Democrats own it. Iran is a done deal. Guest that links to my story, i might add. That is going to be the argument for the campaign trail. Whether that is the president ial campaign trail or also remember that in the 2016 or also remember in the 2016 map, we are looking at the republicans seeking to hold the senate on somewhat unfavorable territory, states were either obama one or either states are more favorable to democrats in a lot of cases. So that will be one thing where it will be interesting to see how it plays out. That is why the republicans will be arguing so much that it is the democrats who control this deal. The have been no republican senators coming out in support of the agreement. In fact, my understanding, at least according to the Portland Press herald up in maine, she may be the only . On the republican side the only question mark on the republican side. Host caller yes, good morning. Host let me pronounce it for you. Niels lesniewski. Caller ok. Thank you. Therelad that you are up following the best and what is real news news reporting. We dont get much of that anymore. A lot of yelling on the radio. Why is itpoint is that nobody mentions the 100 to 200 Nuclear Weapons that israel has had since has been working on and perfecting since the 1950s . This is a, you know, a wellknown point all over the world that we dont seem to discuss it. Host i am going to jump in because we are going to be short on time. Thanks very much for the call. Guest that is another area where people who are supportive of i guess, people who are skeptics of israels intentions in this whole matter have been raising the issue of the unknown exactly but often perceived to be the case situation with the israel and nuclear firepower. And i think that is another thing where you will continue to hear that, but it always gets very tricky around here whether people are for or against the iran deal. Is right. It is something people on capitol hill do not talk about at all. Viewersd one of our says, forget the technical requirements. If the senate is not allowed to vote, the deal will never be seen as legitimate by many. Guest that is an interesting point that i think we are going to hear some of, as well. Beyond the technical requirements and what i said rather about senator cotton. But there will be an vote in the senate. Closer vote and it may not get to 60 votes paid but the solution to that is to change the rules get to 60 votes. But the solution to that is to change the rules. The senate could change. Mitch mcconnell has had no interest in doing that, particularly for legislation, but that is an internal matter in the senate and this is something that has the 60 vote threshold is customary these days and it is something that everyone sort of around here comes to expect. Host a busy fall as lawmakers return next week, and my guess is we will be talking to you often. Niels lesniewski, we appreciate your time. Guest thank you. Host word from politico politico that donald trump will sign the plant. This following a meeting taking place this morning in new york. In a News Conference that we im timothy p. White, chancellor of the California State University. The csu is a Public University comprised of 23 campuses, 460,000 students, and 47,000 staff, celebrating this year, our graduation of the 3 millionth living alum. We are one of the largest systems in the country. Im honored to be before you this morning to discuss what Cal University does to provide access to quality education, to provide the tools students need to excel and to graduate and to carry out our Public Mission for the good of all californians and americans. Education has a unique role as either a gateway or in its absence, a barrier to Economic Prosperity and Civic Engagement and responsibility. Therefore, equal access to quality education is an important issue in the advancement of civil rights. The csu is born of the idea that a high quality education should be accessible to all who are willing and able to do the work. This idea was and still is revolutionary. Californias Public Higher Education system remains a model for many colleges and universities around the country and the world. By creating multiple points of entry for high school graduates, transfer students, returning adults, advanced professionals, californias public colleges and universities are meeting the needs of the modern student. In fact, you can see the Public Mission of the cal states reflected in our student population. Half of our students are earning undergraduate degrees and receive pell awards, and onethird of the students are the first in the family to attend college. Many students commute from their childhood homes and majority work to help cover school and family expenses. Students of color make up nearly twothirds of the degreeseeking undergraduate students at the cal states, and half of all bachelors earned annually by californias latino students, the largest demographic group, are earned at the California State University. Expanding access for historically underserved students is essential to the mission, but access is only a part of it. Its getting students to complete a high quality degree and flourish thereafter is the true goal. The first and often the most daunting barrier to degree completion is College Readiness. Csu embraced several approaches to empower students who need additional preparation to be successful in the university environment. These steps include