher
education both in Montana and California.
Dr. Boham is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish
in Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation. She
earned her doctorate of education in educational leadership
from the University of Montana, holds a masters of education
from Montana State University and a bachelor of arts in
sociology from the University of Montana.
Again, welcome to you all. We appreciate all the witnesses
for being here and for you all being here and certainly look
forward to your testimony. I just wanted to remind you that we
have read your written statements and they will appear in full
in the hearing record.
Pursuant to committee rule 7d and committee practice, each
of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a 5 minute
summary of your written statement. I also wanted to remind you
that pursuant to Title 18 of the U.S. Code, section 1001 it is
illegal to knowingly and willfully falsify any statement,
representation, writing, document, or material fact presented
to Congress or otherwise conceal or cover up a material fact.
Before you begin your testimony, please remember to press
the button on the microphone in front of you so that it will
turn on and we all can hear you. As you begin to speak, the
light in front of you will turn green and after 4 minutes, the
light will turn yellow to signal you have one remaining minute.
And when the light turns red your 5 minutes have expired and we
will ask you to please wrap up.
We will let the entire panel make their presentations
before we move to member questions and when answering a
question, please remember to once again turn your microphone
on. First to recognize is Dr. Verret. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF REYNOLD VERRET, PH.D., PRESIDENT, XAVIER
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
Mr. VERRET. Thank you. Subcommittee Chairwoman Susan Davis,
Ranking Member Lloyd Smucker, and members of the subcommittee,
thank you for this opportunity to address you. My name is
Reynold Verret. I serve as the 6th president of Xavier
University of Louisiana. It was founded by Saint Katherine
Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. My institution
is Catholic and also an HBCU, historically black college.
The ultimate purpose of Xavier is to contribute to the
promotion of the just and humane society. This preparation
takes place in diverse learning environments that incorporate
all relevant learning means including research experiences and
community service.
I was asked to testify before the subcommittee today on the
institution as an engine of economic mobility, and the programs
that demonstrate this at the institution. How these programs
prepare students for careers and a brief history of HBCU's why
they were created, why they are important.
HBCU's were created as early as 1837 to provide African
Americans access to higher education. Noted for their
contributions to educating black low income and educationally
disadvantaged Americans, the 101 HBCU's today constitute the
class of institutions that satisfies the statutory requirements
and definition of HBCU's as defined by the Higher Education Act
of 1965.
In my home State of Louisiana, according to and economic
impact study, by the UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, the
impact of the 6 HBCU's in the State on our regional economy and
employment impact of 8,454 jobs. The total economic impact of
$924--$923 million and a lifetime earnings of $94--$9.4
billion.
For Xavier specifically, the regional impact of our
institution is an output impact of $200 million in our
regional, a value added impact of $135 million, a labor income
impact of $95 million and an employment impact of 1,715 jobs.
Xavier is considered to be one of the best value schools in the
Nation for quality education according to the U.S. News and
World Report.
However, as our students come close to realizing their
dreams of higher education, the more expensive these goals
become. Tuition at Xavier is $22,503 per year. This is
considerably lower than its peer institutions.
More than 93 percent of Xavier undergraduates qualify for
need based or other forms of financial aid and more than 65
percent receive Federal Pell grants. We are grateful for your
bipartisan support and forgiveness of the HBCU Hurricane
Katrina supplemental loan that helped us recover from the
disaster.
Xavier leads in preparing African American physicians in
the Nation and also sending African American PhD's in the
sciences. At Xavier, we are innovating our programs and
preparing our students for the work force and a changing work
force. We are launching 14 new high quality programs including
the BS in neuroscience and the only physician's assistance
program, master's program in the State of Louisiana and a PhD
in education.
We believe that all children deserve great teachers and
thus we are also engaged in preparing highly qualified teachers
for our primary and secondary schools. The expansion of our
program offerings over the past 3 years allowed Xavier to meet
the evolving needs of students to be globally competitive and
to meet the talent needs of our regional and National work
force.
Xavier's Student Academic Success Office provides the
resources and support systems to assist all students in being
successful. A UNCF Lilly Foundation grant has allowed us to
focus on creating career pathways and our faculty embrace a
culture of successful students that is a tradition at Xavier.
I am happy that the Fiscal Year 2020 Labor HHS
Appropriation bill includes much needed increases in funding
for HBCU's and hopes its passage through the House and Senate
will ultimately follow. Title III parts B through F remain
important programs for HBCU's for the HBCU community and should
be fully funded. Senators Doug Jones and Tim Scott and
Representatives Alma Adams and Mark Walker recently introduced
the FUTURE Act, a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legalization.
This bill extends the mandatory funding of Title III, Part F
for HBCU's of $85 million for STEM initiatives until 2021. It
is my hope that Congress passes this bill before this stream of
funding expires on September 30, 2019.
I must say to you the Nation has need of the ability,
creativity, and ingenuity of the students we educate. In order
to prosper and compete globally we will continue investment in
them secures all of our futures.
I want to thank you and if you want more my written
testimony has been submitted. Please review it. Thank you very
much.
[The statement of Mr. Verret follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Dr. McHatton.
STATEMENT OF PATRICIA ALVAREZ MCHATTON, PH.D., EXECUTIVE VICE
PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, STUDENT SUCCESS, AND P-16
INTEGRATION, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY
Ms. MCHATTON. Good morning, Chairwoman Davis, Ranking
Member Smucker, and honorable committee members. I am Patricia
Alvarez McHatton, Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs,
Student Success and P-16 Integration at the University of Texas
Rio Grande Valley.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to address you today and
want to especially thank you for giving me an ability to share
some of the wonderful work that's happening at the University
of Texas Rio Grande Valley. We are a distributed campus
spanning approximately 120 miles along the U.S. Mexico border
all the way from Brownsville to Rio Grande City.
Our fall 2018 enrollment was over 28,000 students. We
graduate over 5,000 students each year. 87 percent of our
students are Hispanic, 59 percent are first generation, 76
percent of all undergraduate students receive some form of
financial aid and 81 percent of undergraduate students
receiving financial aid are Pell grant eligible.
Most importantly, our students are committed to their
education and to giving back to their community. The work we do
is guided by five priorities with students' success at its
core. We ensure students success by providing educational
opportunities, engaging in research that impacts the Rio Grande
Valley and beyond, expanding healthcare and medical education
which is essential given that we are a medically underserved
community with some of the highest rates of diabetes in the
Nation, and collaborating with our community as true partners
in our work.
Our tuition is capped at 12 credit hours which means
students do not pay for any courses above the 12 credit hours.
Not only are they graduating in a timely manner but they are
doing so with less debt. Our promise program exemplifies our
commitment to ensuring our students graduate in 4 years. As
part of the program, students take part in targeted career
development opportunities, high impact practices, meet with
mentors on a regular basis, and complete 15 hours a semester or
30 hours in a calendar year.
But getting them graduated is insufficient. We need to make
sure that once they graduate they enter viable careers that
address community needs. To do so we work in tandem with
employers, educators, work force systems, and communities to
ensure our current and future work force needs are met.
First, we believe that teaching is the foundation of all
professions. Therefore we have a responsibility to prepare
teachers who understand not just content and pedagogue but also
the applicability of what is learned to real world
environments.
We strive to ensure that our faculty are representative of
our student population because it is important for our students
to see individuals who look like them and sound like them in a
variety of positions. And we have benefited from Federal
funding to support initiatives that attract underrepresented
faculty in our institution and help build capacity within our
faculty.
So how do we work with our stakeholders to ensure we have
the right programs and opportunities for our students? We have
representatives on economic development center and chamber
boards throughout the valley. Recently at the request of Star
County's EDC, we conducted an analysis to determine which
industries are growing and expected to grow in the county and
we are aligning educational programs to meet that work force
need.
We systematically bring stakeholders together to share
cultural perspectives, talents, challenges, and opportunities
and through this process, communities are empowered to provide
input into university policies, curriculum, research, and
initiatives.
We offer opportunity for K12 learners to take part in
summer camp that inspires them to enter STEM fields and high
tech jobs and provide high school students opportunities to
partner with faculty in research endeavors. We offer research
and development support to local industries.
The Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy and Stargate both
support the development of future leaders in space exploration,
commercial space industry, and related technology developments
which is especially important now that Space X has moved into
the RGV.
And it isn't just the STEM fields that we focus on. The
College of Fine Arts has a relationship with the Rio Grande
State Center in Harlingen whereby art student's work directly
with patients as part of the rehabilitation.
We are in the process of launching our PhD program in
clinical psychology which has a focus on Hispanic mental health
and this is but one of many other programs that we are
launching. In collaboration with nonprofits, governmental
support organizations, and the business community we support
entrepreneurial activity innovations through our Weslaco
Regional Commercialization and Innovation Center and NSFI core
teams program.
The School of Medicine continues its mission to close gaps
in healthcare and expand educational opportunities for its
students. The South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute, the
Institution of Neuro Science and the RGV Alzheimer's Center are
engaged in research to address health disparities and the
region.
In closing, I want to point out that HSI's provide
Hispanics the greatest access to college education. They
represent over 15 percent of all higher ed institutions yet
serve 66 percent of Hispanic undergraduates.
In 2016, HSI's awarded 56 percent of all degrees to
Hispanic students and are at the forefront to increase
educational access and success for the Nation's Hispanic.
I thank you for this opportunity to share the work being
undertaken at UTRGV and stand ready to work with you in
ensuring all students are ready for success.
[The statement of Ms. McHatton follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Dr. DuBois.
STATEMENT OF GLENN DUBOIS, PH.D., CHANCELLOR, VIRGINIA
COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM
Mr. DUBOIS. Chairwoman Davis, Ranking Member Smucker,
members of the committee, good morning. The fact that I'm
sitting here before you today is proof positive that community
colleges are indeed engines of economic opportunity.
I am a community college graduate. I was the first in my
family to attend college. Truth said I was disinterested in
high school and if it were not for my mother's persistence, I
would have never even considered going to a community college.
Today I'm chancellor of the Virginia Community College System.
We operate 23 colleges across 40 campuses. I'm also a founding
board member of a group called Rebuilding America's Middle
Class, RAMC. It's a coalition of more than 100 community
colleges focused on advancing post-secondary access and
affordability.
Our colleges were created to do what no one else really
would do, respond to Virginia's unmet needs in higher education
and work force development. Cost and convenience are the two
biggest reasons why students choose to attend a community
college. We are open access. We give everyone a chance. For
many we offer a second chance. For those of limited means,
demanding responsibilities, difficult schedules, we offer what
might be their only chance.
One example where location and access really makes a big
difference is rural Virginia. Rural Virginia barely trails the
rest of the State in high school graduation, in college
attainment. There we have to convince families who have never
before needed anything beyond high school, in some cases beyond
6th grade to get a good job, we have to convince them to send
their children to college.
Our Rural Virginia Horseshoe Initiative 10-year goals
include cutting in half the areas high school dropout rate and
doubling its college credential completion rate. We are
pursuing that through student coaching practices and helping
more students finish short term pathways that lead to
employment.
We also serve a huge number of students who begin at their
community college with the aspirations to eventually transfer
to a university and complete the bachelor's degree. In
Virginia, our tuition and fees are approximately 1/3 the
comparable cost at a public university.
But let me be very clear. It is rare for a community
college student to complete an associate degree in 2 years. And
much of that has to do with life circumstances of those we
serve. Simply Stated, our students today are older, they're
poorer, more likely to be first generation, just like I was,
and they are more likely to attend class part time, not full
time working a full time job or multiple part time jobs.
We also have to help more adult students earn post-
secondary credentials. Careers exist today that simply didn't
when these adults were 18. These opportunities offer family
sustaining wages, healthcare, a regular schedule, and paid time
off. They don't require a bachelor's degree but they do require
skills that we offer in our short term format.
