Good morning and welcome, everyone. Good morning and welcome, everyone. The subcommittee on Higher Education and workforce investment will come to order. Were happy that youre here. I know that a kwoerm is president and i want to ask that unanimous kent that miss haze of pennsylvania be able to participate with understand that their question also come after all committee hems. We are hearing testimony on engines of economic mobility, the Critical Role of Community Colleges, historically black colleges and universities and minorityserving institutions in preparing students for success. Pursuant to Committee Rules 7 c Opening Statements are limited to the chair and 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 hbcus. 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 workforce opportunities have historically been limited by intergenerational poverty and systemic racism. In fact, studies show that students with parents in the bottom quinn tile of the Income Distribution can move up the ladder with a degree. However federal data released this morning on federal College Enrollment reveals pennsylvania 50 percentage point gap between low income students and wealthy peers process. We have 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 the 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 continuing to live up to their mission can go providing a community where black students can tloif. Hbcus make up less than 3 of colleges and universities. Yet they produce almost 20 of all black graduates. Tribal colleges and universities tcus were developed as part of a political and social movement to regain tribal autonomy and combat centuries of forced assimilation of native communities. Today there are 35 accredited tcus serving students from more than 230 federally registered tribes. Hispanic serving institutions educate more than 3 out of five undergrat latino students and one quarter of all undergraduate students. Among fouryear institutions, Hispanic Serving Institutions proposal low income students to top income bureaucrats at a rate 3 times three times that of predominateny 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. Hbcus and tcus in particular emhe had bed appreciation for the identity and culture of the students they serve in their foundational missions, honors 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 asianamerican and native American Pacific islander serving institutions and predominate dominateny 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 pale 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 pel grants. Community college also play a crucial role in providing high income to low income students and students of color. The twoyear college often provide local and affordable option for students priced out of fouryear institutions. In fact, Community Colleges enrolled one in thee black students and nearly half of latino asianamerican 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 hbcu tcu abminority serving institutions and Community Colleges is unfortunately hampered by deeply inadequate funding. The persistent and systemic underfunding of hb ucs has been extensively zumted. The federal government has never fully philadelphia the obligation to support native students at tcus and less than half of designated hsi have received a grant through hsi specific programs. Appear the archl Community College receives about half the amount of per student funding received by public four year colleges. With this funding inequity we must ask ourselves how are the institutions Still Producing such strong results . How is that . As our witnesses will highlight, when we invest in hbcus 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 a promise unphiladelphia is it is evident that like our k12 system we spend more money to educate wealthy College Students than students underserved by our Education System. Depriving the institutions that serve our most vulnerable College Students of the resources made available to predominantly white fouryear universities is contrary to our values and the best interests as a nation. Congress has a responsibility to strengthen and invest in institutions that are prompting 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 todays students and invest in invest in these initiatives. Thank you. President verret, dr. Mchatton. Chancellor dubois. And president boham for being with us today. I yield to the Ranking Member mr. Smucker for his opening statement. Thank you, adam chair for yielding. Were all here today because we believe that every americaned should have the opportunity to pursue post secondary education. And we know doors are opened by a College Degree. 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 its not the only pathway to a highquality 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 todays graduates are entering a booming job market. We have over 7 million job openings and only 6. 7 million unemployed. Im 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 circumstances, with 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 our Higher Education systems 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 furyear degree such as offering programs to teach in demand skills so so students can take only the courses they need to do their jobs, enrollment pathways later in life to reskill. For any of the changes to take place, we must recognize that the dollars, 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 we could where a billionaire gifted an entire graduating class with paying off their student debt are great examples of one persons capacity for excellence in generosity but they also illustrate something too easily is 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 doesnt cost more than it reaps. And thats true for students and for taxpayers who are investing. In the promoting real student of success and opportunity through education reform, the prospers act, as comprehensive proposal to reauthorize the hea in the last congress, republicans included reforms that allowed students great are 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 post secondary education recognize that for too long the federal government has complied with a myopic of what post secondary education is, and why people pursue any kind of Higher Education. We must recognize that post secondary 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 heap we need to striving on both sides of the aisle for new ideas that will increase opportunities for all American Students regardless of circumstances and support their efforts to succeed and prosper. With that i yield back. 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 00 p. M. On june 4th. Ill now introduce witnesses. Thank you all very much for being here. Dr. Reynold verret is the sixth president and second lay leader of xavier ewert of louisiana, a private catholic lishlt arts historically black college and university. Before his presidency in 2015, dr. Verest served at profits at savannah universities and wilkes university. Received his undergrat in biochemistry from clumia university. And ph. D. From biochemist fry the Massachusetts Institute of technology. Dr. Patricia mchatton the executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Student Success and p 16 to it university of texas roy grenada valley a Hispanic Serving Institution. Dr. Has serve in a variety of leadership positions dean of college of education. Department care and associate dean for teacher preparation. Earning a ph. D. From the university of south florida in curriculum and instruction with emphasize of in special education and urban education. Dr. Glenn dubois is now the longest serving chancellor in the history of virginias Community Colleges. Hired in 2001. Since then he has led the system of 23 colleges and 40 campuses through two successful strategic plans and third call complete 2021 aspiring to triple the number of credentials the colleges put into virginias economy. Dubois earned his ph. D. In Higher Education energies, research and policy from the university of massachusetts. He holds a masters degree from Eastern Kentucky university, a bachelors degree from Florida Atlantic university and associate of science degree from the State University of snork in farmingdale. Dr. Sandra boham is the president of salish cannot i college, a Tribal College and university at tcu located in montana after serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs. Sh she has more than two decades of experience working in Higher Education both in montana and california. Dr. Boham is an enrolled measuremented of kfrtd sal iesh cannot i traps of flat head indian reservation. She earned her doctorate of education from the university of montana holds a masters of education from montana State University, and a bachelor of arts in sociology from the the university of montana. Again, welcome to you all. We appreciate all the witnesses for being here for you all being here and certainly look forward to your testimony. I just wanted to remind you we have read your written statements. And any will appear in full in the hearing record. Pursuant to Committee Rule 7 d and Committee Practice each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a fiveminute summary of your written statement. I also wanted to remind that you pursuant to title 18 of the u. S. Code, section 1001 it is illegally to knowingly and willfully falseny any statement representation, document or material fact presented to congress or otherwise conceal or coverup 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 we all can hear you. As you begin to speak, the light in fibrin of you will turn grown and after four minutes the light turnsual to signal you have one remaining minute. And when the light turns red your five minutes expired and we will ask you to please wrap up. We will let the entire panel make the 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. Thank you subcommittee chair woman susanne davis. Ranking member Lloyd Smucker and member of the subcommittee thank you for the tune to address you. If my name is Reynold Verret i sevgd as the sixth president of the Xavier University of lava sound i sund toed i catherine direction. My institution is catholic and also an hb uc historically black college rich the its to credibility to just and ewe main society. The 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. Are how these programs prepare students for careers and a brief history of hbcus, why they are created, why they are important. Hbcus were created as early as 1837 to provide africanamericans access to Higher Education. Noted for contributions to educating black, low income and educationally disadvantage americans, 101 hbcus stoo today constitute the hbcu as defined by the Higher Education act of 1965. In my home state according to Economic Impact study by the United College fund, the impact of the six hbcus in the state on the recentlile economy and employment act of 8454 jobs. A doelts economic gas chromatograph of 923 million and lifetime earning of 9. 4 billion. For xavier specifically, the regional impact of our institution is now put impact of 20 million in our ream. A value added impact of 435 nlds. Labor income income compact of 95 million and employment impact of 1715 jobs. Xavier is considered 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 dreams of Higher Education, the more expensive the goals become tuition at xavier is 22503 per year. This is considerably lower than peer institutions. More than 93 of xavier undergraduates qualify for need based or other forms of Financial Aid. And more than 65 receive federal pel grants. We are grateful for the bipartisan support and forgiveness of the hbcu supplemental loan that helped us recover from the disaster. Xavier leads in preparing africanamerican physicians in the nation and also sending africanamerican ph. D. S into the sciences. At xavier we the innovate our programs and prepare our students for the workforce. And a changing workforce. We are launching 14 new who highquality programs. Including a bs in neuroscience. And the only physicians Masters Program in the state of louisiana. And a ph. D. In education. We believe that all children deserve Great Teachers and thus we are also engaged in preparing highly qualified for primary and secondary schools. The expansion of our Program Offerings over the past 3 years lets us meet the needs of the students to be globally competitive. Xavier Student Academic Success Office provides the resources and support systems for all students in being successful. The unc f Lilly Foundation grant has allowed us to focus on creating Career Pathways and our faculty embraces a culture of successful students that is a tradition and savior. I am happy that the fiscal year 2020 labor hhs appropriation bill includes muchneeded increase in funding for hbcus and hope this will pass the senate. We made important programs for these and should be fully funded. Many recently introduced the future act a bipartisan piece of legislation that will extend the mandatory funding for hbcus. Of 85 million for initiatives until 2021. Its my hope that Congress Passes this bill before the stream of funding expires 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 locally and globally. Your continued 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. Thank you. Dr. Mchatton. Good morning, i am executive president of Student Affairs at the university of texas. I am grateful for the opportunity to address you today and want to especially thank you for giving me inability to share some of the wonderful work that is happening at the university of texas Rio Grande Valley. Disturbing a campus spending up a proximally 120 miles along the us ethical border. Our 20 18 enrollment was over 20,000 students we graduate over 5000 students each year. 87 of our students ares hispanic 89 are first generation. 