partnering with k12 and Community Colleges to help students develop University Level skill sets while also forging clear degree pathways between the systems. For many the nearterm goal of high school or Community College is receiving that University Acceptance letter. Yet we, as university folk, must look out to the further horizon. It must come with a plan of support and will and abilities and resources to execute that plan. That is why we launch the Graduation Initiative 2025, an ambitious effort to raise the four and sixyear completion rates while narrowing degree attainment gaps for low income and underserved populations. The core principle is all students have the opportunity to succeed regardless of the neighborhood, schools attended, Parents Educational level or Family Income level. Serving the modern student means confronting full range of barriers faced. Yes, im here to tell you these barriers can and will be overcome. Csu students, faculty, and staff are leading the way. We are bringing individualized learning to scale in a massive system of nearly half a Million Students in this bold action requiring a combination of resources from the university, from the state, and from the federal government. University and state efforts have also kept our fees down for families at an average of 6,759 for californias fulltime graduates, and its been at that rate, constant rate for the past four years. Roughly half the students graduate with no student debt, and those who do borrow, do so at levels well below the national average. Modest increases in federal Financial Aid combined with strategic reallocation of existing resources could help ensure the csu students continue to have resources needed to be successful. For example, and detailed in the written statement, campus paid aid funds are being allocated inequitably. Existing dollars disproportionately go to a few students at high cost institutions. This is a policy area that lawmakers can and in our judgment should address. Likewise, the trio in gear up framework could be strengthened by strategically investing in programs like Summer Bridge focusing more attention on preparation in the s. T. E. M. Disciplines and extending veterans upward bound, for example. These suggestions are modest, yet important and achievable. The combination of federal, state, and University Efforts help students stick through the early phases of an undergraduate education, which is often the time frame of the highest attrition. These coordinated efforts are a tremendous benefit to underserved populations and address the civil rights ramifications of unequal access and unequal support to a degree. When the entire American Public shares in the benefit of better access and Student Success. Through a stronger position and stronger society. We are all in this together. For me, it is professional. It is also intensely personal. I, like chair castro and commissioner actonberg, and so many others are first generation. As an immigrant from argentina, i was low income, and my high school, like yours, did not encourage me to consider college, but i attended the california Community Colleges, and two of the California State University campuses, and the university of california berkley, and did a postdoc at the university of michigan. Well, here i am. Im proud to have had the opportunity to Public Higher Education to be lifted and launched into an interesting and consequential life. Part of my support came from the federal government in what was then called the National Defense student loan. Thank you very much. Thank you, dr. White. Mr. Hogan . Thank you, mr. Chairman, members of the commission its off . Thank you. Im not chancellor brit curwin, but unfortunately due to a family illness, he had to attend to his wife this morning. Im p. J. Hogan. Im happy to be here today. By way of background, the University System of maryland comprises 12 institutions, three research universities, three historically black institutions, four traditional comprehensives, two regional Higher Education centers, one Specialized Research institution and one virtual university. We are, i believe, a microcosm of Higher Education in the United States in a very small geographic state. In that vain, we experience and have a lot of takes on programs im going to speak about. In a moment, ill offer thoughts on the programs and their funding, but let me begin by absolutely thanking the commission for holding these hearings. Its very timely with the reauthorization of the Higher Education act coming up. Chancellor kerwin repeatedly said that it is a National Disgrace that students and families coming from the lowest quartile of income graduate 10 , 9 to 10 chance of knrauding college, whereas students from the upper income quartile graduated 85 to 90 . Thats just unsustainable as a society. While there are many and complex reasons why more low income students do not complete a College Degree, obviously, the volume of Financial Aid dollars, the efficacies of the programs that make these programs available are critical to expanding the success rates of these students. As you know, theres roughly 7,000 students of Higher Education that participate in the federal pell grant and or federal student loan programs. Many of these participate in one or more of the seog, federal work study, and federal perkins loan programs. Ill speak to the three programs and turn my attention to the various trio programs. Let me start by