We call our short term training programs Fast Forward. It's
our fastest growing segment. These programs are more
affordable, they're more realistic for adults, the schedules
work for them, and most importantly these programs fill
critical business needs.
In nearly 3 hours, pardon me, 3 years, our colleges put
more than 13,000 high demand credentials into the Virginia
economy. Those credentials are business verified as high demand
and aimed directly at the employer challenge of finding trained
and skilled employees.
The ability to use Pell grants for these short-term
programs would be transformative. We could serve so many more
students unleashing an incredible engine of economic mobility.
Our typical Fast Forward student has to come up with about
$1,000 bucks out of pocket on day one. Survey after survey
after survey confirms that the amount of $1,000 bucks is simply
out of reach for too many American families.
Pell eligibility would make all the difference. Should Pell
grants be extended to these students I would suggest that you
do so with a solid system of accountability just like we have
established in Virginia.
For the same reason that the Federal Government invests in
those pursing traditional academic degrees, we should invest in
those pursing high quality, stackable, postsecondary work force
credentials and boost America's community colleges as an even
more powerful engine of economic mobility. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. DuBois follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Dr. Boham.
STATEMENT OF SANDRA L. BOHAM, ED.D., PRESIDENT, SALISH KOOTENAI
COLLEGE
Ms. BOHAM. Kifuke Witnam. Madame Chair and distinguished
members of the subcommittee, I am Dr. Sandra Boham. I'm an
enrolled member of the confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
and President of Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana. I'm
also a member of the board of directors of the American Indian
Higher Education Consortium and I am very honored to be here to
speak with you today.
Tribal colleges are place based, mission focused
institutions. To tribal colleges and universities, economic
mobility means preparing individual American Indian and Alaska
Native students for success as well as strengthening and
sustaining our tribes, tribal communities, lands, language and
cultures.
Salish Kootenai College like all TCU's was established for
two reasons. One, the near complete failure of the U.S. higher
education system to address the needs of or even include
American Indians and Alaskan natives and two, to preserve our
culture, language, lands, and sovereignty.
Located in some of the most impoverished, remote, and
beautiful areas in the Nation, tribal colleges have grown from
one institution in 1968 to 37 today. Operating 75 campuses in
16 States. We serve 130,000 students and community members each
year and from more than 230 federally recognized tribes. My
home State of Montana has 7 tribal colleges and about half of
all American Indians enrolled in higher education in Montana
attend a tribal college.
Tribal colleges are accredited institutions chartered by
federally recognized tribes for the Federal Government. All
tribal colleges offer associate degrees, 16 offer bachelors'
degrees, and 5 offer masters degrees. All taught from a
foundation grounded in our tribe's distinctive and resilient
world views.
Today, we are facilitating economic growth and
sustainability. Over the past 45 years, we have developed solid
work force programs responsive to tribal needs.
Salish Kootenai College offers bachelor's degrees in forest
management, hydrology, wildlife, fisheries, education, nursing,
tribal governance, and tribal historic preservation. We are
aggressively working to sustain our tribal languages because
language, culture, and community are essential to native
student success and completion.
At SKC we developed a Salish language teacher
apprenticeship program that includes a yearlong immersion in
Salish language. We focus on the adults because they are
essential to teaching our language. For us, the situation is
critical.
Just a few years ago, the number of fluent Salish speakers
fell to 18. Our goal is to educate 40 Salish language teachers
who will give our children a clear path, clear vision of the
world as a Salish person and set them on a good path. The
program is also a path to economic mobility. In the first few
years, every student who completed the program was hired in the
local schools.
This program demonstrates a synergistic dual nature of
economy mobility in native people. Academic success is
important, equally important to us is to strengthen our
community and perpetuate our culture. These twin missions,
individual and community, are inseparable. We cannot fail at
either without putting the other at risk.
A more obvious contributor to the economic mobility is the
availability of jobs. Through a multi-year partnership with the
Department of Energy, Tribes and Industries, Salish Kootenai
College and four other TCU's are establishing advanced
engineering skills to operate digital manufacturing equipment.
Salish Kutenai College partnered with Northrup Grumman, the
United States Air Force, Salish SNK technologies and the
college to--in a mentor protege program to help us create the
work force and develop economic opportunities through that
program.
As new jobs are created, the tribal colleges will educate
students to fill those positions. One of the ways we have
created job creation is that we need a pipeline of skilled
workers. Because our high school dropout rates are too high,
and many students were enrolling at SKC unprepared for college
STEM courses, we developed dual credit. But that wasn't enough.
So we recently opened a STEM academy for high school juniors
and seniors.
Students take classes at their own high school in the
morning, come to Salish Kootenai College in the afternoon to
complete their science and math courses and then they are ready
to enter STEM programs and have doorways open for opportunities
that they might not have had before.
The academy is already in its second year of existence
demonstrating success. Through strategies like this, tribal
colleges are transforming Native America and Indian country one
student at a time. Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Boham follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Thank you very much and thank
you all for helping us by being within the time limits. We
appreciate it.
If I could, under committee rule, I'm going to move now to
questioning of witnesses under our 5 minute rule and I will be
followed by the ranking member and then we will alternate
between the parties.
If I could start with you, Dr. Boham. You've spent more
than 2 decades working with tribal communities and, excuse me,
in higher education in Montana and in my home State of
California. And I know that includes working with adults who
are trying to finish their GED and with upward bound programs
to improve college access.
So I wonder if you could just share with us a little more
really on the personal level how your experience working in
different facets of higher education and in different tribal
communities influence your approach to your role as president
of Salish Kootenai College. What really mattered?
Ms. BOHAM. Thank you, Madame Chair.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you.
Ms. BOHAM. What really matters is opportunity and assisting
students to believe that they can in fact accomplish anything
that they set their minds to accomplish. What we know is that
having a very--and we know this through recent research and
studies, tribally we have known it for a long time but only
recently have there been--has there been research done in the
area.
But we know that self-efficacy is a key piece in whether
students will be successful. More than GPA's, more than high
school graduation or predictive tests of entrance exams, if the
student is committed and believes that they can accomplish
their goal, with support they can.
We also know that a strong sense of who you are and in our
case that's around your tribal identity, is also key to having
students be successful in college, in high school and in the
work force. So we know that base connection to your culture,
what--at whatever level that is, language, dance, song, skills,
that is--it creates what we call predictive resiliency and
protective factors that help students to navigate through
difficult times.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. And does that come from
individuals, from teachers, professors, etcetera or are there
actually community members who help contribute to that as well?
Ms. BOHAM. It comes from all of those things.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Um-hum.
Ms. BOHAM. Yes.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you very much. Dr. McHatton, excuse
me, McHatton, as we know, universities are cultural hubs and
they are centers for the community as well and people want to
be there. They want to experience the university and the
community setting. I certainly know that is true for CSU's and
I am wondering how the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
ensures the local community is included in campus efforts to
identify and address local leads including the demand for an
educated work force.
How do they find their way to really having a meaningful
impact on that process?
Ms. MCHATTON. Great, thank you so much. We have a variety
of initiatives in which we strive to bring our community into
our environment. One of the things that we've done is we have
tried to change the environment so it becomes a family friendly
environment. And that means that our families feel comfortable
coming on to our campus, spending time and engaging in
conversation.
An important initiative that we have done as a result of
funding from NSF is to provide culturally responsive
professional development for our faculty in tandem with
community members and together they redesigned the syllabi in
order to utilize the culture and heritage and assets of the
community as an entree into the content.
In addition to that, our community engagement and economic
development center also has opportunities for community to come
together and have conversations.
The outreach that we do with economic development centers
in which we have individuals participating on their boards and
those types of things also provide important information for us
to be able to think about what other programs that we should be
offering.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Sounds like what you are also doing is
sustaining that effort with the community which I think is
really important and always looking for ways to do that because
sometimes people burn out, right. How do you keep them engaged?
I mean what--
Ms. MCHATTON. Well, I have to tell you what we find in our
community is that there is so much strength and commitment to
our students and to the education because they know what a
difference that's going to make. Not just for the individual
but for the family and also for our region. They give
willingly. It's just absolutely amazing.
One example is we have a common area in the College of
Education. We had a group of community organization individuals
that came and completely built a brand new garden in that area.
So we just, we find opportunities for them to come and take
part.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you very much. I want to turn now
to the ranking member or his designate for the purpose of
questioning the witnesses. Thank you.
Mr. SMUCKER. Thank you. Dr. DuBois, interested in your
comments in regards to expanding the Pell grant funds for
shorter term work force programs. As you know, currently the
requirements of programs must be at least 1600 or 600 hours in
length and need to be taught over a span of 15 weeks. You
mentioned Fast Forward. What--how many weeks do most of your
fast forward programs last?
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. They last typically
6 weeks. Some a little longer, some a little less. We have
completion rates north of 90 percent. We have job placement
rates similar and we are seeing in looking, on a lookback we
can see earnings increasing anywhere from 20 to 50 percent. And
20 percent of the students that we put through these programs
in the last 3 years before they came to us, they were on public
assistance and now they're not.
So these are short term opportunities that lead to jobs
that employers are really screaming about. Think welding,
pharmacy technicians, CDL's. Its, increasing of these jobs
require certifications and licenses.
Mr. SMUCKER. Great results. What would you recommend as we
consider changes to the policy? How many hours do you recommend
that we set for minimum time eligibility requirement?
Mr. DUBOIS. Six weeks or 150 hours.
Mr. SMUCKER. Six weeks 150 hours.
Mr. DUBOIS. Yes, sir.
Mr. SMUCKER. Thank you. Dr. Verret, I would like to learn a
little bit more about your student academic success office.
What types of career pathways have you created through the
office? Your microphone, yes.
Mr. VERRET. First of all, we have a great depth in the STEM
and the professional health areas. We educate more African
Americans than any university in the country going to become
MDs. We send more African Americans into doctoral programs of
advanced science and advanced studies in the sciences. That but
also we are also very we have students who enter the law,
social service, teaching professions as well.
The career pathways programs is to allow students because
we are a liberal arts and sciences institution, to enable
students to undersee the plasticity of their degrees because
very often, students who are coming into history or English
also have the pathway to medical school if they wish to because
there is a need of those. Likewise, our chemists become
attorneys and also may go into policy fields as well for them
to understand much more broadly what their fields are.
We are also speaking with our chambers of commerce and also
the economic the work force as to what are the professions that
are needed. For example, data science which is reimagining what
we traditionally teach in computer science for the emerging
industries, DX is coming to our region to actively think of
what majors, data science--
Mr. SMUCKER. I guess those discussion with the chamber are
leading to a better transition to--
Mr. VERRET. Yes.
Mr. SMUCKER [continuing]. jobs after graduation?
Mr. VERRET. Because we are thinking of what those work
force needs are but also we also know that many forms of, many
jobs that we, that will be emerging in the next 5 to 10 years
we don't, we can't fully envision. So it's also interesting--
educating them to be flexible to have habits of mind, to think
critically and in depth to be able to form their careers rather
than just think of their next jobs because we are in a changing
work force at this time.
Mr. SMUCKER. How are you integrating that career focus
curriculum into dual enrollment programs?
Mr. VERRET. We have dual enrollment programs with some of
the high schools in our region that send students to us. And
those, some of those students matriculate to Xavier--some of
them go to other campuses as well.
We also have summer programs of long standing in the
sciences, in language arts, which bring a number of students in
our, during our summers. Some of them come to our university,
many of them go to other colleges that is, that has been part
of our mission.
Mr. SMUCKER. Are you finding some of those dual enrollment
programs help students to make choices that would lead to the
careers that they're interested in?
Mr. VERRET. It is important to catch the imagination of
young people early in their lives about, and catch their
passions as well so that they do not choose and drift away.
Because one of the struggles for our populations as well is
understanding that there is a pathway to higher ed. For many of
us students who are first generation there is no one who can
actually--and who knows helps navigate. We have to show them
one of the paths that this is possible and we are engaging
doing that.