76 of all undergraduate students receive some port of Financial Aid and 80 1 of undergraduates and are pellegrin eligible. Most important our students are committed to their education and giving back to the community. The work we do is guided by five priorities with Student Success at its core. We ensure Student Success by dividing Educational Opportunities engaging in research that impacts the Rio Grande Valley and beyond expanding healthcare and medical education with just 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 to partners in our work. Our tuition is capped at 12 credit hours which means students do not pay for any courses about the 12 credit hours. Not only are they graduating in a timely manner but they are doing so with lets that. Are promising injures a commitment that our students graduate in 4 years as part of a program to take part in targeted Career Development opportunities highimpact practices meet with mentors on a regular basis and complete 15 hours of semester and 30 hours in a calendar year. Getting them graduated is insufficient. We need to make sure that once they graduate they enter viable careers that address immunity needs. To do so we work in tandem with employers educators workforce systems and communities to ensure our karen and future Workforce Needs are met. Firstly believe the teaching is the foundation of all professions therefore we have a responsibility to prepare teachers who understand not just content and pedagogy but also the of the ability to real world environments. We strive to ensure that faculty are representative of our student representation because its important to seek individuals who look like them and selling them in a variety of positions. We have benefited from federal funding that attract underrepresented faculty to our institution and help build capacity with faculty. How do we work with our stakeholders to ensure we have the right programs and opportunities for students . We have representatives on Economic Development and centered Chamber Boards throughout the valley. Recently at the request of the cdc we conducted an analysis to determine which industries are growing and expected to grow in the county and we are allowing Educational Programs to meet that need. We systematically bring stakeholders together to share cultures 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 interest them in fields in 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. Center for advanced radio astronomy and stargate will support the development of future leaders in space explanation commercial space industry and related Technology Development which is especially important now that spacex has moved into the rgb. It is not just the stem fields that we focus on. The college of fine arts has a relationship with the Rio Grande State Center in arlington whereby art students work directly with states as part of 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 in the Business Community we support entrepreneur activity innovations. The school of medicine continues its mission to close gaps in healthcare and expand Educational Opportunities for its of the south texas diabetes and Obesity Institute the institute of neuroscience and the rgb Alzheimer Center are engaged in research to address Health Disparities in the region. In closing i want to point out that hsis provide has been asked the greatest access to College Education for hispanics. They serve 66 of hispanic undergraduates. In 2016 hi size awarded 56 of all degrees to hispanic students and are at the forefront took increase educational access and success for the nations hispanic. I thank you for this opportunity to share the work being undertaken at ut rgb and stand ready to work with you in entering all students are ready for success. Thank you, dr. Dubois. Members of the committee, good morning. The fact that i am sitting here before you today is Proof Positive that Community Colleges are indeed and just 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 mothers persistence i would have never even considered going to a Community College. Today i am chancellor of the virginia Community College system we operate 23 colleges across 40 campuses. Im also a founding board member of a group called rebuilding americas middle class. Is a coalition of more than 100 Community Colleges focusing on advancing postsecondary access and affordability. Our colleges were created to do what no one else really would do. Respond to virginias unmet needs in Higher Education and workforce development. Cost and convenience of 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 with limited means demanding responsibilities it difficult schedules, we offer what might be their only chance. One example where location and excess really makes a big difference is rural virginia. Rule virginia barely trails the rest of the state in High School Graduation and college attainment. There we have to convince families who have never before needed anything beyond high school, in some cases beyond sixthgrade 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 shortterm pathways that lead to employment. We also serve a huge number of students who begin at the Community College with the aspirations to eventually transfer to a University Complete the bacterial bachelors degree. In virginia our tuition and fees are approximately one third. The comparable cost at a public university. Let me be very clear, it is rare for a Community College student to complete an associate degree in 2 years. Much of that has to do with life circumstances of those we serve. Simply stated our students today are older, they are more poor, more likely to be first generation just like i was, and they are more likely to attend class parttime, not fulltime. Working a fulltime job or multiple parttime jobs. We also have to help more adult students earn postsecondary credentials. Careers exist today that simply did not when these adults were 18. These opportunities are for family sustaining wages, healthcare, a regular schedule, and paid time off. They dont require a bachelors degree but they do require skills that we offer in our shortterm format. We call our shortterm fast forward. Its our Fastest Growing segment. Programs are more affordable, more realistic for adults. The schedule 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 they directly at the employer challenge of finding skilled employees. The ability to use pell grants for the shortterm programs will be transformative. We could serve so many more students unleashing an incredible engine of economic mobility. A typical fastforward student has to come up with about 1000 outofpocket on day one survey after survey after survey confirms that the amount, thousand dollars is simply out of reach for too Many American families. Pell eligibility would make all the difference. Should pell grants be extended to the 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 invest in those pursuing traditional academic degrees we should invest in those pursuing high quality stackable postsecondary workforce credentials and boost americas Community Colleges is an even more powerful engine of economic mobility. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Boham. Madam chair and distinguished members of the subcommittee am dr. Boham. President of Painting College and pebble montana. I am also a member of the board of directors of the American Indian heritage Higher Education consortium. Private colleges are faithbased focused institutions. The 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 languages and cultures. This college like all tcus are for reasons of all. The complete failure of the Higher Education system to address the needs of or even include American Indians and alaska natives and also 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. Reser 130,000 students and Community Members each year and for more than 230 federally recognized tribes. My home state of montana has seven Tribal Colleges and about half of all American Indians enrolled in Higher Education in montana attend Tribal Colleges. These are accredited institutions chartered by federally recognized tribes for the federal government. All Tribal Colleges offer associate degrees, 16 offer bachelors degrees and five offer masters degrees. All taught from a foundation grounded in our tribes distinctive and resilient worldviews. Today, we are facilitating Economic Growth and sustainability. Over the past 45 years we have developed solid workforce programs responsive to tribal needs. One College Offers baxters 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 students success and completion. At s casey we had a teacher of Friendship Program that includes a yearlong immersion in stylish language. We focus on the adult because they are essential for teaching our language. For us the situation is critical. Just a few years ago the number of fluent speakers fell to 18. Our goal is to educate 40 stylish language teachers who give our children a clear path clear vision of the world as a sailors 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 economic 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 in such verbal. We cannot fail at either without putting the other at risk. A more obviously contributor to the economic mobility is the availability of jobs. Through a Multiyear Partnership with the department of energy tribes and industries the college and for other tcus are establishing advanced engineering skill to operate digital manufacturing equipment. This college partnered with northwest run in the United States air force, s and K Technologies and the college to have a mentor a program to help us create the workforce and develop Economic Opportunities to that program. Is new jobs are created the Tribal College will educate students to fill those positions. One of the ways we have created job creation is that we meet a pipeline of skilled workers. Because our High School Dropout rates are too high and many students who are really at s casey unprepared for college stem courses we developed dual credit. If that wasnt enough, we recently opened a stem academy for High School Juniors and seniors. They take classes at their own high school in the morning, then the college in the afternoon to complete their science and math courses. 