noting that there are very positive impacts of these programs. I know there are proponents of rolling a lot of the programs into one loan, one grant, one work, to make the process more streamlined, and while that sounds great in theory, speaking to our campusbased people on the front line that deal with students, this does not hold true in practice. They are campus based and student based really. The institutions know their students and have flexibility under Program Requirements to award the funds accordingly. Because of that, the relatively small dollars invested in the programs have a tremendously high return relative to retention persistence and Graduation Rates for underrepresented students. These programs level the educational Playing Field for underresourced students and often a deciding factor about a student completing his or her degree, but they are woefully underfunded, and many students are not able to take advantage of that. Ill cite an example of one of our universities. Towsen university, one of our comprehensive university, enrolls over 20,000 undergraduate students. Annual cost of attendance for instate students including housing, you know, room, board, is 24,688. Heres how towsen student aid breaks down from the most recent funding levels of fy14. Pell grants are the largest source for underrepresented low income students. More than 20 million reaching 2,5 2,500 of the 20,000 students. Institutional need based grants directly from the university, thats 16 million impacting 4500 students. State grants through the maryland Higher Education, 11 million, thats 4,000 students. Then scog, 500,000 touching 313,000 students. Work study, 440,000 reaching 337 students. You can see the difference. Just looking at the example of towsen, consider how many more lowincome, underrepresented minority students could be reach the with additional funding or a better formula for better distribution of the funds. As chancellor white pointed out, the formula on some of these, it says, what is the cost of attendance . What is the family expected contribution . If you have a very high cost of attendance and a very low family contribution, where is the money going to go . Its going to go to institutions that have very high tuition. It really does not it makes sense in theory, i guess, if you think about the need there, but it doesnt serve the vast majority of students well. This approach often results in suboptimal funding of education. There are often funds returned to institutions but not allowed to be recycled to other institutions. The proposed allocation formulas from the National Association of student aid administrators and department of education would place greater emphasis on the neediness of each School Students populations unlike the current formula. We want to make it clear that were all for making every program effective, spending every dollar as efficiently as possible in putting the money where it does the most good for students, but given the relatively small contribution of federal work study and scog overall, funding the impact of any change to the efficacy of these programs are minimal. To significantly increase their impact, there needs to be substantial increased funds for these programs. As you know, congress hasnt appropriated new perkins funding since fy 2006. Thinsen is, schools have been collecting and relending funds from the old federal contributions and old institutional matching funds. At this point, i want to quickly turn to the trio programs. They frankly have been a wonderful success. We have participated in many programs, and they have tremendous Graduation Rates. It is clear from our flagship campus at the trio programs have been a vital part in expanding the access and success of lowincome first generation students. But trio programs have also received cuts in recent years. You might say they are flat funded, but if its not keeping up with inflation, its a cut. Let me close by returning to the original observation that as a nation we have to do much more to support Higher Education access and completion for lowincome, underrepresented minority and First Generation College students. Sadly, because of low College Participation and completion rates for low income students, the claim america is the land of opportunity in upwardly mobile society are now beginning to ring hollow. For many, the American Dream has become a nightmare. I thank the commission for taking on this very crucial issue in the future of the country and happy to answer any questions. Thank you, mr. Hogan. Professor dean miller . Good morning, commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Im scott miller, director of Financial Aid at the university of virginia. Thomas jefferson founded university of virginia in 1819 with the goal of creating an educated citizenry to advance ideas of democracy. Today theres 11 schools with 15,400 undergraduates and 6,400 graduate students, and approximately 70 of the undergraduate students are virginia residents. The dean and i would like to share today about part of the universitys approach to access, persistence, and graduation and the partial role campus space funds play in the process. Universitys office of undergraduate admission reviews students academic credentials and extracurricular involvement to select the strongest candidates for the student body. The Office Practices a need blind method in which the ability to pay for school is not a criteria to be