Mr. SMUCKER. Thank you.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Mr. Takano.
Mr. TAKANO. Thank you, Chairwoman Davis, for holding this
important hearing on the role of community colleges and
minority serving institutions. A report by Harvard economist
Raj Chetty found that the income and economic mobility of low
income students increases when they attend minority serving
institutions.
Providing proper resources and funding to MSI's is critical
to ensuring success and income mobility for low income
students. Now I have two letters from students about the Asian
American and Native American Pacific Islanders Serving
Institution programs or AANAPISI.
One student attends Irvine Valley College in California and
notes that quote it was not until my time at Irvine Valley
College I was able finally in a space where I saw others that
looked like me, met others who understood me, and really got to
embrace my Asian American identity.
The other letter is from a student attending Highline
College in Des Moines, Washington and she wrote the AANAPISI
program has shown me that I am not alone on this journey and I
refuse to believe in the saying that quote, ``College is not
for everyone unquote because I believe--I proved to myself that
it's possible.''
This reinforces the critical role that minority serving
institutions like AANAPISIs have on the growth and success of
students once they have a sense of belonging and, Madame
Chairwoman, I would ask that these letters be entered into the
record.
Chairwoman DAVIS. So ordered.
Mr. TAKANO. My first question is to Dr. McHatton. Doctor,
why is it important to have programs and student support
services that have a cultural lens to them?
Ms. MCHATTON. As a Latina myself who did not have a teacher
that looked like me or talked like me until I was in my PhD
program, I recognize how important it is to have someone that
can serve as a mentor and that understands the cultural
heritage and ideals and values that I believe in.
I think part of what we really need to ensure is to have
opportunities to have our students see people who look like
them as you just read from one of the students that you learned
but more importantly, to think about how does culture,
heritage, how does that serve as an entree into content? Into
helping individuals learn?
How does language and being bilingual or trilingual benefit
the access of education? So I think there is a lot of items and
opportunities that serve to support students in minority
serving institutions in ways that other institutions may not.
Mr. TAKANO. Wonderful. Both students mentioned the
experience they've had because of the AANAPISI program. How
critical are programs like AANAPISIs to ensuring retention and
college completion?
Ms. MCHATTON. I think they're essential. I think one of the
things as a Hispanic serving institution what we found is the
strong familial roles and the way that we understand the
importance of committee--community for our students. We need to
attend to that because part of that informs the way that our
students take courses.
We need to understand that a lot of our students give back
by working, by supporting part of their family, you know,
taking care of other siblings, those types of things. So we
need to think about how do we develop programs that attend to
that reality for our students and ensure that we provide them
those opportunities.
Mr. TAKANO. Well, thank you. I know that over 90 percent of
the students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley self-
identify as Latino and the campus is committed to providing
educational opportunities that are culturally specific and
responsive.
Dr. McHatton, as the vice president who is responsible for
student success, what does it mean to provide support to
students?
Ms. MCHATTON. I think the first thing is that we need to
demonstrate all the way from upper administration down to our
staff that all of us are together in this mission to make sure
that students are successful. We need to think about things
like student employment. We know that if students are employed
on campus they're more likely to stay and finish their
programs. We need to provide advisors that are able to engage
with them.
We need to have faculty have the necessary skills to
understand their role in connecting with students, especially
for those students in the middle. Our high need students are
high touch with our advisors but there is a group of students
that are faculties connect with on a daily basis and they're
instrumental in making sure that our students are successful.
So we have a variety of different programs and opportunities so
that we are sure we are addressing the students from multiple
points right, multiple touch points.
Mr. TAKANO. Well, Dr. McHatton, I wish I had more time with
you but I, my time has run out and I yield back, Madame Chair.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Mr. Guthrie.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Thank you for having this, Madame Chair, and
thanks for everybody being here and this committee, the full
committee has been working together, both sides of the aisle to
try to figure out how do we reach out to more people. We all
know there are more jobs with skills than people with skills to
fill them and that is our, that is the answer to the income
issues that we need to address as a Nation as you get people
skilled to move forward.
And of course we would, I kind of grew up in the model
where everybody is either expected to go to college or they
went to work before. That was the area where I lived and if you
didn't go to college you could go make a middle class income at
Ford. And I had a professor one time when I was in grad school
say that if it is going to be low skilled or low educational
level obtainment required, that is going to go to low skilled
countries and everything else is going to move to high skilled.
And as manufacturing has moved back to our country which is
has, a lot of the low skills just being automated. I mean, that
is kind of the, what has happened. It is not like they are
coming back and having massive plants of people working there.
It is automating what can be routinely done. But what that has
done is opened up a tremendous opportunity for people who can
operate the machinery and repair the machinery and program the
machinery and it doesn't take the 4-year degree to do so.
And I know it is important that we bring people in at, I
love Mr. Takano's line of questioning because we have to reach
the people in--however they can be reached and we have to be
open to that. But my kind of concern is how do we, the
nontraditional, Dr. DuBois you talked about it. I wish every
kid could go from 18 to 22 and be in college and, you know,
have summers off and do that but it is just not the reality for
people who are trying to get replugged in because maybe there
job changed, I mean, their skills aren't, are no longer--either
they didn't have skills that were required or their skills are
on longer as valid but there is tremendous opportunity.
So how do you gentlemen in Virginia because we are very
similar. Of course we are a few years ago broke off from you
guys, in Kentucky. We are very, but we have very similar where
we have urban centers and we have urban community colleges and
then we try to serve branches where we try to serve more of our
rural area. And so kind of the challenge of the urban rule, how
you are reaching rural Virginia, because we are trying how do
we reach rural Kentucky because lot of times the factories
aren't there.
When I say factories I mean these are people who program
CNC machines. These are highly skilled people who get good
wages, going to make six figures without a 4-year degree if
they have these particular skills. So how do you kind of deal
with the urban rural differences in Virginia that we sort, we
have also as well in Kentucky.
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. There are adults
both in rural Kentucky and urban Kentucky. Many of these adults
are working but they're going, they're living from paycheck to
paycheck and their entire household is living from paycheck to
paycheck.
In Virginia, about 40 percent of our households are one
emergency away from being in financial stress. Even though
they're working, many of them hate their job or they want to
make more money, or both. So when you look at the traditional
academic menu at a university or a community college, what they
see is inappropriate because it's a 4-year pathway to an
associate degree. They can't give you 4 years.
They have rents, they have car payments, they have kids.
They can maybe give you 26 weeks because they just got laid off
and that's how long their unemployment insurance lasts so what
can we offer in 26 weeks? Perhaps they can give you 6 weeks if
we offer it right.
And we do know and your comments I think touched on it,
that there are very, very good jobs out there that remain
unfilled that employers want that do not require a bachelor's
degree but do require something beyond a high school diploma.
12th grade is no longer the finish line my friends, to have a
shot at a middle class lifestyle. But you don't need a
bachelor's degree either.
So we have pivoted in Virginia to a much more sincere
interest I think in helping adults. There are a lot more of
them. And if you've been paying attention to our birthrate,
there is going to be fewer and fewer and fewer 18 year olds.
There is many more 25 to 45 year olds that need our help. So we
have pivoted to try to do more to help adults and they are
coming to us enrolling in our short term training programs.
Think of it as they want to have a better life but they
don't necessarily want a degree on their wall but they want a
better W2 on their wall. Once they get it, what we are starting
to see is what's next? Perhaps now that I have some college
benefits and my employer I might just come back and start
working on that associate degree. These are stackable kinds of
pathways. They seem to be working very, very well in Virginia
and we have had some--we quite frankly we have had some help
come from the State to try to help us lower the entry level
price from $4,000 which is way beyond reach to about $1,000 and
still according to my testimony and our research, is still a
barrier for lots of Kentucky households and Virginia
households.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Thank you. Well, I was going to ask another
question, my time is expired so I appreciate it and I yield
back.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Ms. Trahan.
Ms. TRAHAN. That came faster than I thought, I apologize.
Thank you so much all of you for being with us here today. This
testimony is so helpful. You know, I grew up in a working class
family in Lowell, Massachusetts. I attended public schools my
whole life and like you, Chancellor DuBois, I was the first
person in my household to graduate from college.
In Massachusetts we are fortunate to have some of the best
public schools and institutions in the country however, high
quality college degree remains far out of reach for too many
students, especially students of color and low income. These
are students who often work two jobs to make ends meet, they
need to miss classes to take care of their loved ones.
My district houses a number of community colleges, Mount
Wachusett, Middlesex and Northern Essex. They educate and
support diverse student populations.
These community colleges they offer flexible class
schedules, so students can come and learn and achieve at a
lower cost. Unlike certain schools that boast the proportion of
students that they reject, community colleges take pride in
educating the top 100 percent of students.
Because community colleges serve a higher share of
underrepresented students of color yet receive the lowest share
of resources to do so, I am wondering if you have any
recommendations on how the Federal Government could step in to
address systemic barriers to equal opportunity and ensure that
community colleges are equipped to be engines of economic
mobility.
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. For the record, I
started my teaching career at Northshore Community College.
Mr. TRAHAN. Oh, terrific.
Mr. DUBOIS. In Massachusetts.
Mr. TRAHAN. That's right outside.
Mr. DUBOIS. A neighbor of yours. Very good question. Our
students unlike our experiences when we all went to college
are, they are facing tremendous life difficulties. I think in
previous testimony this committee heard about some of those
insecurities around food and housing and, you know, legal
problems, they have financial problems. Almost when you think
about it insurmountable. So what can we do?
Our students need, they don't need academic advisors, they
need social workers. They need life coaches when we meet them
on day one. Our students need, they don't speak college. They
don't know how to navigate college. They need a, think of a
navigator that worked for us that can see our students as we
need to get you college ready by day one.
That, when a student shows up at August 10 and we are
starting classes 2 weeks later, that's a challenge to get that
student ready by day one. And the next challenge we have is if
we can help that student complete the first 5 attempted
courses, their chances of success really soar. Five out of 5.
If it's only four out of 5 you can cut their chances in half.
Three out of 5, cut it in half again. Two out of 5, wasting
time and money.
You are right. We are dealing with some of the Nation's
students that have the most difficult life circumstances and we
are simply funded at the lowest levels in higher education. We
have become like the higher education emergency room for
America. And yet we have to, we have to serve our students with
essentially a part time work force called adjuncts. I don't
know of a hospital in the country that would operate with part
time nurses. So we do need help. It is tough work,
Congresswoman.
Ms. TRAHAN. I appreciate that. Especially the coaching and
the services that are required to keep people on the path to
gradation and success. You know some students at community
colleges, they plan to transfer when they are admitted to a 4
year institution or they continue after receiving their
associate's degree. But they are faced with, you know, setbacks
whether its, you know, courses or credits that don't transfer
easily.
I am wondering if you have any recommendations on what we
can do to take the friction out of the system to make it easier
for students to continue their education. And I say that, I
direct the question to Chancellor DuBois but certainly if
anyone else has comment.
Mr. DUBOIS. I'll be brief. I think one of the things
Congress can do in reauthorization is simply to require every
State to have a guaranteed transfer apparatus between, among
their community colleges and their public universities. That's
a start.
We have that in Virginia. We have guaranteed arrangements.
They work but the problem that we are having, Congresswoman, is
students typically they get there but they need to spend an
extra semester because not everything counts.
Ms. TRAHAN. Right.
Mr. DUBOIS. Time is the enemy when you look at student
success. And it's also, it also adds an extra financial burden.
Ms. TRAHAN. Yes.
Mr. DUBOIS. So we are working out the kinks but I think at
a very minimum, Congress should require that there State public
systems have guaranteed articulation agreements in alignment.
Ms. TRAHAN. Thank you. Did anyone else want to comment?
Thank you.