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 ending indian countries one student at a time. Thank you. Thank you, thank you very much. And thank you all for helping us by being within the time limits we appreciated. If i could, under Committee Rule i will move now to questioning. This is under our five minute rule, 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 spent or than two decades working with tribal communities in Higher Education in montana and in my home state of california and i know that that includes working with adults who are trying to finish their ged and with upward brown programs to improve college access. I wonder if you could share with us a little more on a personal level how your experience working in different facets of Higher Education and in different tribal communities influenced your approach to your role as president of sailors college. What really mattered, thank you mattered. What really mattered was 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, which tribal people have known her for a long time but only recently have there been Research Done in the area but we know that selfefficacy is a key piece and whether students will be successful. More than gpas, more than High School Graduation or predictive test of entrance exams. If the student is committed and believes that they can accomplish their goal, with the support they can. We also know that a strong sense of who you are and in our case that is around your tribal identity, is also key to having students be successful in college. In high school and in the workforce also. So we know that that base connection to your culture, at whatever level that is, language, dance, song, skills, that creates what we call predictive resiliency and protective factors that help students to navigate through difficult times. Thank you. Does that come from individuals from teachers and professors etc. Or are there actually Community Members who help contribute to that as well . It comes from all of those things. And i think you very much. Dr. Mchatton , as we know universities are cultural hubs and they are centers for the community as well. People want to be there. They want to experience the university and the community setting. I certainly know thats true for csus 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 a demand for an educated workforce. How do they find their way to really having a meaningful impact on that process . 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 have done is try to change the environment so its a Family Friendly environment. That means that our family feels comfortable coming onto our campus, spending time engaging in conversation, an Important Initiative we have done as a result of funding from nsf is to provide culturally responsive professional development for 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 entrie 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 anticipate in their bullets and that kind of things also provide any to think about what programs we should be offering. To make it sound 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. How do you keep them engaged . 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 is going to make, not just for the individual but for the family and also our region. They give willingly. Its just absolutely amazing. One example is we have a common area in the college of education. We had a community organization, individuals that came in completely built a brandnew garden in that area. We find opportunities for them to come and take part. Thank you very much. I want to turn now to the Ranking Member or his designate for the purposes of questioning witnesses. Thank you. Thank you. I am interested in your comments in regards to expanding the pell grant funds for the shorterterm workforce programs. As you know currently the requirements programs need to be at least 600 hours in length and need to be taught over a span of 15 weeks. You mentioned fast forward. How many weeks do most of your fastForward Programs last . You for the question. The last typically six weeks or a little longer some a little less. We have completion rates north of 90 . We have job placement rates similar. We are seeing on a look back we can see earnings increasing anywhere from 20 to 50 20 of the students that we put these programs in the last 3 years before they came to us they were on public assistance and now they are not. So these are shortterm opportunities that lead to jobs that employers are really screaming about. Think welding, pharmacy technicians, cdls, its increasing these job return revoke the requires certification. Great results. What would you recommend as we consider changes to the policy, how many hours you recommend that we set for minimum time eligibility requirement . Six weeks or 150 hours. Six weeks or hundred 50 hours . Yes or. Thank you. I would like to learn a little bit more about your student academic success dr. Verret. What type of Career Pathways have you created through this . 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 who go on to be mds. We sent africanamericans into Doctoral Programs in the sciences. But also we are also, we have, we have social services and teaching professions as well. The Career Pathways program is to allow students because we are a liberal arts and Science Institution to enable students to see the plasticity of their degrees because they often see this while coming into history or english also have a pathway to medical school if they wish to because there is a need for those. Likewise our chemists become attorneys and also going to policy field as well. We are also speaking with chambers of Congress Commerce for example data science which is reimagining what we traditionally think of commuter sinus with the emerging industry. Those discussions with the chamber are leading to a better transition to jobs after graduation . Yes because we are seeing what the needs are. Also many forms of many jobs that we that will be emerging the next five or 10 years we cannot fully envision so its also educating them to be flexible and have habits of mind to think critically and in depth to be able to form their careers rather than just think of their next job because we are in a changing workforce at the time. How are you integrating that career focused curriculum into dual Enrollment Programs . We have dual Enrollment Programs with some of the high schools in our region that send students to us. Some of those students matriculate to xavier and some go to other campuses as well. We also have summer programs longstanding in the sciences in Language Arts which bring a number of students during our summers. Some of them come to our universities, many go to other colleges. That has been part of our mission. Defining some of those dual Enrollment Programs are helping students that would find their careers . It catches the imagination of young people early in their lives and catch their passions. So that they do not choose and drift away. One of the struggles for our population as well is understanding that there is a pathway to higher ed. For many of us while first generation there is no one who can actually or who knows how to navigate. We have to show them the path that is possible and we are engaged in that. Thank you. Thank you. Take you for holding this important hearing on the role of Community Colleges and minorities serving institutions. A report by harvard economist found that the income and economic mobility of low income students increases when they attend minority serving institutions. Providing proper resources and funding to msis is critical to ensuring success and income mobility for low income students. I have two letters from students about the Asian American and native American Pacific islanders serving institution programs. One student attends Irvine Valley College in california and notes that it was not until my time at Irvine Valley College i was able to finally in a space where i saw others that look 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. She wrote, this program has shown me that i am not alone on this journey and i refuse to believe in the saying that college is not for everyone because i proved to myself that its possible. This reinforces the Critical Role that minority serving institutions like this have on the growth and success of students when they have a sense of belonging and what i would ask is that these letters be entered into the record. My first question is to dr. Mchatton. Why is it important to have grams and Student Support services that have a cultural lens . As a latina myself who do not have a teacher that looked like me or talk 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 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 more and partly to think about, how does culture heritage, how does that serve as an entrie into content, into helping individuals learn . How does language and being bilingual or trilingual benefit the excess of education . I think there is a lot of items and opportunities that serve to support students and minority serving institutions in ways that other institutions may not. Wonderful. Both students mentioned the experience they have because of this program. How critical our programs like these to ensure retention in College Completion . I think theyre essential. I think one of the things as a Hispanic Serving Institution what we found is the strong familial role in the way that we understand the importance of community for our students. We need to attend to that because part of that informs the way that our student take courses. We need to understand that a lot of our students give back by working by supporting part of the family and taking care of other siblings, those type of things. We need to think about how do we develop programs that attends to that reality for students and ensure that we provide them those opportunities. Thank you. I know that over 90 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. As the Vice President of the responsible force dude and success, what does it mean to provide support to students . 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 theyre more likely to stay and finish their program. We need to provide advisors that are able to engage with them. We need to have faculty have the necessarys gills to understand their role in connecting with students especially for those students from the middle, high needs students are high touch with our advisors but theres a group of students in our faculties commence with on it daily basis and they are instrumental in making sure the students are successful. We have a variety of different programs and opportunities that we are sure we are addressing the students from multiple points and multiple touch points i wish i had more time with you but my time has run out and i yield back madam chair. Thank you mister guthrie. Thank you madam chair and everybody being here in this committee and 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 in people with skills to fill them and that is our and. Thats the answer to the income issues that we need to address as a nation is to get people skilled to move forward. Of course i grew up in a model where everybody is expected to go to college or they went to work for ford, thats the area where i lived. If you did not go to college you could go make of middle class and come with ford. I had a professor one time that say if its going to be low skill or low educational level of attainment required to go to low skill countries, Everything Else is going to move to high scaled in its manufacturing moved back to our country which it has, a lot of the low skills has been just automated. That is what has happened. Its not like theyre coming back and having massive plants of people working, its automating what can be routinely done but what that has done is open up a tremendous opportunity for people who can operate the machinery. And repair the machinery and program the machinery. It does not take the 40 year degree to do so and i know its important that we bring people in. I love mister takanos line of questioning because we have to reach people how are the they can be reached we have to be open to that. But my concern is how do we, the nontraditional, doctor depaul you talked about it, i wish every kid can go to college from 18 to 22 and have summers off and do that but its just not the reality for people who are trying to get plugged in because maybe their job changed and their skills are no longer they either didnt have skills or they are no longer as valid but there is tremendous opportunity. How do you do that in virginia because we are very similar. A few years ago we broke off from you guys, im from kentucky but we have similar we have urban centers and urban Community Colleges and then we tried to serve branches where we try to serve more of our rural area. Is the challenge of the urban rule how you reach in rural virginia, because a lot of times the factories are there. When i say factories i mean these people around cnc machines, these are highly skilled people who get good wages and can make six figures without a four year degree without how do you deal with the urban rural differences in virginia that we have also as well in kentucky . Thank you for the question. There are adults both in euro role in in urban virginia and kentucky. Many of these adults are working with their living from paycheck to paycheck. Their entire household is making from paycheck to paycheck. In virginia about 40 percent of households are one emergency away from financial stress. Even though there were too many of them had a job or they want to make more money or both. When you look at the traditional academic menu at a university or Community College , what they see is inappropriate because its a for your pathway to an associate degree. They cant give you 4 years. They have rent they have car payment they have kids. They can maybe give you 26 weeks because they just got laid off and thats how long on employment insurance last. What can we offer and 26 weeks. Perhaps they can give you six weeks if we offer it right and we do know your comments i think touched on it, that there are very very good jobs out there that remain unfilled, that employers want and do not reply or require a bachelors 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 middleclass lifestyle. You dont need a bachelors degree either. 