considered for admission to the university. In the fall of 2003, the uva president challenged Student Financial services to develop a program to change the soso Economic Diversity of the university. Our office suggested meeting 100 of demonstrated financial need, and the universitys board of visitors approved access uva in february 2004. The practice of meeting need for all students in state and out of state began with the entering class in the fall of 2004. The university of virginia is just one of two public universities with a neat line admission policy and a commitment to meeting 100 of demonstrated need for all students. If a student is admitted to the university, finances should not be an issue to those with financial need. In order to might 100 of demonstrated financial need, the university reviews eligibility for Financial Aid from all sources beginning with federal, then state and finally institutional. In the first year of access uva, federal sources made up 42 of the financial need and state sources were 11 . The university spent 30 of aggregate need of its own money for needbased grants. For 1314, the universitys cost was 46. 1 million to meet the aggregate need financial need of 100 million for our undergraduate population. Federal sources dropped to 33 and state sources dropped to 6 . For the same time frame, campus space funds dropped from meeting 18 of demonstrated financial need to 5 . Access uva helped to increase percentage of students with financial need from 23 to 34 of the undergraduate population, and pell grant increased from 5 to 13 . To demonstrate further commitment for needbased grants, the university through its recently enacted Affordable Excellence Program set a goal of 1 billion for endowed scholarships. Once reached, thee endowments generate about 50 million each year for scholarships and will help offset the shortfall from the decreased commitments from federal and state sources. After the initial implementation of access uva, some concerns arose. Some high achieving lowincome students will selfselect out of applying for admission because of information in the media about increases in the cost of tuition, misunderstanding of the ability of Financial Aid, and fears of college loan debt. Many lowincome, First Generation College and unrepresented students are not receiving the advice and support they need to identify and enroll in colleges where they will persist to degree. With lasting consequences, not only for those students, but also for the nation. Nearly 25 of low income students who score in the top of standardized tests never go to college. College access studies show complexities of college and applications are a barrier for students, many of whom are the first in the family to consider college. The student guidance ratio means the average student spends 20 minutes a year talking to a counselor. According to the department of education, 90 of the Fastest Growing jobs today require postsecondary education, yet the u. S. Lags behind other nations in young adults enrolled in Higher Education. To assist with these other issues, the university began the Virginia College advising corps in the fall of 2005. The advising corps places a recent graduate in a high school in virginia for two years to support the work of the High School Counselor by helping all students, not just those interested in the university of virginia, to realize a dream of a College Degree. They are supported by the university, other sponsors, and by the americorp program. They serve in 19 partner high schools and it became a model for the national advising corps, present in 14 states and 423 high schools. The number of advisers receiving funds while a student at university was 65 . Advisers use a near peer mentoring model. High School Students relate to someone who is not much older than them and who may have come from a similar background. College advisers help students identify and apply to postsecondary programs that will serve them well academically and socially, thus increasingly the likelihood the students will earn a degree. Based on an independent evaluation, when looking at high schools served by a College Adviser compared to seniors at noncollege advising corps schools, students served by advisers are 23 more likely to apply to college, 23 more likely to hear of pell grants, 18 more likely to submit fafsa, 15 more likely to attend a Financial Aid workshop. Access uva and the Virginia College advising corps are two of the many initiatives the university of virginia has utilized to increase access to Higher Education. After we meet their demonstrated financial need, well talk about efforts regarding persistence in graduation. Thank you. My approach would be the following. If and when the funding is in place, lets look at what students have the peace of mind to accomplish. Ill begin with the pivotal question. Most universities have support services to foster facilitating entry, attention, persistence and graduation. These programs include peer support programs, faculty mentoring programs, Academic Advising, graduation audits, among others. What is different at the university of virginia that enables these same students, these same programs to yield substantive outcomes . One, theres a clear and explicit strategic position, which i will give you an outline of in a minute. Two, the strategic position must have strategic consistency with the equally High Expectations of the university. Three, strategy