Mr. VERRET. One of these things that we find essential
because we receive, we have articulation agreements with our
local community colleges. To make them effective what we have,
what we do is to reach students at the beginning of their
community college experience so they understand the pathways
that they have to take. So at what course they would need to
take if they were coming to a psychology major at our
institution or aspiring to the pharmacy track if you take the
right chemistry course.
That discussion of those pathways that we, that we do for
distinct majors with our neighboring colleges help students
understand and waste less time. And also that it also tells
them that they can be part of our community even before they
are finished their associate's degree as well. Those
connections are very, should be made very early.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you very much. Mr. Cline.
Ms. TRAHAN. Thank you.
Mr. CLINE. Thank you, Madame Chair. I am glad to see
Chancellor DuBois here even if he is from Mass. I went to
college in New England so I went to a lot of, went to school
with a lot of students from Lowell and suburban Boston and,
Chancellor, your roots are strong when it comes to higher
education, you have a great experience up there in
Massachusetts.
I want to praise the work of you and your team and the
Virginia Community College system has done revolutionary work
and really made Virginia one of the standout programs in the
country when it comes to community colleges. The flexibility
that is provided to your institutions to be able to meet the
needs of the public even in rural areas like mine, has been
fantastic.
The innovation that is going on, you decentralize so you
allow your institutions to meet the needs of your communities
so Virginia Western in Roanoke is meeting needs that might not
be happening up in Blue Ridge. Folks down in agriculture Dabney
Lancaster focused on, you know, it is near the homestead so you
might have some golf course management courses. You might have
some dining catering type courses.
It is a fantastic balance and you are providing that bridge
where in Buena Vista, Virginia a student at Parry McCluer High
School can take courses at Dabney in HVAC maintenance and
repair and then the companies that have found Buena Vista and
located their HVAC manufacturing operations have located in
Buena Vista provided free materials to those courses, to those
students. They work on those--on the--on building these
machines and then when they graduate they have got a job
waiting for them.
They can stay in rural Virginia, raise their family, and
reinvigorate the school system. Reinvigorate the community. It
is a fantastic cooperative effort and breaking down those
transfer barriers between high school and community colleges, 2
year and 4 year degrees, something Virginia has worked very
hard to do.
I have worked to establish the Transfer Grant Program along
with Chairman Callahan. Worked to set up branch campuses so
that they have small entities that kind of are satellite
entities in places where they might not have a lot of
population. And now we are moving into online courses where we
are trying to get even the community colleges but especially
our 4 year institutions to develop agreements where you can put
a lot of courses online to reach those people who have
different kinds of schedules.
All this innovation is happening in Virginia and your
leadership is to be commended. The one thing I noticed about
your testimony and I just want to repeat it, you mentioned that
the typical bachelor's degree graduate leaves Virginia public
universities with nearly $30,000 in student debt on average,
correct?
Mr. DUBOIS. Correct.
Mr. CLINE. And in the paragraph prior, if you take your
first 2 years at a community college, get your associates
degree, transfer to a 4-year institution in Virginia, 4 year
public, finish your bachelor's degree in 2 years you save more
than $50,000 on the price of that bachelor's degree. Correct?
Mr. DUBOIS. That is correct.
Mr. CLINE. Now I know that's a rare circumstance.
Mr. DUBOIS. If everything works perfectly.
Mr. CLINE. Right. And I know that is a rare circumstance
but you are charting, providing that solution. We have been
sitting here in hearings asking how do we bring down the cost
of a college education? And you are providing the solution.
So when I am confronted with parents who can't get into
Virginia Techs engineering program because its acceptance rate
is something like 10, 12 percent, it is amazingly low, I am
able to provide them with an alternative. Virginia Western has
the exact same courses you would take at Tech, you are 50 miles
away. You know, and you are going to be able to save the money
and transfer to Tech, enjoy those last 2 years at Tech, go
Hokies, and then finish with a Tech engineering degree which is
second to none.
So I am thrilled with what you are doing. I am sorry I, you
know, I used up all my time praising you but I do want to thank
you for all the work and thank you for being here today and I,
if you want to respond to that you are more than welcome.
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you, Congressman Cline. We are glad you
are here, we miss you in the State legislature and its, sir,
for the record, I'm really from Brooklyn, not Massachusetts.
But we can in Virginia, we can guarantee that any father or
mother, that their child can graduate UVA, William and Mary,
Virginia Tech, James Madison University if they enroll at a
community college, graduate from a community college at the
prescribed GPA of the university. And it does work, it has some
kinks here and there but it does work.
We can--if you can look for ways to leverage the community
college you'll be saving tax payers a lot of money.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you very much. Mr. Castro.
Mr. CASTRO. Thank you, Chairwoman. Mr. DuBois, I had a
question for you. I know you can't speak as a representative of
all community colleges but I spent time in Texas as a vice
chairman of the higher ed committee for a two terms and a lot
of the challenges that we had with our community colleges I
think they provide, they do a great job with many students that
they transfer to 4 year universities in Texas at least those
students do better than the students that actually started at 4
year universities which is a great thing.
Yet, our community colleges were beset by many challenges.
Figuring out developmental education, developmental education
is the graveyard of higher education. Their completion rates in
Texas at least, our completion rates were lower than a lot of
high school graduation rates.
And so part of my concern over the years is that if
somebody makes their decision just based on cost, in other
words, going to the cheapest place, they may not necessarily
have the best chance of finishing off.
And so what is Virginia, what are community colleges doing
with articulation agreements with 4 year universities to make
sure that folks can transfer with development education, with
all these challenges? How do you assess the improvements that
have been made over the years?
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. I think you, if you
look around the Nation increasingly you are going to be finding
more and more community colleges moving away from the
developmental education because often it is kind of a bridge to
nowhere. And instead, they're, your and we are moving that way
in Virginia. Tennessee is already there, Florida is already
there.
Instead of putting students in college courses for the
first semester with co-requisite help along the way, it is
difficult work but the research that I'm looking at now, its
promising to move away from developmental education. Direct
placement with the help that they need.
And I would also add like I, in a previous comment, when
our students come to us, they need someone that can help them
on day one navigate, get ready, get set, get in the right
courses, get their financial aid, get their text book
materials. And then because they have all of this self-doubt,
they really need people to believe in them and to get through
those first five courses. If we can do that, we are going to
help a lot of students.
Mr. CASTRO. And, Dr. McHatton, I had a question for you. As
a Texan here at the panel, I was in the legislature we spent a
lot of time trying to get a medical school that was what was
then UT PanAm where my wife graduated from school. She is from
Alton, Texas in the valley. You know, UTRGV is really is the
anchor university for an area that is millions of people but in
many ways had been ignored in terms of its educational
resources for decades. And so we also made strong pushes for
more doctoral programs for example.
Can you tell me because I think it is so meaningful to an
area that is overwhelmingly Latino there, the progress on all
these fronts? A number of doctoral programs, graduate programs,
so forth.
Ms. MCHATTON. So, yes, absolutely. We are thrilled to have
the school of medicine because it has been a real game changer
in the region. Over the past couple of years, we have added
multiple graduate programs so we have got the PhD in clinical
psychology. We are working on physical therapy. We are looking
at a podiatry PhD graduate program. We are also doing some
graduate certificates there is a psychiatric nurse
practitioner, mental health nurse practitioner.
We have put in graduate programs in sustainable
agriculture, teacher leadership, applied behavioral sciences,
statistics. We have got several on big data, data analytics. We
have got several biomedical graduate programs, bioethics.
So what we are trying to do is really assess what are the
needs within the region and we find that healthcare, the STEM
fields, and hospitality, we also have a brand new program in
hospitality and tourism are all fields that are very important
in that region. So those are the programs that we have engaged
in trying to develop these new--
Mr. CASTRO. And how about the graduation rate? You know,
I'll give you an example. Probably a dozen years ago at UTSA in
San Antonio, the 6-year graduation rate was 32 percent. Only 32
percent of people had graduated after 6 years. Where are we on
that front?
Ms. MCHATTON. So we just graduated our first class because
we have really only been in business and operation for 4 years.
We don't have the data back yet. So our goal is to do a, at
least to start off with at least a 30 percent 4 year graduation
rate but clearly our goal is to do much more than that.
And some of the programs that we have in place, the cap on
the tuition, the promise programs, those types of things are
all things that are helping us to try and get students through
the pipeline in a much more meaningful and timely manner.
Mr. CASTRO. Thank you, I yield back.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. And we now turn to our chair,
ranking chair of education and labor, Dr. Virginia Foxx.
Ms. FOXX. Thank you, Madame Chair, and I want to thank our
witnesses for being here today. Dr. DuBois, you talked about
the Fast Forward funding program for the students who complete
the classing credential and that it is designed only to pay
after the students complete. Did the--I assume the legislature
set it up this way and why was it designed this way and how has
that accountability metric been received by community college
leaders?
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. We actually
proposed the funding formula that way to the State legislature.
Most funding formulas if not all of them are on the basis of an
enrollment. We thought it would be much more attractive to say
no, we will--we are proposing a funding formula that we will
receive our funds upon completion. And I think it was
irresistible. In fact, in the legislature we only got two no
votes. So it went through.
So why did we propose it that way? Because we knew by
research that when we were doing these things when students had
to pay a lot of money to get in, we knew that their completion
rates were north of 90 percent. Why is that? Because it's not a
4-year pathway. Its 6 weeks or 8 weeks or maybe, you know,
maybe 16 weeks. So we knew we had a good track record so why
not? Let's propose it as a paid for performance. In fact our
former Governor brags that it's the Nation's first pay for
performance.
It was different for our college leaders so we had to--in
fact our payment in Virginia comes in two forms. Complete the
program and then the State gives us an installment of funds and
then when the student gets the certification of license, we get
our second installment of support.
So that caused us, our leaders to develop relationships
that we didn't have before. For example, with the Department of
Motor Vehicles. We don't give the CDL test, they do. So we
needed to form these kinds of, align these data relationships
so that we could certify that the student completed the
program. We knew that but then completed the exam and get the
license or the certification. So it took some changes on our
part.
Are there some complaints about the funding from our
leaders? Sure. But for the most part, it is working. The
legislature has incrementally increased the funding for this
program every year for the last 3 years and we still run out of
money. That's how huge the demand is among employers. If I
might give an illustration just to drive home the fact.
Ms. FOXX. If you don't mind, I don't--
Mr. DUBOIS. Oh, I don't.
Ms. FOXX. I only have 2 minutes left and I need to ask some
other questions. I'm happy to you to send that to me.
Dr. Verret, would you tell me what led you to get those
dual enrollment programs off the ground and have you seen an
uptick in enrollment at Xavier as a result? And what are your
outcomes for students who take dual enrollment?
Mr. VERRET. Well, our outcome is that they will persist in
college and continue in college. The programs are based on, in
our mission because our mission is not just an accomplishment
at Xavier, but we worry as much that students will never go to
any college. So our connections with that has been, is a long
standing mission for us. But they're going to college whether
they come to Xavier or not, is to us a success as long as they
go to college.
Ms. FOXX. Right. And nobody has mentioned this but the
research shows that students who take one dual enrollment
course are three times more likely to graduate and others of
you have not emphasized that very much. But this is an area I
have a great deal of interest in is working on dual enrollment
because we know it is so successful.
I just have one more comment. Dr. DuBois, I have to just
take exception to your suggestion that the Federal Government
requires States to have articulation agreements. I really don't
see--nowhere is the word education in the constitution. We
ought not to be involved in education at all but to involve
the--involve us more to tell the States to do something they
are already doing or most of them are already doing, you have
articulated that yourself. And that we know works, I don't
understand why the leadership in the States don't understand
what you understand.
Time is more valuable than money and, I mean, you can
always replace money. You cannot replace time. And so requiring
students to--who are going to a baccalaureate program to repeat
courses is irresponsible on the part of the educational
institutions. And the citizens should be demanding that not be
allowed to happen. Thank you all again very much. I yield back.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. I now turn to Mr. Sablan.