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 have been paying attention to our birth rate there is going to be fewer and fewer and fewer 18yearold. There is many more 25 to 45 yearold 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 shortterm training programs, because they want to have a better life but they dont necessarily want the degree on the wall but they want a w a better w2 on the are well. Once they get it, what we are starting to see is what is next . Perhaps now that i have some college benefits 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. We have had some quite frankly we have had some help from the state to try to help us lower the entrylevel price from 4000 which is way beyond reach to about 1000 and still in my testimony in our research is still a very for lots of kentucky households and virginia households. Thank you. My time is expired so i appreciate it and i yield back. Thank you. 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. I work up i grew up in a workingclass family in 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 highquality College Degree remains far out of reach for too many students. Especially students of color through 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. I district has a number of Community Colleges. To educate and support diverse student populations. These Community Colleges they offer flexible class schedules, the students can come and learn and achieve at a lower cost. Unlike certain schools that faced the proportion of students that they reject Community Colleges take pride in educating the top 100 of students. Because Community Colleges serve a higher share of underrepresented of color and yet receive the lowest shares to do so im wondering if you have any representations on how the government could step in to address systemic barriers to be clearer equal opportunity and ensure Community Colleges are equipped to be engines of economic ability. Thank you for the question. For the record i started my teaching career at north shore Community College in massachusetts. A neighbor of yours. Very good question. Our students , unlike our experiences what we all went to college, they are facing tremendous life faculties. I think previous testimony heard about some of those insecurities around food and housing and illegal problems, financial problems. Almost anything about it, insurmountable so what can we do . Our students need, they dont need economic advisors they need social workers. They need life coaches. When we meet them on day one our students dont speak college. They dont know how to navigate college. They need to think of a navigator that works for us they can see us doing things. We need to get you College Ready by day one when a student shows up august 10 and we are starting classes two weeks later, that the challenge to get that dude and ready by day one. In the next challenge we have is if we can help this unit complete the first five attempted courses, their chances of success really sore five out of five. Its only four out of five, you can cut their chances and half. Three out of five, cut it in half again. Two out of five, wasting time and money. You are right, we are dealing with some of the nations students that have the most difficult life circumstances and we are simply funded at the lowest levels in Higher Education. We have become like a Higher Education emergency room for america. And yet we have to serve our students with essentially a parttime work for called adjuncts. I dont know hospital in the country that would operate with parttime nurses. We do need help. It is tough work congressman. I appreciate that especially the coaching and services that are required to keep people on the path to graduation and success. Some students at Community Colleges they plan to transfer when they are admitted to a fouryear institution or they continue after receiving their Associates Degree but they are faced with setbacks whether its courses or credits that dont 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. I direct the question to chancellor dubois. I will be brief. I think one of the Things Congress can do in reauthorization is simply to rick wire every state to have a guaranteed transfer apparatus among their Community Colleges and universities. Thats a start. We had that in virginia. We have guaranteed arrangements, they work at the problem we are having is students typically get there but they need to spend an extra semester because not everything counts. Time is the enemy when you look at Student Success and it also adds an extra financial burden. We are working out the kinks but at a very minimum congress should require that their state public system have guaranteed articulation agreements in alignment. One thing i find essential because we have articulation agreements at local Community Colleges. To make it effective what we have is we make sure that the student understands the pathway. If they are aspiring to psychology or pharmacology they have to take the right chemistry course. We help students understand and waste less time. Also it tells them that they can be part of our Community Even before they are finished with their associates took her as well. Those connections should be made very early. You may think very much. , turn 12. Thank you madam chair i am glad to see chancellor dubois here even if he is from s. I went to college in new england. I went to school with a lot of able from lowell and boston and chancellor your routes are strong when it comes to Higher Education. You have great experience up there in massachusetts. I want to praise the work of you and your team in the virginia Community College system is 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 in agriculture, near the homestead so you might have some Golf Course Management courses, you might have some dining and catering type courses. Its a fantastic balance and you are providing that bridge where in buena vista virginia a student at a high school can take courses at dabney in hvac maintenance and repair and then the companies that have found buena vista and located their eighth hb hvac manufacturing operations have provided free materials to those courses to those students. They work on those on building those machines and then when they graduate have a job waiting for them. They can they in rural virginia, raise their family, and reinvigorate the school system, reinvigorate the community. Its a fantastic cooperative effort in breaking down those transfer barriers between high school and Community Colleges in virginia has worked very hard to do. I have worked to establish a transfer grant with callahan. I worked to setup Branch Campuses so that they have small entities that kind of our satellite entities in places where they might not have a lot of population and now moving into online courses where we are trying to get to Community Colleges but especially for your institutions we 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 bachelors degree graduate leaves virginia graduate 30,000 in debt correct . In the paragraph prior, if you take your first 2 years at a Community College and get your Associates Degree, transfer to a fouryear institution in virginia, finish your bachelors degree in 2 years, you save more than 50,000 on the price of that bachelors degree. Correct . That is correct. Everything works perfectly. Like i know its a rare circumstances but you were 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 cant get into virginia tax Engineering Program because its acceptance rate is Something Like 10 or 12 , amazingly low, i am able to provide them with an alternative. Virginia western has the exact same courses you would take attack, you are 50 miles away. You are going to be able to save the money and transfer to tech. Enjoy those last 2 years at tech and go hokey and then finish with a Tech Engineering degree which is second to none. So i am thrilled with what you are doing. 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 if you want to respond to that youre more than welcome. Thank you we are glad youre here we miss you in the state legislature. Incidentally for the record i am really from brooklyn, not massachusetts. In virginia we can guarantee any father or mother that their child can graduate uva, william and mary, virginia tech, James Madison university, if they enroll in a Community College, graduate from a Community College at the prescribed gpa of the university. It does work, it has some kinks here and there but it does work. If you can look for ways to leverage the Community College you would be saving taxpayers a lot of money. Thank you very much. Vega chairwoman. I have a question for you. I know you can speak of a representative of all Community Colleges but i spent time in texas at the hair Red Committee for two terms. A lot of the challenges we had and Community Colleges, i think they do a great job with many students that they transfer to fouryear universities. In texas at least those students do better than the students that actually started at fouryear universities which is a great thing. Get our Community Colleges will be set by malley many challenges. Figuring out Development Education, develop mental 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. What is virginia, what are Community Colleges doing with articulation agreements with fouryear universities to make sure folks can transfer with Development Education with all these challenges . How do you assess the improvements made over the years . They give her the question. I think if you look around the nation increasingly you will find more and more Community Colleges moving away from the Developmental Education because often it is a of a bridge to nowhere. Instead were moving that way in virginia, tennessee is already there, florida is already there. Instead of putting students in college courses, the first semester with corequisite help along the way, it is difficult work but the research that i am looking at now, it is promising to move away from Developmental Education, direct placement with the help they need. I would also add to my previous comment, enough students come to us, they need someone that could help them on day one, navigate get ready get that get in the right courses get their Financial Aid get the test booklet serials, and then because they have all of this selfdoubt they really need people to believe in them and to get through those first five courses. We can do that. We will help a lot of students. And dr. Mchatton i had a question for you as a texan here on the panel we spent a lot of time trying to get a medical school at what was then ut pan am where my wife graduated from school. She is from alton techs in the valley. Ut rgb is really 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. We also made strong pushes for more Doctoral Programs for example. Can you tell me because i think its so meaningful for an area thats overwhelmingly latino there for progress in all these fronts, a number of Doctoral Programs, graduate programs. 