precedes operational effectiveness, and, four, as a result, our programs work because, horizontally they are sink synchronized around leadership and academic performance. And they all rise to the explicit and clearlisted strategy. High Graduation Rates must align with or correspond with graduating grade point averages. Translation . For over 20 years, the University Led the nation among the flagship institutions with the highest Graduation Rates, something around 83 to 88 . Yesterdays figure came in at 86 for this past year. And what we want to do is create an alignment between that and the grade point averages with which they graduate. Two, there must be a strategic consistency between the High Expectations of the university program, implement the strategic goals and objectives of the institution. Translation . The university of virginia generally expects the student to graduate within eight semesters. Programatic efforts must therefore use the expectation to guide the strategic implementation. Secondly, in addition, students are generally expected, are selected who can both contribute to life at the university and benefit from it. Thirdly, strategic position must proceed operational effectiveness of the programs to achieve Student Success. All programs must synchronize and design their efforts to make that expectation happen. The point here is that Graduation Rates look good for the university, but they do not put food on the table. Grade point averages do, and thats why that alignment is so important. Okay. Next, these three pivots, student leadership, identity indifference, student academic performance with high gpa matter because at the end of the day, you want our students to have to become the leaders that the university was set out to create. Two, it matters that an africanamerican student knows why he or she is a teacher of that particular origin. And, third, student academic performance must allow the students to compete for greater access to more opportunities when they graduate. When you put all of these together, you will have a set number of programs that make these things happen. Facilitate entry and Adjustment Program called peer Advice Program which gets the students started. Attention programs follow, which we call the grad Style Program including faculty mentoring, et cetera, and the Cultural Center also fosters cultural programs to create a background and sense of identity and difference while they are in the school. And, lastly, the stem areas to be emphasized because many, many courses like economics. Study six, calculus serve progression for student s going on to professional schools. Thats the last five slides. If and when youve done this well, what youll discover is that the Graduation Rates will continue to stay high, and students who are in the cohort of 3. 0 to 3. 4 also increases. And with that in mind, lets go to the slide that gives you the gpas. Go all the way to the end. There it is. So here, for example, the 3. 4 to 4. 0 range, i gave you 10 data points. In 2006, students graduated in that cohort with 10. 4 in the 3. 4 to 4. 0 range. Today its 20. 7 in the 3. 0 to 3. 399 range. 2006 it was 27 . Today its 61. Put them all together. In 2006, students graduating in the 3. 0 to 4. 0 range where 37. 4 today as we are speak, its 81. 7. More than double that gpa. So key is focus, focus, focus and keep it strategic position in line and all the programs will follow. Thank you for the attention. Commissioners, i want to start by thanking you for the opportunity to testify before you today. Im the associate Vice President for Student Affairs at California State University fullerton. My testimony aims to support and augment earlier testimony of chancellor white on the federal Financial Aid programs specifically through the lens of cal state fullerton. Chancellor white often says, and i firmly believe that access without the opportunity to succeed is not true access. A meaningful education means not only getting your foot in the door, but being empowered with the support to persist and succeed all the way through to graduation. Enrolling in college is a critical step for low income, minority and first generation students. This is only the first step in a long educational journey, along which these students face Greater Cultural and economic barriers than other students. We have an intimate understanding of the barriers they face, and we have a proven record of giving them not just access, but a collegiate experience with the possibility of great success. As one of the largest campuses in the State University model, we are a university for inclusion, proudly serving a diverse student body. 63 of our 38,000 students identify as native american, black, hispanic, asian and Pacific Islander or multiethnic. 43 of our graduates are pell grant recipients. 