Mr. SABLAN. Thank you very much. Good morning to all our
witnesses. Madame Chair, thank you very much for this series of
hearings on issues that I hope will lead to the, a robust
Higher Education Act reauthorization. And but particularly this
latest hearing on minority serving institutions is important to
me.
I as chair of the other education subcommittee, I was--
always it broke my heart and some of the programs, failures of
programs under the Bureau of Indian Education for early
childhood K through 12. But, Dr. Boham, today your testimony
gives me some hope and I really like but.
So your testimony States that your college and Oglala
Lakota College call it the Nation in preparing and graduating
Native American nurses with more than 90 percent of their
graduates certified as registered nurses and working in local
community settings.
You also testified that before Oglala Lakota college or OLC
launched its nursing program, none of the nurses employed by
the Indian Health Service to work on the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota were native. Of the 70 nurses working on the
reservation in 2013 80 percent were OLC graduates.
Congratulations.
What can small community colleges like the one I have in
the Marianas in my district, what can these colleges with
health work force shortages and high indigenous populations
learn from Salish who take Salish Kootenai College success?
Ms. BOHAM. Thank you for that question. Part of what we do
really well in our nursing program is we create culturally
confident healthcare so we are caring for our own and you have
heard from other witnesses that our communities' value and one
of their primary motivators is the opportunity to give back
into the community. And I think our nursing programs exemplify
that need and concern and wish to give back.
Part of what we also do around our nursing program and we
have implemented it college wide but particularly in our
nursing program where students have high stress, demanding
academic requirements, and clinical requirements as well, we
provide wrap around services as well. So we have early alert
systems and if students are beginning to show stress or look
like they might be faltering, the early alert system is
accessible from our custodial staff to me.
And if we see a student that maybe we are used to seeing
every day and we haven't seen them for a day or they miss a
class, we have an electronic system where an actual person goes
then to find this individual and make sure everything is okay.
And if there are issues, we connect them to services and
resources.
We know that because nursing is the kind of demanding
program it is that it's really important to have preschool
services available for women and young men who are primary
caregivers to their children. But I think overall, the big
thing is that culturally confident, culturally congruent care.
We want to take care of our--
Mr. SABLAN. Right. Dr. Boham again, I, you provided a ray
of light, I mean, you have--that it is possible to break this
chain in native or in American--Native American schools and I
am encouraged.
My time is up so I will submit other questions for the
other witnesses but congratulations is not a word I would use
because this is a small step but I hope it grows not just with
your program but also to other places and in our country like
the Northern Marinas where we have a small community college
and we have a huge need for work force investment.
Madame Chair, thank you very much for today's hearing and I
yield back.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Mr. Watkins.
Mr. WATKINS. Thank you, Madame Chair, and thanks to the
panel for being here. Every American deserves a chance to seek
post-secondary education regardless of the circumstances. I
have seen firsthand how the tribal colleges and universities
are providing tribal students with the education they need for
the future employment of their chosen profession.
I am proud to say that in my district we have Haskell
Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Haskell is
dedicated to building the leadership capacity of the students,
providing well rounded extracurricular and education
opportunities.
A few months ago I had the pleasure of speaking with
several of the students as they came here to D.C. During the
discussion it was clear that the students were desired to
remain local after graduation and serve their tribes and their
communities. To that end, it becomes essential for the tribal
college and universities to develop career pathways for their
students by expanding partnerships between TCU's and local
employers.
Dr. Boham, in your testimony you mentioned that your tribal
college has developed a strong model for work force development
offering education and development programs that are responsive
to local employer needs. Could you please explain the
partnership between your college and the local employers that
foster this cooperation? Speaking specifically to how it's
benefited your students post-graduation?
Ms. BOHAM. Thank you. We, first of all, we work with our
tribal economic development and organization and so they do
economic development studies once every 5 years and gather
through surveys of the membership as well as employers and
tribal entities in the community what the projected employment
needs are and what areas people are interested in looking for
work in.
We also partner with our county J-sec or job counsel and so
we are connected to them and they're also looking--it consists
of employers. And so they come to a meeting once a month and we
talk about what's going on in the economics of the community
and what jobs we are needing and what jobs people are phasing
out of.
But at Salish Kootenai College because we serve 200--well,
we serve about 70 different tribes at any given time, we have
branched our relationships out beyond just our local community
for the students that are going to be returning to their
communities and we work with their tribal colleges or with
their job development people at the State level just for those
same kinds of information and trends.
The other thing that we do is we have an extensive
internship program on a national level. And so we have to
develop a lot of partnerships so that students get that
internship opportunity so they know what the work is going to
be like, they create those relationships for themselves within
those professional arenas and that's a huge piece.
And then we also have developed something similar to our
friend here in that we in listening to our employers and
looking at what they need, we have built almost all of our 1
year and 2 year programs that are aimed at folks needing to get
employment to be in stackable certificates.
So they can take a 1-year program but it's all broken down
into pieces and so if they start and then they need to go to
work for a little bit and then come back, they will have a
credential that will allow them to stop out and return without
losing time, money. And it also provides for those that need to
work through their college career, it will allow them a livable
wage, maybe it's an EMT certificate or it might be a phlebotomy
certificate or it might be a flagging certificate that will
allow them to continue to work while they're going to college
with a wage that's above minimum wage.
Mr. WATKINS. Well, thank you, doctor, appreciate it. Madame
Chair, I yield back my time.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Ms. Bonamici.
Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you, Chair Davis, and Ranking Member
Smucker. And with all due respect to Dr. Foxx, there is a
Federal role in education and it's an important one.
The Federal--many of the Federal laws in education came out
of the Civil Rights Era and as we approach the Higher Education
Act reauthorization, I think we need to really honor that by
promoting equity and safeguarding the opportunities for
everyone to get a higher education.
And of course the HBCU's and minority serving institutions
and community colleges are a really important part of meeting
that equity role and we need to make sure that you all have the
resources and the policies to help your students succeed.
I want to start by congratulating Dr. McHatton for your
universities national chess championship which I understand is
twice in a row. I have long been supportive of chess education,
especially in the K12 system, tremendous academic benefits but
I wanted to say congratulations. That's a big accomplishment.
But I want to start with Dr. DuBois. Thank you for your
testimony today talking about your--Virginia's community
college system. I am also a community college graduate. I went
on after my great 2 year legal assistant program to get a
bachelor's degree and a law degree both at the University of
Oregon. So I would--I know firsthand the critical role that
community colleges play in opening doors of opportunity because
they opened doors of opportunity for me.
In my home State of Oregon, the community colleges
typically serve large populations of students of color, low
income students. They are doing some innovative work but
challenges remain, especially the resource challenge and the
obstacles encountered by students that deter completion.
A couple of those you mentioned in your testimony,
homelessness and food insecurity. And I saw your story about
the student who couldn't concentrate and he went in to speak to
the professor and ended up staring at the granola bar on his
desk because he--and he hadn't eaten for 2 days.
So can you talk a little bit about how your colleges are
addressing homelessness and food insecurity and also
importantly, what the Federal Government can do to help with
that area?
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you. Thank you for the question. You
know, admittedly these student insecurities are becoming much
more of the dialog of the day with community college leaders. I
mean, who would have thought that we have students that
occasionally have to live in a car or going hungry. I mean, so
what are some of the things that we are doing?
We are not doing enough. We now have food pantries at all
of our community colleges but we can't food pantry ourselves
out of this. We need faculty and staff that know how to help
someone who is eligible for SNAP sign up for it, sign up for
SNAP. The--Pell is critical for these students. They also need
actually more help than that because--
Ms. BONAMICI. Right.
Mr. DUBOIS [continuing]. Pell will cover the mandatory
costs to attend but these students are facing all of these
other kinds of difficulty so we are doing everything from
asking the philanthropic community to step up. The best
philanthropic dollar I think that we can raise now is for
student emergency funds.
I mean, and students don't have just one emergency. So we
are--we are doing all that we can with the resources that we
have, Congresswoman, but we run out of those resources very,
very quickly.
Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you. And I want to try to get another
question in but I appreciate your response and certainly making
sure that we are funding SNAP and Pell grants is critical.
Dr. Verret, thank you so much for being here. I read your
impressive background. I am the founder and co-chair of the
congressional STEAM Caucus where we advocate for integrating
arts and design into STEM fields. Because No. 1, it helps
students become more creative and innovative and No. 2, it
reaches more students, especially as students are going through
the K12 system.
I have toured, we have nationally recognized STEAM
elementary schools that are really engaging students and
helping them to be creative. So I wanted to talk about how, I
know you have 70 percent of your, of Xavier's student body is
female and I am excited, I'm also on the science committee and
we are always talking about getting more women into science
technology, engineering, math, I call STEAM.
So how do you create a campus environment that encourages
your female students to pursue those careers that are typically
male dominated and white?
Mr. VERRET. Well, if I would use a line from St. Francis of
Assisi, that if you are preaching preach by example. The
examples that we have before them on the faculty, women faculty
want leadership who are researchers who are scientists who are
engaged. That has been there at Xavier. I remind you that
Xavier was the first Catholic university, college or university
that allowed women and men to attend classes together. It was,
it did not exist except that Katherine Drexel pushed it. So
that, so in many ways, the sisters who founded us were
feminists before the word was coined.
But the other piece is that we have now women on leadership
and what embraces all of our students is a culture of
expectations. We expect students to rise high to reach high.
And we show them that it's possible because others have done it
before them.
It also even applies to what we are seeing as an emerging
crises on the other side that we are seeing a dearth of young
males who are succeeding from K through 12 and who are
exceeding to college as well. And we have had initiatives as
well to reach out to them as well.
Ms. BONAMICI. Terrific. And I see my time is expired.
Mr. VERRET. Everyone succeeds together.
Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you so much. I yield back.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Mr. Grothman.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Yes. My question is meant for Mr.--first
question for Mr. Verret, I don't know if have that right.
Looked at your background, very impressive, and again
congratulations on all you are doing at Xavier. I noticed prior
to being at Xavier, you also had an executive position at
Savannah State University.
A couple hearings ago, you know, you can take it or leave
it, but a couple hearings ago, we had a hearing based on the
idea that we had to have more Federal involvement because we
had too many schools that were too segregated and the
implication being that schools that were too much of one racial
background or the other was a real problem.
Now we have a situation here in which we are calling for
more money for historically black colleges. And I--you have
done a tremendous job, I have no problem with putting more
money in historical black colleges.
The only thing I kind of wonder here where we are getting
mixed messages on this committee whether it is really, really
important to weigh in and make sure every high school is more
segregated or, you know, and given your background and the
success you have had at Savannah State and Xavier, I wondered
if you would care to comment on that issue?
Mr. VERRET. The first thing I would say is that the
historically black colleges were never segregated except by
law. But even at Xavier in the 30's and 40's we had students
who were African, who were white at Xavier who could not
receive their degree legally in Louisiana therefore their
degree was awarded by Villanova.
So we were always open to--we have others who, we have
students who are not African Americans at Xavier who are with
us and they have been with us before. But what I would say is
that these HBCU's have been engines of bringing African
Americans into the creative work force for this country and
also of engines of social mobility.
And they continue to produce. The country needs that
talent, you know, because remember our talent base is what we
cultivate in this country. What is happening in the TCU's also
in the Hispanic colleges as well is about creating talent for
this country.
These schools when we produce, overproduce, punch above our
weight, in educating students who become doctors, lawyers,
policymakers, in all the fields that the country needs that's
what we do. Investing in these countries--in these is not
individual benefit for these students, it's a benefit for their
communities and for their regions.
Mr. GROTHMAN. No, I am not denying that you are doing a
tremendous job. I am just wondering on the larger issue if you
had a comment.
Mr. VERRET. What I'm saying is that it's important that to
help students engage with students of all ethnicities and they
do.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Okay.