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 the phd in Clinical Psychology, we are working on physical therapy, we are looking at a dry a tree phd graduate program. We are also doing some graduate certificates as psychiatric nurse practitioner, Mental Health nurse practitioner. We put in graduate programs in Sustainable Agriculture future leadership, applied behavioral sciences, statistics, we have several on big data, data analytics. We have several biomedical and graduate programs, bioethics. So what we are trying to do is really assess what are the needs within the region and we find that health care of, the stem fields, and hospitality, we also have up brandnew program and hospitality in tourism are all fields that are very important in the region. Those of the programs we have engaged in trying to develop these new how about the Graduation Rate . Ill give you an example, probably a dozen years ago in san antonio the sixyear Graduation Rate was 32 . Only 32 of people had graduated after 6 years. Where are we on that front . We just graduated our first class because we have really only been in business and operation for 4 years. We dont have the data back yet so our goal is to do at least to start off with at least a 30 fouryear Graduation Rate but clearly our goal is to do much more than that. Some of the programs we have in place, the cap on the tuition, the promise programs, those type 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. Thank you i yield back. Thank you, we now turn to our ranking chair of education and labor, doctor virginia foxx. Thank you madam chair. I want to thank our witnesses are being here today. Doctor dubois, you talked about the fast forward Funding Program for the students who complete the class and credentials and that it is designed only to pay after the students complete. 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 . Be make thank you for the question. We actually proposed the funding formula that way to the state legislature. Most funding formers if not all of them are on the basis of enrollment. We thought it would be much more attractive to say, no, we are proposing a funding formula that that we will receive our funds upon completion. I think it was irresistible. In fact in the legislature we only got to know of votes. So it went through. Why do we propose it that way . As we knew by research that when we were doing the things that when students had to pay a lot of money to get in, we knew that their completion rates were north of 90 . Why is that . Because its not a fouryear pathway, its six weeks or eight weeks or maybe 16 weeks so we knew we had a good track record so why not lets propose it, theres a payfor performance in fact the former governor had the nations first paper performance. It was different for the College Leaders so we had to infect 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 or license we get our second installment of support. That caused us, our leaders, to develop relationships that we did not have before. For example with the department of Motor Vehicles we dont give the cdl test, they do. So we needed to form, align these data relationships so that we could certify, they completed the program and we knew that but to complete the exam 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 increase the funding for this Program Every year for the last 3 years. We still run out of money. Thats how huge the demand is among employers. If i might give an illustration just to drive home the fact. If you dont mind, i only have two minutes left and i need to ask some other questions. I am happy to the for 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 enrollments at xavier as a result . And what are your outcomes for students who take dual enrollment . Persistent college and continuing college. The programs are based on our mission, our connection with that is a longstanding mission for us but they are going to college whether xavier are not is to us a success as long as they go to college. All right. And nobody has mentioned this but the Research Shows the 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 as working on dual enrollment because we know it is so successful. I just have one more comment, doctor dubois, i have to just take exception to your suggestion that the federal government requires states to have articulation agreements. I really dont see, nowhere is the word education in the constitution. We ought not to be involved in education at all, to involve the , involve us more, to tell the state 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 do not understand why the leadership in the states do not understand what you understand, time is more valuable than money. I mean you could always replace money, you cannot replace time. And so, requiring students to go, who are going to a baccarat program to repeat courses is irresponsible, on the part of the educational institutions and, the citizen should be demanding that that not be allowed to happen, thank you all again very much, i yield back. Thank you, i turned to mr. Kilili sablan. Good morning to all of the witnesses, thank you for this series of hearings on issues that i hope we will, the hope will lead to the, a robust Higher Education and authorization. And particularly, this place hearing on minorities serving in seclusions pertains to me, i as chair of the other education subcommittee, i was always, it broke my heart and some of the programs, programs under the bureau of Indian Education for Early Childhood k12, but today, your testimony gave me some hope, and i really like that, so your testimony states that your college collect the nation in preparing graduating leading American Nurses with more than 90 of your graduates certified as registered nurses and working in local communities. He also testified that before all of launching nurses is 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 and 1380 were olc graduates, congratulations. What can small Community Colleges like the one i have in the marianas in my district, what candace colleges with Health Workforce shortages and high indigenous population, learn from that success. Thank you for that question. Part of what we do really well, and our Nursing Program is we create culturally Competent Health care. So, we are caring for our own. And you have heard from other witnesses that are communities value and one of their primary motivators is the opportunity to give back into the community, and i think our Nursing Program exemplifies that, that need and concern and wish to give back. Part of what we also do around our Nursing Program and we have implemented its college wide, but particularly in our Nursing Program where students have high stress, demanding academic requirements and clinical requirements as well, we provide Wraparound Services as well, so we have a 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 youre used to sing every day and we have not seen them for a day or they miss a class, we have an Electronic System or an actual person going into find his 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 is 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 competent and culturally congruent care. We want to take care of our own. Again, you are provided an array of flight, i mean it is possible to break this chain. And american and native native american schools and i am encouraged, i time is up so i will submit all the questions for the other witnesses, but congratulations is not a word i would use because this is a small step, but i hope it goes not just with your program, but also, to other places in our country like the northern marianas where we have a small Community College and we have a huge need for workforce investment, madam chair, thank you very much for todays hearing. Thank you, yes. 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 lawrence kansas haskell is dedicated to building leadership capacity of the students, providing wellrounded extracurricular and Education Opportunities a few months ago i had the pleasure of speaking with several of the students as they came here to dc, during the discussion it was clear that the students were desiring to remain local after graduation and serve their tribes, and their communities. To that and it becomes a central, for the Tribal College and universities to develop career paths for their students by expanding partnerships between tcus and local employers. Dr. Boham in your testimony you mentioned that your trouble college has developed a strong model for workforce development, offering education and Development Programs that are responsive to local employer needs. Would you please explain the partnership between your college and the local employers that foster this cooperation . Speaking specifically to how it has benefited your students . Post graduation. Thank you. We first of all, we work with our tribal Economic Development and organization and so they do Economic Development studies once every five years and gather their 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 or job counsel and so, we are connected to them they are also looking, it consists of employers and so, they come to a meeting once a month and we talk about what is going on in the economics of the community and what jobs we are needing and what jobs people are phasing out as. But at salish kootenai because 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, for those same kinds of affirmations 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 opportunities so they know what the work is going to be like, they create those relationships for themselves within those professional arenas, and that is 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 one year and two year programs that are aimed at folks needing to get employment to be in stackable certificate so they can take a oneyear program but it is 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 also it provides for those that need to work through their college career, it will allow them a livable wage may be at the 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 are going to college with a wage that is above minimum wage. Thank you, i appreciate it, madam chair, thank you for my time. Thank you. Thank you chair, with all due respect to doctor fox and there is a federal role in education and it is an important one. The federal of any of the federal laws and education came out of the civil rights era. And as we approached the Higher Education authorization i think we need to really honor that by promoting equity and safeguarding opportunities for everyone. To get a Higher Education and of course, the hbc you and minority serving institutions and Community Colleges are really important in meeting that equity role, and we need to make sure that you will have the resources and the policies to help your students succeed. I want to start by congratulating doctor mcnaughton for your Universities National check championship which i understand is twice in a row, i have long been supportive of the education especially in the k 12 system tremendous academic benefits but i wanted to say congratulations that is a big accompaniment but i want to start with doctor dubois. Thank you for your testimony today, talking about your Virginia Committee called system, i am also a Community College graduate. I went on after my great two year Legal Assistant Program to get a bachelors degree and a law degree both at the university of oregon. So i know firsthand the Critical Role that Community Colleges play in Opening Doors of opportunity because they open doors of opportunity for me, in my home state of oregon, the Community Colleges typically serve Large Populations they are doing some innovative work but challenges remain especially the resource challenge and the obstacles encountered by students that to completion. And a couple of those you mentioned in your testimony almost including security and i saw your story about the student who could not concentrate and he went in to speak to the professor and ended up staring at the granola bar on his desk because he had not eaten for two 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. Thank you for the question. Now, amendable he, these student insecurities are becoming much more of the dialogue of the day with Community College leaders, who wouldve thought that we would 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 our Community College that we cannot food pantry ourselves out of this. We need faculty and staff that know how to help someone who is eligible for snap and sign up for snap, it is critical for these students. They also need actually more help than that, because it will cover the mandatory cost to attend, but the students are facing all of these other kinds of difficulties 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 do not have just one emergency. So, we are doing all that we can with the resources that we have congresswoman but we have run out of those resources very quickly. I will try to get another question in but i appreciate your response and certainly we are making sure that we are funding snap and pell grant, thank you so much for being here doctor brett i read your impressive background and i am the founder and cochair of the congressional steam caucus where we advocate for integrating arts and design into stem fields because certainly number one it helps students become more creative and innovative and number