57 are First Generation College students. Yet at cal state fullerton, we recognize that access alone is not enough. We are also a National Model for Student Success, ranked first in california, and 10th in the nation for graduating latinos, and fourth in the nation for graduating underrepresented minority students. Furthermore, our students graduate with less debt than the average Public University graduate and earn higher salaries over time. These historic achievements are a foundation for even further growth. Beginning in 2012, cal state fullerton president garcia initiated a Strategic Planning process to guide our institution toward the goal of becoming a National Model for how a public comprehensive university can boost Graduation Rates through the thoughtful efforts to keep students connected and empowered on their way to a degree. I have detailed many of the relevant Strategic Plan activities in my written testimony but want to highlight several initiatives that may be of particular interest to the commission today. Cal state fullerton is housing six trio and gear up programs which consist of educational talent search, upward bound, two gear up grants, Student Support services and the Mcnair Scholarship Program. Upward bound and the two gear up grants serve nearly 4,500 students who attend local high schools with the highest need and schools that enroll the majority of their free and reduced lunch programs. This has a profound impact and our assessment results speak to this programs success. With over 90 enrolling in college after they finish high school. Beyond establishing a strong pipeline for access, cal state fullerton offers programs to bolster Student Success for our first generation and underrepresented college students. Our Student SupportServices Program aims to increase the College Retention and Graduation Rates through Academic Advising, tutoring, Financial Advising and other program services. Student support services serves 160 students who come from first generation, low income backgrounds. Its 16 higher than the National Institutional average. In addition to the Student Supports Services Program we run a Mcnair Scholarship Program committed to empowering higher risk and underrepresented students with access to graduate education. Nationally, only 11 of doctoral degrees were from underrepresented racial backgrounds. Programs like the mcnair scholars work to expand our nations highly train ed intellectual leaders by creating a pipeline for doctoral assistance. By showcasing our innovative approach while creating a campus, cosystem, cal state fullerton can be seen as a case study for what may be possible at the national level. Were already achieving great things with our past and current initiatives, but without continued and expanded federal support, these initiatives are unsustainable. The current limitations and federal funding disproportionately affect students that rely most heavily on programs and grants from the federal government. These limitations are adding additional obstacles for student oz their pathway to transformative learning and graduation. We are also keenly aware that these limitations and obstacles can easily be remedied. We believe that a return to the yearround Pell Grant Program would serve as a powerful driver for our students to finish their College Degrees in a timely manner. My president , mildred garcia, often speaks about Higher Education being a private good and a public good. Having just watched just finished spring commencement, i watched 60,000 family and friends celebrate the achievement of a private good, the attainment of a College Degree. When we raise productive families and contribute to uplifting the communities, they are achieving the public good that Higher Education has to offer our society. It is our moral imperative to protect and institutionalize the programs that ultimately result in equitable outcomes, not just equitable enrollment. This is one of the key civil rights issues of our time. Commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and i welcome any questions you might have. Thank you. Dr. Hamilton . Good morning. Thank you commissioners for the opportunity to present before this important commission. My assigned task was to examine the possible civil rights impact that access to and completion of Higher Education has on minority social economic mobility. As such, my comments are going to focus on the racial wealth gap and the role or lack of role that Higher Education plays in providing economic mobility to address the racial wealth gap. Why focus on wealth . Its the paramount indicator of economic wellbeing. It provides Economic Opportunity and security to take risk and shield against financial loss. Some well provides people with the initial capital to purchase an appreciating asset which in turn generates more wealth from one generation to the next. Wealth is also the Economic Indicator in which blacks and whites and other sub ethnic groups have been most disparate. The economic Recovery Period following the great recession, the 2011 census data reveals the typical black and latino family own a little more than a nickel, 6 and 7 cents for every dollar held for the median white famley. The typical black family has a little over 7,000 in wealth and the typical white famley has 112,000 in wealth. Research and Public Policy has focused primarily on Higher Education as the driver of mobility. Education alone does little to explain differences in wealth across race. Its more likely the case that wealth differences across race explain Educational Attainment differences. Nonetheless, conventional wisdom is that to address racial disparity, blacks need to get over it, stop playing the victim role, stop making excuses and take personal responsibility for racial inequality. Its as if the passage of the civil rights legislation, conventional explanations for racial disparity, have evolved from biological cultural determinant. The implication of this rhetorical shift, is a public sentiment away from public responsibilities for the conditions of