Mr. VERRET. Our students in our communities they work in
hospitals and--
Mr. GROTHMAN. Okay.
Mr. VERRET [continuing]. and in our communities. They are
interned throughout communities. Students from Tulane and
Loyola engage with our students as well. So our students
actually are very well integrated and others are welcome to us
as well.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Thank you.
Mr. VERRET. And that's always happened.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Thank you. I think all of you at some point
or other in your testimony talked about poverty and the
importance of lifting people out of poverty. And I wondered if
you had any comments having dealt with so many people who at
least by the Federal definition of poverty are in poverty. If
there are anything you noticed about those families compared to
other family units, that sort of thing, and if you are doing
anything to make sure that the next generation or the
generation that you touch that their children don't wind up in
poverty? Yes, Mr. Verret.
Mr. VERRET. If I may say, one of the--what we have seen not
only in recent history but in also in the decades and almost
century that we have been that our students when they receive a
degree, this is not something that benefits them alone. It
touches their families. What we see is that suddenly the
nephews are coming to college, the sons, we are opening new
doors. The benefit, there is a cascading effect that we see. So
what we are seeing is that they do not return to poverty but
what they do they lift communities out of poverty.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Okay. And do any of the others you have any
observations on what type of situation the Federal Government
defines as a family in poverty and what you will do to make
sure that the next generation does not wind up in poverty?
Could you make any observations as to that?
Mr. DUBOIS. Just very quickly, the best thing I think we
can do is to help an individual get a post-secondary credential
and--
Mr. GROTHMAN. Are there no observations you have as to the
type of you said you deal with your students the type of family
situation that results in something being referred to as
poverty? You don't know? Your mind is a blank?
Mr. DUBOIS. No, the--we have poverty in our rural areas and
we have poverty in our inner cities. The best--best that we can
do is help them get a post-secondary credential because 12th
grade is no longer the finish line.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you, Mr. Grothman, your time is up.
Ms. Adams.
Ms. ADAMS. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman, and thank you to
the ranking member as well and thank you for your testimony.
You know, where you start out in life doesn't have to determine
where you are going to end up or just how far you can go.
I grew up in poverty myself, poor black girl growing up in
Newark, New Jersey but education is the pathway to greater
opportunity. Most of you may know that my background of in
terms of historically black colleges and universities are
particularly important to me.
I just said I taught on the campus at Bennett College in
Greensboro for 40 years. I am a two time graduate of an HBCU,
North Carolina A&T. And one of the first things I did when I
got here was to put together the bipartisan HBCU Caucus with my
colleague and now my cochair, Bradley Byrne. We have got 88
members and some of them have been here today.
We have accomplished a lot for our HBCU's but as has been
already revealed today, Dr. Verret, thank you very much for
being here and all that you are doing to make Xavier University
our premier HBCU for graduating black doctors.
I mean, if you look at the statistics, and to my colleagues
while we only make up 3 percent of all colleges and
universities, HBCU's are producing 17 percent of all bachelor's
degrees that are earned by African American students, 24
percent of all STEM graduates. So we have been producers. We
have had little but we have done much.
And, Dr. Verret, what is unique about the HBCU campus
environment that attracts students?
Mr. VERRET. I would say first of all is the culture of
expectation. We expect them to succeed and expectations
students rise to that. We embrace, we have a faculty that will
embrace students and recognize that they--what they need
individually we will address. We do that.
Ms. ADAMS. Okay.
Mr. VERRET. The other piece that is crucial is that we have
the example of those who have come before them which is
important to them as well.
But the expectation piece is what I would call the secret
sauce in the element because when we--when students come to us,
many of them don't, may not have the education that they
deserve. And students do not choose the schools they go to. So
whatever gaps they may have, we meet them in their first year
and help them repair. And what is amazing, what happens at the
end.
Ms. ADAMS. Yes, sir, I know. You filled some gaps for me.
What sort of specific strategies do you use in creating a
program and degree offerings that meet the job market demand?
We have talked a lot about job market demand here.
Mr. VERRET. Well, the HBCU's have been--first of all we
educate our students very broadly which it gives them a lot of
flexibility. Some of them go on to many levels and readapt to
their jobs as they have to.
Ms. ADAMS. Okay.
Mr. VERRET. But what they do have is they have learned to
work hard and on complex matters at HBCU's. And they become
masters of their fields. But I also want to thank you for
starting the HBCU Caucus. That has been a very important way of
getting our voice here at--
Ms. ADAMS. Great. Thank you and thank you for your
participation. What strategies could Congress pursue to make
your job easier?
Mr. VERRET. I'll begin the first one because affordability
is a challenge for us.
Ms. ADAMS. Okay.
Mr. VERRET. We have our students who are Pell eligible in
the lowest--in the lower 2/5 of the socioeconomic income
distribution ladder. Those students, a small crisis in their
families can lead to students not persisting and that we do
see.
Pell is crucial to us. Pell is critical to the HBCU
community because we have 50 percent or more on most of our
campus of students are Pell eligible. And that is the major
struggle for us.
Helping our students pay for college is an important piece.
Pell is something that we cannot tell you more how important it
is and that we want to see you do more for us.
Ms. ADAMS. Absolutely. Could you elaborate on how or
whether your local work force boards or chambers assisting in
that regard in terms of aligning your programs with future work
force needs?
Mr. VERRET. They do and also we are engaged with them and
also in creating internships where our students get to sample
and practice while they are there. With our economic
development agencies and also with our chambers of commerce we
work closely to create internships for our students.
So our students very often before while in their second or
third year have practical experiences whether in the
laboratories or whether it is in clinical or the work force
settings.
Ms. ADAMS. All right. Thank you very much. I just want to
end with a comment that I always like to remember by W.E.B.
DuBois who said of all of the civil rights for which the world
has struggled and fought for 500 years, the right to learn is
undoubtedly the most fundamental.
Thank you all for believing in that right and thank you all
for being here today. Madame Chair, I yield back.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Levin.
Mr. LEVIN. Oh, thank you, Madame Chairwoman. Well, thank
you all so much for being here. I want to ask you about the
situation of students when they come to you.
Dr. DuBois, when I was running the Michigan work force
system some years ago, something like 60 percent of students
coming to community colleges nationally needed to start with
remedial education of some kind. Is that still the case?
Mr. DUBOIS. Yes, sir, in mathematics typically.
Mr. LEVIN. And so can you talk to us about your connection
in Virginia with the whole adult education system for people
who because I know many of your students aren't coming straight
from high school. And what we should do to better connect adult
basic education with community college. My observation is that
we--the systems are generally completely disconnected. Often AV
is connected in the K12 education system. Very rarely is the
instruction offered contextualized for a career pathway--
Mr. DUBOIS. Right.
Mr. LEVIN [continuing]. for a person. So I would appreciate
your comments on that and I am very curious about what the
situation is in HBCU's too, Dr. Verret. So I would like, you
know, afterwards I would like to hear your thoughts.
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. In Virginia, the
adult basic education world is a centrally a K12 sector
responsibility. Having said that though, a number of
superintendents have kind of subcontracted that out with their
community colleges. I do believe that adults need to go to
adult places.
And my--this is my editorial. Many of these adults they
come to us because they want a job. They want a better job.
Mr. LEVIN. That's right.
Mr. DUBOIS. And we should be putting more of them into a
contextualized, applied, short time--short term pathway to get
to that job. Once they get that job, I think they will raise
the bar and move on with higher educational goals. But I agree
with your preface that these pathways should be contextualized,
applied in a vocational career area.
Mr. LEVIN. Dr. Verret.
Mr. VERRET. Well, I would agree with my colleague as well
but I would also say that one of the remedial issue that you
point to is the fact that many of our students do not get the
pre collegiate preparation that they need. And I would extend
it beyond mathematics because what we have found out is
actually language arts are more of a barrier to mathematics and
also to physics and to chemistry and everything, and to history
as well.
So that we have people, students who are getting degrees
who may have high GPA's but that the ACT's and the SAT's don't
seem to match. That is one of the crimes that is occurring in
many ways that we are not getting the right teachers.
And I would speak for the investment into K through 12 as
well as to make our work much more doable. Being able to
actually resource teachers because I do think great teachers
really matter and we have not invested in our teaching
profession especially in the K through 12 fields. And that's as
essential as anything else this country could need.
Mr. LEVIN. Well, in other countries, teachers are the
people say lawyer, doctor, engineer, accountant, teacher, and
we pay our teachers in this country much less than other
professionals.
Mr. VERRET. Right.
Mr. LEVIN. We don't invest in them properly.
Mr. VERRET. And our investment in teacher, in educating
teachers is because of not only for a mission but we know that
the work of building society is educating great teachers and
getting them to our classrooms is crucial. We don't get away by
skipping them.
Mr. LEVIN. But let me just say don't we know what needs to
be done here, don't we? I mean, for example if someone is
learning English and they need, they come really for a job, for
a career, so they can support their family. If we teach them
Dick and Jane ran up the hill, they are going to stop coming.
If we find out well, they could be an x-ray tech or they
should be in a CNC operator and if we start talking--teaching
them their basic skills tied to a career pathway they come
back, right? And in that adult context as you say.
So can someone give me some, I mean, I ran the Michigan
work force system from 2007 to early 2011. Are we making any
progress here in this regard nationally?
Mr. DUBOIS. Just quickly I think in Virginia we are making
our progress through our Fast Forward programs where we are
simply an adult that needs help and to get some training we
don't require the GED to be a welder. You need some basic
reading skills to be a truck driver. Not necessarily, you don't
necessarily have to have a high school diploma or equivalent.
So we are, we have moved into more and more into that
direction helping adults secure employment through short term
training programs.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Mr. Trone, you are next.
Mr. TRONE. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman Davis, Chairwoman
Davis and Ranking Member Smucker for holding this hearing, and
thank you to our witnesses.
We know the community colleges and historically black
colleges and universities and other minority serving
institutions play a key role in providing college opportunities
for low income students and students of color. We also know
that while these institutions are doing the most work to close
that achievement gap in advanced economic mobility they are
severely under resourced.
It is great to see the committee coming together in a
bipartisan way to prioritize and address this issue and I look
forward to working with all of you on this.
Madame Chairwoman, I would like to enter into the record
this report by the United Negro College Fund which is led by my
close friend, Michael Lomax, who actually was the emcee when I
was sworn in to Congress at our event just recently. And
entitled the HBCU's make America strong, the positive impact of
historically black colleges and universities.
Chairwoman DAVIS. So ordered.
Mr. TRONE. Thank you. The 2017 report found that the total
economic impact in the U.S. is 14.8 billion annually, the
equivalent of ranking among the top 200 corporations on the
Fortune 500 list.
In Maryland we have 4 HBCU's that generate a billion
dollars in economic output and 10,000 jobs. A Maryland graduate
can expect to make a million dollars more a year due to that
credential.
So, Dr. Verret, if we strengthened Federal investments at
HBCU's, what do you see, what does it look like on long term
ROI by making this investment look like? What is the return on
investment?
Mr. VERRET. The return investment is huge because right now
it is critical that we, that we develop our talents. The talent
that we have to build our new industries, whether it's the
digital industries, it's the high tech industries and also our
creative industries whether it's the movie industry, etcetera,
is from these young people. That talent that we leave on the
table underserves us because other countries I know are doing a
real good job of educating their talents and they're not
willing to share it.
Mr. TRONE. Right. So we are building our diversity, we are
building our diversity with better ways and different ways to
look at the problems and challenges we have.
Mr. VERRET. The creative minds that we have on the table
and in our second and third grades should not be wasted.
Mr. TRONE. Absolutely. Dr. DuBois, I know you have
extensive experience in both community college systems and the
criminal justice space. A top priority of mine is criminal
justice reform. I believe the impact of education on these
individuals that have been incarcerated, society as a whole is
crucial.