two it reaches more students especially as students are going to the k12 system, i have toured with 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 of your exhibit student body is female, and im excited i am up at the Science Committee and we are talking about getting more women into Science Technology engineering and math, i call steam, so how do you create a College Campus that encourages your female students to pursue those careers. That are typically male dominated. If i would use a line, that if you are preaching, preach by example, examples that we have before them are on the faculty, women faculty in leadership who are researchers and scientists who are engaged, that has been there xavier, i remind you that it is the First College or university that allowed women and men to attend classes together, it did not exist. Except catherine punched it so in many ways the sisters who founded us were feminist before the word was coined. The other pieces that we have women on leadership and what embraces all of our students is a cultural of expectations, we expect students to rise high to retie. And we show them that it is possible because other stuff done it before them, also it applies to what we are seeing as an emerging crisis on the other side that we are seeing young males who are succeeding from k12 and exceeding to college as well, and we have initiatives as well to reach out to them as well. Thank you so much. Mr. Grossman . My question is meant for mr. , my first question for mr. Barrette i do not know if i have that right. What did your background, very impressive, again congratulations on all your doing at xavier i know it is praying to being at savior, he also had an executive position at savannah State University. A couple hearings ago, you know, 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 to 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 you have done a tremendous job and i have no problem with putting more money and historical black colleges, the only thing that i wonder here we are getting mixed messages on this committee, whether it is really important to weigh in and make sure that every high school is more segregated or, you know, given your background, and the success you have had, at Savannah State and xavier, i wanted to make sure and see if you wanted to comment on the issue. I would say, historical black colleges were never segregated except by law, and even then, we had students who were white at xavier who could not receive a degree legally in louisiana, if the degree was awarded by villanova so we were always open, we had other students who were not African Americans at xavier who are with us and have been with us before, but i would say is that these hbcus have been engines of bringing africanamericans into the Creative Workforce for this country and social mobility and they continue to produce, the country needs that and our talent base, is what we cultivate in this country. What is happening to tcus also in a hispanic colleges as well is about creating talent for this country. These schools when we produce over produce, our weight in educating students to become doctors and lawyers, policymakers, and all of the field of the country needs that is what we do, investing in these is not individual benefits for the students, it is a benefit for their communities and for the regions. I am not denying that you are doing a tremendous job, i am just wondering on the larger issue, if you had a comment. While i am saying is that it is important that students engage with students of all ethnicities, and they do. And in our communities they work in hospitals and in our communities they are interning throughout our communities, students engage with our students as well, so i will see, they are very well integrated and others are welcome to us as well. Thank you, i think all of you at some point rather in your testimony talked about poverty and the importance of lifting people out of poverty, and i wondered if you had any comment having dealt with people who at least by the federal definition of poverty are in poverty. If there is anything you notice 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 do not wind up in poverty. One of the, what we have seen, not only in recent history but and also in the decades animal centuries that we have been doing this but our students, when they receive a degree, it is not something that benefits them alone, it touches their families, what we see is that the nephews are coming to college, the sounds, 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 is they list communities out of poverty. Did any of the others of you have observations on what types of situations 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 . Did you make any observations as to that . Very quickly. The best thing i think we can do is help an individual get a post secondary credential. And yes pretty the observations you have as to the type of family situation that results in something being referred to as poverty . You do not know . Your mind is a blank . No, we have poverty in our rural areas and poverty in our inner cities. Best that we can do is help them get a post secondary credential. Because 12th grade is no longer the finish line. Thank you and your time is up. Ms. Adams . Thank you madam chairman and thank you to the Ranking Members as well and thank you for your testimony you know, where you start out doesnt determine where you end up, just how far you can go, i grew up in poverty myself growing up in north new jersey, but education is the pathway. To greater opportunity. Most of you may know that my background in terms of historically black colleges and universities are important to me, i just said, i taught on a campus in greensville for 40 years. Twotime graduate of an hbcus, North Carolina amt and one of the first things that i did when i got here was to put together the bipartisan hbc you compass as my colleague and now my cochair bradley byrne, 88 members and some of them have been here today. We have accomplished a lot for our hbcus, but as has been revealed today, thank you very much for being here and all that youre doing to make Xavier University are premier hbcu for graduating black doctors, if you look at the statistics and to my colleagues, while we only make up 3 . Of all colleges and universities, hbcus are producing 17 of all bachelors degrees of been earned by africanAmerican Students, 24 of all stem graduates so, we have been producers, we have had little but we have done much, what is your nick, unique about the hbcu campus environment that attract students . First of all, it is a culture of expectation we expect them to succeed and expectation students rise to that. We him brace and a faculty that will embrace students and recognize that they, what they need individually we will address. We do that. The other piece that is crucial is that the expectation piece is what i would call the secret sauce is when you want students coming to us any of them may not have the education they deserve. And students are not sure with the schools they go to so whatever gap they may have, we meet them in their first repair, and what is amazing, what happens at the end. A yes sir, 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, yes pretty the hbcus have been, we educate our students very broadly. It gives them a lot of flexibility some of them go on too many levels and readapt to their jobs as they have to. But what they do have is they have learned to work hard and on complex matters. At hbcus and they become masters of their fields, but i also want to thank you for starting the caucus that has been a very important way of getting our voice heard. Thank you for your participation, what strategies could congress pursue to make your job easier . I will begin the first one because affordability is a challenge for us, we have students who are eligible and the lowest 2 5 of the socioeconomic Income Distribution ladder. Though students a small bit of families can lead to students not persisting and that is what we see, pal is crucial to us, because we have, we have 50 or more on most of our campus of students that are pell eligible and that is the major struggle for us. Helping our students pay for college is important it is something that we cannot tell you more how important it is that we want to see you do more for us pretty absolutely and could you elaborate on how or whether your local workforce board or chamber is assisting in that regard in terms of aligning your programs with future Workforce Needs . They do and also we are engaged with them and also in creating internships also you get to sample and practice law while there, we, with our Economic Development agencies, and also with our chambers of commerce, we are closer to creating internships for our students, so they are in a second or third year, have it practical experiences whether in laboratories or whether it is in clinical or workforce settings. Thank you very much. I just wanted to end with the comment that i always like to remember, i w eb divorce who said all of the civil rights for which the world has struggled, for 500 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental, thank you all for believing in that right and thank you for being here today. Thank you. All, thank you madam chair. Thank you all so much for being here, i want to ask you about the situation of students when they come to you. Doctor dubois when i was running the michigan workforce system some years ago, Something Like 60 of the students coming to Community Colleges nationally needed to start with remedial education. Some kind, is that still the case . Yes sir, mathematics. Typically. 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 are not coming straight from high school. And what we should do to Better Connect Adult Basic Education with Community College. The observation is that we, the systems are generally completely disconnected often may be conducted in the k12 Education System, very rarely is the instruction offered contextualized for a Career Pathway or a person. So, i would appreciate your comments on that. And i am very curious about what the situation is in hbcus as well so afterwards i would like to hear your thoughts. Thank you for the question. In virginia, the Adult Basic Education world is essentially a k12 set the responsibility having said that though, a number of superintendents have kind of subcontracted that with their Community Colleges, i do believe that adults need to go to adult places. And this is my editorial, many of these adults, they come to us because they want a job or they want a better job, and we should be putting more of them into a contextualized applied short time, shortterm pathway to get to that, 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, and a vocational career. Doctor brett compared i would agree with my colleague as well, but i would also say that one of the remedial issues that you. 2, is the fact that many do not get the precollegiate preparation that they need and i would extend it because what we found out is actually liquid arts are more of a barrier to mathematics and also to physics and chemistry and everything into history as well, so that we have people and students who are getting degrees, who may have a high gpa. But that a. C. T. s and sats do not seem to match, that is one of the things, that is occurring in many ways that we are not getting the right teachers and i would speak for the investment into k12 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 been investing in a teaching profession especially in the k12 yield and that is essential as anything else this country could need. A in other countries people say lawyer, doctor, engineer, accountant teacher and we pay our teachers in this country much less than other professionals, we do not invest in them properly. And our investment in teacher and educating teachers is because not only for a mission but we know that the work of Building Society is educating Great Teachers and getting into the classrooms it is crucial, we do not get away by skipping them. Let me just say, do we know what needs to be done here, dont we, if somebody is learning english, and they need and come really for a job, for a career so they can support a family, if we teach them take and jane ran up the hill, they are going to stop coming, if we find out what they could be an xray technician or they could be a cnc operator, and if we Start Talking and teaching them their basic skills, tied to a Career Pathway, they come back right, and in that adult context that you say, so can someone give me some, i mean i ran the michigan workforce from 2007 two 2011, are we making any progress here in this regard . Nationally . Quickly i think in virginia we are making our progress through our fastForward Programs. Where, we are simply an adult that needs help, to get some training we do not require the ged. To be a welder. You need some basic screening skills to be a truck driver. Not necessarily, you dont have to have a High School Diploma or equivalent so we are and have moved into more of that direction helping adults secure employment through shortterm training programs. Thank you. Thank you madam chairman, chairwoman davis and Ranking Members, for holding this hearing, thank you to our witnesses. We know the Community Colleges and historically black colleges and universities, and other minority savings institutions play a key role in providing College Opportunities for low income students and students of color. We also know the institutions are doing the most work closing the achievement gap, and advancing 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. And i would like to enter into the record this report by the United College fund which is led by my close friend michael lomax. Actually was the mc when i was sworn into congress at our event just recently. And entitle the hbcus make america strong, the positive impact of historically black colleges and universities. Thank you. 2017 report found that the total Economic Impact and the u. S. Is 14. 