black americans and other subaltered groups. Affirmative action is designated as a policy aimed at desegregating elite institutions, including elite university admissions. A common perspective is that affirmative action amounts to reverse discrimination, where unqualified blacks take the admissions slots for qualified whites. This argument underscores white entitlement and assumes that whites generally qualified while by default, blacks are generally not qualified. It ignores the historical advantage that whites continue to hold for preferences for university legacies and other channels which serve as examples of hidden forms of affirmative action for privileged groups. It ignores the well documented evidence from experimental psychologists, involving the phenomenon of serial type threats, serial type boosts and serial type lifts. They collectively demonstrate that outcomes on high stakes standardized tests like the s. A. T. Underestimate the achievement of College Readiness for test takers from groups socially stigmatized as cognitively inferior while exaggerating the scores for individuals from groups socially deemed superior. The conventional wisdom is only if black youth were more focused on education, they could get a good job and pursue a pathway toward economic security. Yet at every level of education, the black Unemployment Rate is about twice as high as the white rate. Census data reveals that White High School dropouts have lower Unemployment Rates than blacks who have completed some college or earned an Associates Degree. A recent report by Janelle Jones and john schmidt indicates that Unemployment Rate for black recent College Graduates exceeds 12 and is as high as 10 for black recent College Graduates with a stem major. A College Degree is positively associated with wealth within race, but it does little to address the massive racial wealth gap. For families whose head earned a College Degree, the typical black family has about 23,000 in wealth, while a typical white family has close to eight times that amount with about 180,000 in wealth. This is a difference of between 160,000 between similarly educated households. Furthermore, and perhaps twothirds of the wealth of white families whose heads dropped out of high school. Its noteworthy that a good job is not a great equalizer as well. White head of households where the head is unemployed have nearly twice the amount of wealth for black head of households where the head is fully is employed full time. Thats education is not the anecdote for the enormous racial gaps in wealth and unemployment. None of this is intended to diminish the Intrinsic Value of education. There is clear Intrinsic Value to education, along with a public responsibility to expose everyone to a high quality education. What is concerning is the overemphasis on education as the panacea to address socially established structural barriers and racial inclusion. The racial wealth gap cannot be explained by Higher Education. It is explained by inherited bequests which account for more of the racial wealth gap that demographic or social income indicators. These inteer family transfers provide young adults capital, to purchase a wealth generating asset, like a home, new business or debtfree College Education that will appreciate over a lifetime. Access to this nonmeritbased seed capital is not based on some action or inaction on the part of the individual, but rather the familial position in which they are born. Insofar as were truly interested in living up to the american promise of a civil right to Economic Opportunity and upward mobility for all, we need to acknowledge and address the role of intergenerational resource transfers and recognize the limitations while also recognizing the value of education. One such route would be to write to upward mobility and economic transformation. Child trust accounts which i will be happy to talk about in the q a. But i think my time is up. Thank you, dr. Hamilton. You want to open it up to questions . That was a very sobering analysis. To put into perspective that nothings a panacea, but i also appreciate your recognition this is a significant issue, and one and one that does address at least partially the aspiration for upward mobility and improvement in ones socioeconomic status within generations and beyond. Id like to ask chancellor white to comment on the strategies that have been utilized in the California State University to address the challenges with respect to persistence and degree attainment. And if you would, talk about the way those strategies may have differed may differ from the strategies discussed by dr. Miller and dr. Apri given the differences between the comprehensive university and the Flagship University as well as any other important differences to take into account. Well, thank you trustee or commissioner actenberg. For the next three and a half hours ill be happy to answer your questions. I think to step above the specific program what really i think is at stake here for students who come from the despart sectors in the fabric of society is how do we make them feel prepared, feel welcomed and challenged and supported all at the same time . And so the various programs such as a Summer Bridge program or an early start program. Lets take the San Bernardino campus inland Southern California has a disproportionately high number of pell eligible students, a lot of poor kids. So this upcoming summer president