Research from Rand Corporation found that incarcerated
individuals participated in education while in the correctional
institution decreased recidivism 43 percent. How do we best
strengthen and expand high quality education opportunities for
justice impacted individuals and what would that impact on this
be?
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. In the mid-90's I
taught in Attica State Prison, a maximum security prison with
Genesee Community College. So it's something I'm very familiar
with. The research is clear, most prisoners are going to be
released within 3 years. 90 something percent.
Do we want--what do we want them armed with? A future? And
if we do its going to be some kind of educational credential
because the recidivism rates have been clear over 25 years. At
one time the Federal Government was supporting prisoners
through Pell. I think we have one college that participated in
an experimental program with Pell. We would welcome the
opportunity to receive more Pell support for incarcerated
students.
Mr. TRONE. Have you seen a State that's done a best case
job in this area? Sometimes I hear Alabama but have you, do you
know, anybody know of a State that's really worked with
community colleges and correctional institutions hand in hand
to help address this disaster?
Mr. DUBOIS. In the 90's in New York, of the 30 community
colleges of New York we probably had about 14 or 15 of them
very involved in inmate higher education. It was a lot of
research that was done back in those days. I can certainly make
that available to you.
Mr. TRONE. How do we help students in Virginia with their
mental health disabilities? How do we get more money focused on
that? What should we be doing to help you there?
Mr. DUBOIS. That's a great question. I mean, we are
struggling with that question just as we speak. It was only
just 2 weeks ago where I announced a major task force on this
very, very issue of student insecurities including mental
health, financial problems, legal problems. These are the
students that are coming to us today. We are, you know, we need
answers, more and more answers to that kind of a situation.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Mr. Timmons.
Mr. TIMMONS. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman, and thank you
each for coming to testify before this subcommittee. I am going
to begin.
Dr. Verret, Xavier University of Louisiana has created an
emergency fund to cover unanticipated student expenses. How are
you able to establish this grant funding and what have the
results been for students who end up needing this unexpected
money?
Mr. VERRET. Well, the emergency fund was founded 4 years
ago when I arrived and it was first funded by--through alumni,
our alumni, and also other friends of Xavier who were not
alumni. Some members of the board, others have contributed into
this fund.
We have raised these funds because we have, we are aware
that there are students who are in good academic standing,
especially as they are in their third or fourth year about to
finish while at risk of not persisting. It may be from tuition
funding but it also may be other things for example clothing, a
crisis, at home medical crisis and we apply that. It's small
because we are not a rich institution and we do need more. But
it parallels what my friends have been speaking about other
needs including housing needs because we do give housing
scholarships for homeless students.
As we, in fact we have received the calls from homeless
shelters that you have a student here, do you know about this?
And those--and we have ways of responding. We need to respond.
So we need resources to meet those needs.
Mr. TIMMONS. Thank you. Do you have a ballpark of how much
has been put into the fund or the average--
Mr. VERRET. The average year we had somewhere around
between $100 and $200,000 in the fund.
Mr. TIMMONS. Thank you. Also, Dr. Verret, you note in your
written remarks that a challenge for many students of color is
their preparedness for college level course work. What are you
doing to increase student retention at Xavier, particularly for
those students who may struggle in their first year?
Mr. VERRET. I would say it's not only for students of color
but it clearly affects our urban students especially but what
happens is that what we have is our in the first year our
diagnostics early alert program would tell us students in their
first, early first semester that there are needs. They are
brought to our students' academic support. They are given
academic support and make sure that the individualized tutoring
that they need in certain areas is provided.
We have--remember, Xavier does not, is not a selective
institution. We have students from 18 to 34 on the SAT's. Those
but those students who are in greater need, we are seeing
progress because last year we saw especially among the group of
greater pre collegiate challenges that their retention numbers
have gone up significantly.
Mr. TIMMONS. Do you think that this program could be
modeled for other HBCU's?
Mr. VERRET. It could be modeled for almost any other
institution.
Mr. TIMMONS. Okay. Thank you. Dr. Boham, you mentioned a
TCU innovation core initiative to help entrepreneurs put their
ideas into action. What are the goals behind this initiative?
How do you anticipate the program will work and what are the
expected results for students and local economies?
Dr. Boham. Sorry. I'll give you the question again. You
mentioned a TCU innovation core initiative to help
entrepreneurs put their ideas into action. What are the goals
behind this initiative? How do you anticipate the program will
work and what are the expected results for students in local
economies?
Ms. BOHAM. The TCU innovation core, ICORE is built around
the concept that in the research and work that students are
doing with particularly science programs that they would find
marketable patent programs that could then be scaled up and
marketed to build the economy through creating new jobs and new
enterprises.
Mr. TIMMONS. Thank you. I yield back the balance of my
time.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Ms. Wild.
Ms. WILD. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman, and thank you to
the panel for being here to speak today on this very important
subject. I will tell you I am not a member of this subcommittee
but I came to hear what I could of your testimony and have read
your testimonies because I feel that this is such an important
area for us to cover in this committee.
I am a representative from the 7th District of
Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, Allentown,
Bethlehem, Easton area where we have a wealth of institutions
of higher learning.
We have several very fine private 4 year colleges. We have
a smaller parochial private college. We have a State school.
But the pride and joy of our community are two incredibly good
community colleges. Lehigh Carbon Community College and North
Hampton County or North Hampton Community College.
These two schools in my district are such high quality they
offer a range of academic and career training programs. The
statistics on those two schools is that after graduation from
the 2-year programs, 93 to 94 percent of their alumni are
either continuing their education or in a career. And I think
that's a statistic to be so incredibly proud of. And both also
serve a large population of students of color.
Lehigh Carbon Community College is a Hispanic serving
institution. North Hampton Community College is the No. 1
associate degree granting college in Pennsylvania for Latinos.
So if I seem like I am bursting with pride, I am a little bit
about those two schools.
Having said that, I have visited both of those schools
since I was elected and I have learned from their
administration about some of the challenges that the
administration faces because in the face of constant decreases
in funding, these kinds of schools, not just these two in my
district, but these kinds of schools across the country, that
are struggling so much to keep from raising tuition for their
students. And by and large are doing a pretty good job of it
but that money has to be taken from somewhere.
And so what I am consistently hearing from them is that the
schools are contracting the services that they provide to
students. And that is--that too is a real harm to the students.
And I would like you perhaps, Dr. McHatton, to address--
well first, let me go to Dr. Verret and ask you about how
student incomes--outcomes vary depending on what institutions
are able to spend on the instruction and the student support
systems.
Mr. VERRET. I don't have a thorough study in front of me
that I can refer you to but in my experience as--and I should
mention I was at in Luzerne County so I know the other LCCC,
Luzerne County Community College very quite well.
But what I would say that based, the resource that we need
to meet the needs of students where they are take time, it
takes faculty. Our faculty we have very few adjuncts except a
few professional practice, professor of practice.
Ms. WILD. That's impressive.
Mr. VERRET. So we have full time faculty who are engaged
with students even in their introductory classes. That devotion
is important for our students. It costs. And if you reduce
those, if were you to reduce those services at Xavier, our
outcomes would suffer. We know that.
So it is important that when we speak of remedial or other
needs or call it other, meeting students with the course that
they need or the support structure that they need to persist in
the subsequent courses rather than throwing them into deep
water without knowing how to swim. That's criminal. What we
need those resources are crucial. As we reduce those in the
community colleges and any college around the country the
outcomes will suffer.
Ms. WILD. And some of the things that I was told and all of
you may also have seen is that there is a greater need for
things such as childcare on these campuses. There is a need,
they both of the schools as well as some the 4-year schools in
my district have food support programs, food banks. And then of
course there is the issue of attracting and retaining good
talent in the academic force. So I commend you for being able
to keep full time professors as opposed to relying solely on
adjunct personnel.
I wanted to ask if I could, Dr. Boham, because I am very
interested in your testimony about the work with local industry
partners and to ensure that students are on a pathway to good
jobs. And if you could just in the very short period of time I
have left you, give us a little bit more information about how
you make those connections with local industry?
Ms. BOHAM. We do that in a very face to face kind of hands
on way with our business partners but and a good example of
that was one of the studies that we did said that we needed
people in our hospitals that were certified medical assistants
instead of the on the job training assistants that they had
before. They were changing their practice which a lot of
medical fields are doing, changing the scope and role of
particular jobs.
And so we implemented a certified medical assisting program
that would meet the needs of those hospitals Statewide because
it's two different providers and they're regional so they're
not--it's not just Montana. But--
Ms. WILD. Thank you very much, Dr. Boham. Sorry, it was my
fault, I left you with very little time but thank you for your
input.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Ms. Omar.
Ms. OMAR. Thank you, Chairwoman. Thank you all for being
here today to have this important discussion. I have a staffer
who made the choice to attend a community college. He then went
on to a 4-year university and eventually got a graduate degree
in an Ivy League school.
While that is the kind of stories that we would love to
hear, not many have the opportunity of having that kind of
progress achieved. Some of our students are getting stuck in
community colleges. After 6 years in college, 4 in 10 students
still haven't earned a degree and that as a Nation we have
barely made any progress in increasing college graduation rates
over the past 2 decades.
And we know that underfunded colleges with low graduation
rates disproportionately enroll students of color and low
income students. College, community colleges that are less
selective or open access receive less State funding and charge
lower tuition. And affordability remains a challenge even at
college with relatively low tuition costs.
The full cost of college includes text books, supplies,
living expenses, costs which are similar to colleges. Many
students are low income--who are low income are working adults
who face instability in jobs, who have family demands, who have
emergency expenses.
All of community college students nationwide, 40 percent
are first generation college students. Among community college
students 22 percent were both food and housing insecure during
the last year and 80 percent experience both of those
challenges as well as homelessness.
To all of you I would love for you to share how your
institutions are helping some of these students move through
these challenges so that they can attain graduation.
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you for the question. Your description is
certainly very accurate. We are challenged with students that
are facing the most difficult life circumstances and we are
funded at the lowest rate of any public sector of higher
education. So it is fiscally a challenge.
We often--we also are under pressure to not raise tuition
and yet we have to. And we try to do that in a very modest and
careful way. What we are doing in Virginia is we are trying
to--whatever extra dollar that we have, we want to invest it in
student services. We think that is the best bang for that
dollar to help students be successful.
Our students need coaching from day one. They need
guidance, they need navigators. They need social workers. They
need people who understand where the resources are in the
community and put those students in touch with those resources.
Ms. OMAR. Can you, yes. I can't see your names. So yes, if
you want to take that.
Ms. MCHATTON. McHatton. Yes. So I think along--
Ms. OMAR. If we could be mindful of the time if you can--
Ms. MCHATTON. Sure. Along with some of the things that have
already been discussed, I think what is really important as far
as our institution is building capacity within our faculty so
they're able to stay connected and identify students early on
when they're in need of particular support services.
Developing a summer bridge program to prepare students who
are first generation students and maybe might have some
academic needs has been very successful. We have also had some
peer led team learning and supplemental instruction so there is
a lot of support, academic support throughout their first year
and beyond in order to help them with any academic needs that
they may have.
Ms. OMAR. Thank you. And, Dr. Verret, if I can just have
you follow that up with maybe a recommendations that you would
have for us to implement in helping close this gap.
Mr. VERRET. I would begin, it's about finding students in
crises especially throughout the first year is crucial but
other years as well.
The early alert and how we use early alert is important for
us because it is important that professors and instructors be
able to identify a student who is actually not appearing in
class. A student who is coming in very tired for another reason
and to give a shout out to the early alert system so the people
in student and student life to say you need to pull this young
person in because we think something is going on, to look to
see whether the student whose grades who is not performing in
the first exam to pull him in.
All those are indicators that something is going on. You
may not know what it is but to get someone competent to engage
with that student at that point and to build a structure that
is necessary whether it is housing, whether it's--it could be
food, it could be other things that are, that another crisis or
a student was injured in some way. We need to find out.