8 billion annually. The equivalent of ranking among the top 200 corporations of the fortune 500 list in maryland we have four hbcus, generate 1 billion in economic output in 10,000 jobs. Maryland graduates can expect to make 1 million more a year due to that credential. So doctor brett, if we strengthen federal investments, in hbcus, what do you see, what does it look like in longterm roi, by making this investment look like, what is the return on investment . The return of investment is huge because right now, it is critical that we develop our talent. The talent that we have to build our new industries whether it is the digital industries, it is the Hightech Industries and also our Creative Industries which is something for these young people, that is what we need on the table, underserved is because other countries i know are doing really good job of educating their talent. And they are not willing to share it. So building our diversity a better way, the different ways to look at the problems and challenges we have. The Creative Minds that we have in our people and in our second and third grades should not be wasted. Absolutely, doctor dubois, i know the expense of a Community College systems and the committal justice space, top priority of mine is criminal justice reform, i believe the impact of educational in these individuals that have been incarcerated society as a whole is crucial. Research from corporations on the incarcerated individuals participate in education while in a Correctional Institution decreased recidivism, 43 . How do we best strengthen and expand highquality Education Opportunities for justice impacted individuals and what would that impact on this be . Take you for the question, in the mid90s, i taught in attica state prison, a maximum security prison with genesee Community College, so it is something i am very familiar with, research is clear, most prisoners are going to be released within three years. 90 something percent. Do we want, what do we want them armed with . A future . And if we do, it is going to be some kind of an 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 at one college, that participated in Experimental Program with pell, we would welcome the opportunity to have more salish kootenai support for incarcerated students. Have you seen a state that is done at best case job in this area . Sometimes i hear alabama but you know, does anybody know of a state that has really worked with Community Colleges and Correctional Institutions hand in hand, to help address this disaster . In the 90s i would, new york, of the 30 Community Colleges in new york we probably had about 14 or 15 of them very involved in inmate Higher Education. There was a lot of research that was done back in those days. I can certainly make that available to you. How do we help students in virginia with the Mental Health disabilities, how do we get more money focused on that and what should we be doing to help you there . That is a great question i mean we are struggling with that question just as we speak, it was only just two weeks ago where i announced a major task force on this very very issue, of student insecurities according, including Mental Health and financial problems and these are the students coming to us today, we are, we need answers more and more answers to that kind of situation. Mr. Timmons. Thank you, and thank you for coming to testify before the subcommittee i am going to begin, Xavier University of louisiana created an Emergency Fund to cover unanticipated student expenses. How were you able to establish this Grant Funding and what have the results done for students who end up needing this unsuspected money . Emergency fund was founded four years ago when i arrived and it was first funded by alumni and also other friends of xavier who were not alumni, sometimes the board of this contributed to this fund we have raised this fund because we are aware that there are students who are in good academic standing especially the third or fourth year about to finish, at risk or per spacing, it may be tuition funding but it also made and maybe other things for example clothing, medical crisis and we apply that, it is small, because we are not a rich institution and we do need more, but it parallels what my friends have been speaking about of the needs including Housing Needs because we do give housing scholarships for homeless students, as we have received the calls from homeless shelters that you have a student here, do you know about this and we have ways of responding we need to respond. Also we need resources to meet those needs. Thank you, do you have a ballpark of how much has been put into the fund for the average . The average year we had somewhere around between 100 and 200,000. Thank you. So in your written remarks to the challenge for many students of color is the preparedness for collegelevel coursework. What are you doing to increase student retention at xaviers particularly for the students who may struggle in the first year . I would say it is not only students of color but clearly affects our urban students especially. But what happens is what we have in the first year, our diagnostics Early Alert Program would tell a student in their first semester that there are needs for academic support and given academic support and make sure that the individualized student finds the need, we have and is not a selected institution we have students from 18 to 34 on the sats. Those, though students were in greater need, we have seen progress because last year we saw especially among the group of greater collegiates challenges, that the retention numbers have gone up significantly. Do you think that this program could be modeled for other hbcus . It could be modeled for almost any other institution. Thank you. 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 . Go ahead. Sorry. I will 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 and local economies . The tcu innovation core, 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 economies through creating new jobs and new enterprises. Thank you. Thank you. 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 seventh district of pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley of pennsylvania, bethlehem, easton area, where we have a wealth of institutions of higher learning, we have several very fine private, four year colleges, and we have a smaller proverbial 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 northampton county, or northampton 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 two your programs, 93 to 94 of their alumni are either continuing their education or in a career, and i think that is a statistic to be so incredibly proud of, and both, they also serve a Large Population of students of color, Lehigh Carbon Community College is a Hispanic Serving Institution, northampton Community College is the number one 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 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 larger 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 the real harm to the students and i would like you perhaps, doctor mccutcheon to address first, let me go to you and ask you about how Student Outcomes vary depending on what institutions are able to spend on the instruction and the Student Support systems. I do not have a thorough study in front of me that i can refer to but in my experience, i should mention i was in those counties so i know theyll ccc, was at the Community College quite well but what i would say, is that the resource that we need to meet the needs of students where they are, take time and faculty, and our faculty, we have very few adjuncts especially, aside from those practices that we have fulltime faculty that is engaged with students even in that introductory classes, that devotion is important for our students, it costs and if you reduce those, if you were to reduce those services, outcomes would suffer. We know that. So it is important that when we speak of remedial or other needs, and meaning students with the course that they need or the supports that they need, to persist in subsequent courses rather than showing them into deep waters without knowing how to swim. That is criminal, what we need those resources are crucial as we do those in Community Colleges or any college around the country the outcomes will suffer. 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, both of the schools as well as some of the four 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 fulltime professors as opposed to relying solely on adjunct personnel, i wanted to ask if i could doctor bohan, because im hearing and im 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 very short, i have left you, give us a little bit more information about how you make those connections with local industries. We do that in a very faceto face kind of handson 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 assistance. Instead of the onthejob training assistance that they had had before, they were changing their practice which a lot of medical field 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 there are two different providers and they are regional, so they are not just montana, but yes. Thank you. My fault, i left you with little time to think you for your input. Thank you. 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 four 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 six years in college, four and 10 students still have not earned a degree. And that, as a nation we have barely made any progress in increasing college Graduation Rates over the past two 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 textbooks, supplies, living expenses, costs that are similar to colleges, students 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 are firstgeneration College Students. Among Community College students, 22 were both food and housing insecure during the last year. And 80 experienced 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. Thank you for the question and 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 are often 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 as we are trying to, whatever extra dollar that we have, we want to invest it in student services. We think that 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 the students in touch with those resources. I cannot see your name. Yes. Yes, so i think. If we can be mindful of the time. Some of the things that were discussed i think what is important is building capacity with in our faculty so they are able to stay connected and identify students early on when they are in need of particular support services. Developing a Summer Bridge program to prepare students who are firstgeneration students and maybe might have some academic needs has been very successful, we 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. Thank you. If i can just have you follow that up with maybe a recommendation that you would have for us to implement . I would begin, it is about finding students in crisis especially throughout first come it is crucial but others as well, the early alert on how we use early alert using report for us because it is important that professors and instructors be able to identify a student who is actually not appearing in class, the student is coming in tired for another reason and to give a shout out for the early alert system, the people in student life to see you need to pull this young person in because i think something is going on. To look to see whether the student whose is not performing in the first way to pull them in, you may not know what it is, but to get someone competent between engagement and to build a structure that does whatever it is, housing whether it is, it could be food, other things that another crisis was, you need to find out but i appreciate that education is the greatest equalizer but we also have to first equalize the situation so young people are able to attain a education. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you madam chair, and again thank you for allowing me to waive onto this committee, because this as well as not my committee, and i have been listening and i can blame you for this today, because generally my staff gets so upset because we spent so much time working and preparing for these hearings and we have this 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 africanamerican history and i had so many students who had never even heard of in hbc you so i created a unit on it in connecticut, and many of the Southern States its a part of the community and a part of the culture there are so many kids that 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 is National Teacher of the year, i traveled to over 40 states, saw something that was, that was a connecticut problem but it is a National Program and it is diversifying the educated workforce and the number of teachers of color out there and i happen to know that hbcus produce more teachers of color than any other teacher preparation institution 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 youre not just having this conversation with young people in louisiana who might be thinking about entering the profession, but also kids in connecticut or that but what i would say is that we do need to resource and support teachers because we do not, we want them because we have students who are going to education who have high loans, high cost who eventually have a family and they have to make the decision to leave the profession, we do not want that especially if they are good teachers, we need programs that support teachers because they are a precious commodity, there is an example at the nsf, which leads which came up from the crisis from the lack of stem educators, where we would actually provide tuitions support for students who commit to teaching for the next 5 to 6 years, after that and those, many of the teachers remain in the teaching profession, we need other disciplines as well, whether it is social studies or whether it is special education we have to actually provide a way of loan forgiveness for that because i do say that the work that we do at our colleges whether it is Community College or hbcus, is only made easier i having students who come in with the basic fundamental and good k12 education that they deserve. Thank you, again, i do not think it is just about the money, i appreciate you saying that because that is important but we cannot underscore the fact that just the Capacity Building, i went through a Community College, undergraduate, a Masters Program and a graduate program, where i was the only African American in an educated Preparation Program in the state of connecticut will not in my state but in my program, you know these are some a er in education state and i was the only person of color there. The Capacity Building is a recruitment issue because what we do in recruiting educators is beginning to speak in the high school with students who might consider becoming teachers we have to do real outreach the same way 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 hbcus that are producing a lot of numbers of teachers and the support of their school education, i do know other hbcus that have schools of education that need support to build the capacities as well. Thank you. And dr. Boham i notices that most of your campus is female, and i know that my state recently introduced a bill to provide childcare which i know is a challenge, i went back to Trinity College as an adult with a child as a single parent, can you talk about what types of support this specific population needs to succeed and how we can help here in congress . Childcare and quality of childcare that you can take your children to and know that they will be safe and well cared for is critical. For our female and male students, we have a number of fathers that are primary caregivers as well. And, so we have on our campus, a preschool and that is critical but we also need quality afterschool programs, so that parents can focus on their school work and not be worrying about the safety of their children, we also know that children that are in preschool, and that going to 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 therefore language and it wasnt that they were actually special ed it was the number of Vocabulary Words that they had and so, these programs are not critical, yes. They are critical. I now turn to mr. Bobby scott who is the chairman over some of the overall education and labor committees. Thank you madam chair and Ranking Members, it is good to see you and i wanted to congratulate you on your success at the virginia Community College system. Particularly in the success you had, in the short term programs do not necessarily me to a degree but lead to a good job. There is a consensus. Finance the shortterm 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 to . Thank you congressman scott. I would like to suggest to you there should be two elements and an accountability system. One is program completion. And two is employment in a high demand and a sustaining wage job. Know how to work with local businesses to make sure there will be a demand for your graduates . Search 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 is then granted the authority to certify that program is eligible for some state funds or not. And then the truth is really in the putting when we look at job placement. Which the rates are very, very high. When we see the job placement rates, and we will. At some point, how many pharmacy tech will be needed virginia . Will we start to see those come down we will probably turn off the state support for this programs because we only want them to be in high demand. They differ region by region, the colleges do a very good job as demonstrated by job placement. That we have an accountable system. And how do your programs differ in rural virginia as opposed to urban virginia . It is interesting in virginia the, we have 2 Million People in rural virginia and 6 Million People in the other part of virginia. 40 of our fastforward credentials are now being earned in rural virginia. The only difference i would suggest to you, the big what is the jobs that are in demand in certain regions, let us say southwest southside, are different from the jobs that are in demand congressman scott in your region. For example, in grundy, they dont really, they are not crying out for a lot of welders. But your major employer, that ceo goes to sleep at night and worries about worrying about where he can he find welders to broiled aircraft build aircraft and the marines we are not a franchise where we have the same venue across the board at 23 different Community Colleges thank you. Dr. Reynold verret, xavier has an outstanding reputation of producing minority medical doctors, can you explain how you have that success, what did you do to create the success . It begins first with the intentionality about advising as students arrive. In the first year we 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. We think about that. The other piece is there is a curriculum that is very well set in mind. By all of our faculty. Faculty has a great commitment to how that is delivered and to make sure that the 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. Can you replicate it . We can replicate it because we had not only in number of hbcu but pwi , university to visit xavier to see what we do. What is not easily workable overnight is a faculty that is a faculty culture and a campus at campus culture. That these were faculty replicate itself when they hire people and choose new members of the faculty is a criteria of exactly can they deliver for our students . That is very intentional and we seek to retain that. Thank you. Madam chair . Thank you so much i appreciate that. I now want to recognize the Ranking Member for his closing remarks. Thank you madam chair and thank you for scheduling this hearing that. I thought it was outstanding hearing that. I would like to thank each of the witnesses for taking your time to join us today to talk about Higher Education reauthorization, to talk about the impact that your schools are having. I would like to commend you on 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, climb that ladder of economic success. Weve heard so many good things coming from the school, the physician assistant in the physician programs at xavier, stem development, and virginia Community College they talked about the best Forward Program that shortterm programming, the Nursing Programming at okc and that is just a little bit of what you talked about. Certainly, i am glad you had the opportunity to highlight some of these excellent programs here today. 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 at other institutions and learn from the leadership that you are providing and the work you are doing. I know the federal government can also do more to help the students and help the Community College serve. Not only help students access Higher Education but persevere to completion and succeed in the workforce. As we are considering reauthorization, we can talk about the earn and learn programs, Workforce Health funding. More flexibility in spending for institutions and spending those funds. An 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 shouldnt all have an equal opportunity to succeed. That is really the promise, excuse me, the promise of america. I think it is really important the work we are doing on this reauthorization. It is important that we get it right so that all students can achieve a better life for them and their families. Again thank you for the work you do, i would like to again thank the Ranking Member. Thank you. I would like to thank our Ranking Member for this comment as well. And thank all of you because you brought some very important information. We know historically that the students you serve have not really had full access to our Education System. So it is important that we move forward from today, and certainly as the work you have been doing chancellor for many, many, many years, we appreciate that. By offering culturally relevant programming that recognizes how important identity is, how community and tradition the hbcus not only educate students but empower them to be the next generation of leaders and 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 no it is not helpful when we short change your institutions when you are serving, in many cases, the most vulnerable students. And, you know what i think is interesting about the multiple challenges they face is that you are helping them where they are and acknowledging that you have to be adapted and her programming. We talked about so many of the programs and models. Try to make them work right, how to scale them. To make sure they are open and that they are exceptional and procedures for young people. Not that it has been time that has been wasted. I mentioned, i want to thank you very much for that, Congress Really cant expect institutions to continue disproportionately serving vulnerable students while simultaneously fighting to receive the federal, state and local governments they need. We have to continue as we work to reauthorize the Higher Education act to submit to supporting these institution as, resource strapped. Provide americans with equal access. Thank you very much. I now want to enter in a into record a statement from the university of california los angeles talk about the best practice they used to serve the latino community. We appreciate your being here and there is no further revision, or business the committee stands adjourned, thank you very much. In 1979 a Small Network with an unusual name rolled out a big idea. 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