Ms. OMAR. I appreciate that. Education is the greatest
equalizer but we also have to first equalize the situation so
young people are able to attain that education. Thank you so
much and I yield back.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Hayes.
Ms. HAYES. Thank you, Madame Chair, and again thank you for
allowing me to wave on to this committee because this as well
is not my committee and I have been listening. and, Dr. Verret,
I can blame you for this today because generally my staff gets
so upset because we spend so much time working and preparing
for these hearings and I have these beautifully put together
binders and then I hear something and I throw all of this away
because I am so personally invested in the work that this
committee does.
You know, I went to a community college. And what I heard
today was you talking about your thoughts about K12 education
and it reminded me of an experience that I think would be
tremendously relevant here.
And during my time, I was a high school history teacher, 15
years in the classroom. I taught African American history and I
had so many students who had never even heard of an HBCU. So I
created a unit on it, you know, in Connecticut you--and many of
the southern States it is a part of the community, it is a part
of the culture.
There are so many kids who are outside of this network who
until someone teaches them about it and that coupled with the
fact that I also recognize in my time as National Teacher of
the Year I traveled to over 40 States, saw something that was,
I thought that was a Connecticut problem but it's a National
problem and it is diversifying the educator work force and the
number of teaches of color who are out there.
And I happen to know that HBCU's produce more teachers of
color than any other teacher preparation institutions. So I
guess my question to you would be do you have any thoughts on
how we expand this network, broaden the spectrum so that you
are not just having this conversation with young people in
Louisiana who might be thinking about entering the profession
but also kids in Connecticut or?
Mr. VERRET. What I would say is that we do need to resource
and support teachers because we don't want, we want them--
because we have students who are going to education who have
high loans, have costs, who eventually have a family and they
have to make a decision to leave the profession. We don't want
that especially if they are good teachers.
We need programs that support teachers because they are the
most precious commodity. There is an example at the NSF,
National Science Foundation, the Noyce Grant--which came out
from the lack of STEM educators where we would actually provide
tuition support for students who commit to teaching for the
next 5 to 6 years after that and those many of those teachers
remain in the teaching profession.
We need for other disciplines as well whether its social
studies, whether its special educators. We have to actually
provide a way of even loan forgiveness for that because I do
say the work that we do at our colleges whether its community
colleges or HBCU's is only made easier by having students who
come in with a basic fundamental, good K through 12 education
that they deserve.
Ms. HAYES. Thank you. But again, I don't think it is just
about the money. I appreciate you saying that because that is
very important but we cannot underscore the fact that just the
capacity building.
I went through community college, undergraduate, a master's
program and a graduate program where I was the only African
American in an educator preparation program in the State of--
well, not in my State but in my program. You know, these are,
we are an education State and I was the only person of color
through my academic journey.
Mr. VERRET. And the capacity building is a recruitment
issue. For example what we do in a recruiting educators is
beginning to speak of in high school with students who might
consider becoming teachers. We have to do real outreach the
same way we are doing--we have done in STEM in the last decade
as we needed that. We have to do that.
We also have to think well about the capacity of our HBCU's
that are producing a large numbers of teachers and support
their schools of education.
I can speak for Xavier what we are doing but also I do know
other HBCU's that have schools of education they need support
to build their capacities as well.
Ms. HAYES. Thank you. and, Dr. Boham, I notice that your
campus is majority female and most of them are over 25 years of
age. I know that my, a Congresswoman from my State just
recently introduced a bill to provide childcare which I know is
a challenge.
I went back to community college as an adult, with a child,
as a single parent. Can you talk about what types of supports
this specific population needs to succeed and how we can help
here in Congress?
Ms. BOHAM. Childcare and quality child care that you can
take your children to and know that they're going to be safe
and well cared for is critical for our female and male
students. We have a number of fathers that are primary care
givers as well.
And so we have on our campus a preschool and that is
critical but we also need quality after school programs so that
parents can focus on their schoolwork and not be worrying about
the safety of their children. We also know that children that
are in preschool and that go into kindergarten are going to
have larger vocabularies and be better prepared and that
preparation will follow them through their entire K12
education.
When I was working in the K12 system, literally a third of
the native students that were defined in special ed between K3
were there for language and it wasn't that they were actually
special ed, it was the number of vocabulary words that they had
and so these programs are critical.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you very much. I now turn to Mr.
Bobby Scott who is the chairman of the overall Education and
Labor Committee.
Mr. SCOTT. Thank you, Madame Chair, and ranking member. Dr.
DuBois, it is good to see you and I want to congratulate you on
your success at the Virginia Community College system.
Particularly in the success you have had in the short term
programs that don't necessarily lead to a degree but lead to a
good job.
There is a consensus, a growing consensus that we ought to
allow Pell grants to help finance these short term programs but
there is a lot of concern that we want to make sure they only
go to quality programs.
Can you say a word about what elements there are in your
program that we should look at as we evaluate whether or not a
program is of such quality we want to allow Pell grants to help
fund it?
Mr. DUBOIS. Thank you, Congressman Scott. I could suggest
to you there should be two elements and some kind of an
accountability system. One is program completion and two is
employment in a high demand, family sustaining wage job.
Mr. SCOTT. Now how would--how do you work with local
businesses to make sure that there will be a demand for your
graduates?
Mr. DUBOIS. So to receive any kind of State funding in
Virginia, first of all we have to have demonstrated demand that
has to be--that information and data needs to be collected by
our local community college. It needs to be verified by my
senior staff. And the State board has essentially granted me
authority to certify that program as eligible for some State
funds or not.
And then the truth is really in the pudding when we look at
job placement rates which are very, very, very high. And when
we see the job placement rates and we will at some point how
many pharmacy technicians will we need in Virginia? When we see
those placement rates starting to come down, we will probably
turn off the State support for those programs because we only
want it to be in high demand.
They differ region by region but the colleges do a very
good job as demonstrated by job placement that we are--we have
an accountable system.
Mr. SCOTT. Yes, how do your programs differ in rural
Virginia as supposed to urban Virginia?
Mr. DUBOIS. In, it's interesting in Virginia, the--we have
2 million people in rural Virginia and 6 million plus people in
urban, in the other part of Virginia.
40 percent of our Fast Forward credentials are now being
earned in rural Virginia. The only difference I would suggest
to you, the big one, is the jobs that are in demand in certain
regions, let's say southwest, south side, are different from
the jobs that are demand, Congressman Scott, in your region.
For example in Grundy, they don't really, they're not
really crying out for a lot of welders. But your major
employer, that CEO goes to sleep at night and wakes up worrying
about where can he find welders to build aircraft carriers and
submarines.
So we look at these regional differences and we pay a lot
of respect to those regional differences to see what--we are
not a kind of a franchise where we have the same menu across
the board at 23 different community colleges.
Mr. SCOTT. Thank you. Dr. Verret, Xavier has an outstanding
reputation of producing minority medical doctors. Can you
explain how you have that success, what you do to create that
success?
Mr. VERRET. Well, it begins first I think with the
intentionality about advising as students arrive. In their
first year we begin to prepare them for the pathway that they
are headed to. What courses they need, what experiences they
need to have and even how to prepare for the interviews and
preparing their essays. They think about that.
The other piece is also there is a curriculum that is very
well set in mind by our, with our faculty. The faculty and
there is a great commitment to how those, that curriculum is
delivered and to make sure that these students are actually at
the top of their games even when they take the medical entrance
exams. So it is faculty, it is also the advising.
Mr. SCOTT. Is that replicable? Can you replicate it?
Mr. VERRET. It is replicable because we have had not only a
number of HBCU's but also a number of other colleges
PWI's, universities that have--that visit Xavier to see
what we do.
What is not easily replicable overnight is a faculty that
is a faculty culture and a campus culture. That piece where
faculty replicates itself when they hire people they--and
choose, you know, new members of the faculty.
There is a criteria of exactly can they deliver for our
students? That piece is very intentional and we seek to retain
that.
Mr. SCOTT. Thank you, Madame Chair.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I
want to now recognize the ranking member for his closing
remarks.
Mr. SMUCKER. Thank you, Madame Chair, and thank you for
scheduling this hearing. I thought it was an outstanding
hearing.
I would like to thank each of the witnesses for taking your
time to join us today to talk about higher ed reauthorization,
to talk about the impact that your schools are having. I would
like to commend you not only again for being here but for the
great work that you do educating students and really helping
them have the opportunity to achieve that success, to climb
that ladder of economic success.
You know, we heard so many good things coming from the
schools, the physician assistance at and the physician programs
at Xavier, STEM development at UTRGV, Virginia Community
College you talked about the Fast Forward program, that short
term skill programming. The nursing program at SKC and that was
just a little bit of what you talked about. Certainly, you
know, I am just--I am glad you had the opportunity to highlight
some of these excellent programs here today.
You know, one of the things that we can do is promote
excellence when we see it and I hope that you are able to share
those best practices and other institutions can learn from the
leadership that you are providing and the work that you are
doing.
I know the Federal Government can also do more to help
these students and help the MSI's and community college serve.
Not only help students not only access higher education but
persevere to completion and succeed in the work force. And so
as we are considering reauthorization we can talk about earn
and learn programs, the work force Pell funding, more
flexibility in spending for institutions and spending those
funds and increased collaboration between institutions and
local employers.
So I look forward to continuing this conversation. We are
certainly not all born into the same environment but that
difference of initial circumstance should not mean that we
shouldn't all have an equal opportunity to succeed. That is
really the promise, excuse me, the promise of America.
So I think it is really important the work that we are
doing on this reauthorization is very important. It is
important that we get it right so that all students can achieve
a better life for them and their families.
So again thank you for the work that you do. I would like
to again thank the ranking member.
Chairwoman DAVIS. Thank you and I want to thank our ranking
member for those--
Mr. SMUCKER. Or the chair I should say.
Chairman DAVIS [continuing]. for those comments as well and
thank all of you because you have brought some very important
information. We know historically that the students you serve
have not really had full access to our education system and so
it is important that we move forward from today. And certainly
as the work that you have been doing and, Chancellor, for many,
many, many years we appreciate that.
By offering culturally relevant programming that it
recognizes, you know, how important identity is, how community
and tradition, the HBCU's, TCU's and HSI's you not only educate
students but empower them to be the next generation of leaders
in their community and that is why it matters. That is why it
is important to all of us that these opportunities are
available not just to the students because we need them. We
need them for our future and we all have to buy into that
notion and know that it is not helpful when we short change
your institutions when you are serving in many cases the most
vulnerable students.
And, you know, I think what is interesting about the
multiple challenges that they face is that you are helping them
where they are and acknowledging that you have to be adaptive
in your programming and to be able to truly move with the times
and what we need as a country.
We have talked about so many of the programs, the models
that you have brought and part of I think what we are trying to
grabble with here is how to make them work right, how to scale
them, and how to be certain the they are open and that they are
exceptional. That they are prestigious for young people and
that everybody leaves feeling that they have great value in the
time that they have spent. Not that it has been time that has
been wasted.
Anyways as I think Dr. Verret mentioned it is so often we
find that. So I want to thank you very much for that. We,
Congress really can't expect institutions to continue
disproportionately serving vulnerable students while
simultaneously fighting to receive the vital funding from
Federal, State and local governments that they need.
So we have to continue as we work to reauthorize the Higher
Education Act committee to supporting these institutions that
are really resource strapped but on the front lines of our
effort to provide Americans with equal access to higher
education. Thank you very much.
And I now want to ask unanimous consent to enter into the
record a statement from the California State University of Los
Angeles highlighting the best practices CSU LA uses to serve
the Latino community.
We appreciate your being here and there is no further
vision--business, the committee stands adjourned. Thank you
very much.
[Additional submission by Chairwoman Davis follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Whereupon, at 12:47 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]