morales has as a requirement all incoming students need to be in residence for two weeks on campus before the start of the fall term. Theres dollars associated with that and were generout of my o and his office to do but students may come feeling that they cant succeed will end up leaving knowing that they will succeed. They know where the library is, laboratories are, how to interact with some new students. The faculty are there to support and engage. So i think before getting into specific programs, commissioner, i want to say that the idea here is sort of a velcro idea. And students who come from first generation dont have a Family Member to say, hey, how do i go about being successful in organic chemistry . Or how do i recover myself when i stub my toe on American History . We have to provide that level of support. At the same time holding a very high expectation for achievement. So these programs that take at scale for us but individualize those kind of experiences in the weeks and months and years before they get to us in the university. But then once theyre there to also have early in their first and second year which is the place with the greatest attrition occurs the fact that they can get into a Small Learning Community by whatever design. Whether its a Peer Mentoring Group or a cohort faction or into a laboratory or clinic or a studio where they get that personal attention and realize that they are both welcomed and challenged. So we often get criticized in california for having a low four and sixyear Graduation Rates. Calculated on first time full time students. When you have a comprehensive somebody as we heard earlier who our average age is around almost 25 years of age now. And most are working 30 hours a week or more. They in order to manage life cannot take a full load all the way through. We could raise our Graduation Rates by excludeing those students from enrollment. But i think we have taken a position at the csu that we should be prideful and crow about who we graduate, not who we exclude. And so we are working hard on getting more students to degree sooner by this cohort individualized programs recognizing that theyre not a monolith as you mentioned earlier across any race or ethnicity but rather to individualize the programs that help support them have success and achieve and move to degree sooner. That may differentiate from the flagships who have a different admission standard. And coming together as americans all of those pathways i think is the other part id like to make is, you know, america is not a monolith. So multiple portals of access, multiple ways to be successful, thats the American Dream in this multicultural world of ours will succeed Going Forward it seems to me. Could i ask yes . I was just going to tag on to the back of chancellor whites comments with some specific remarks from advantage point. I recently made im a new addition to cal state fullerton. And my past experiences for a number of years have been working on issues of student retention, persistence and timely graduation in selective institutions or flagship state institutions. So i thought, okay, im coming to cal state fullerton, ive done my research, ive got a good idea of whats going on here. And in entering an environment that is 98 commuter, 50 pell, majority, minority, hsi, a lot of the methodologies that are normative at flagship state institutions and selective private institutions are limited in their scaleability. So the emphasis at cal state fullerton has really been on persistence and timely graduation strategies that are eminently scaleable. One of my more granular points i wanted to add to the conversation is the importance of things like technology. We dont have the funds to hire the number of academic advisors to meet nakata standards. Were not going to get to that 250to1 ratio on economic advisors to students to do truly transformative and advising every step of the way. But what we can do is onboard technologies that allow the Academic Advising staff that we do have to use a much more sophisticated Predictive Analytics platform to make sure the time they spend on students is spent on the students who need it the most and the students most likely to benefit from one to two points of economic advising engagement across their first two years at the institution. So really leveraging i think what in the private sector would be big data, right . To benefit core practices like Academic Advising. Alternately putting technology in the students hands allowing them to use a mobile platform to bring a sense of coherence to their degree pathway. One of the things we know on the persistence side is whenever students see a diffused murky sea of youve got 9 million options on your way to graduation, it actually can result in some level of analysis paralysis and the inability to move forward. An hour ago we were talking about Community College swirl, right . And the inability to really leverage that Associates Degree effectively. Well, were able to put technology in students hands now, and soon well be better at it. That allow them to really see their degree pathway mapped out for them from their first year forward. So they can say, you know, im thinking about switching from this major to that major, which is very common, right . What will the implications be on all the credits i brought into the system . And how will that reorganize itself so that my time to degree doesnt change . What do i need to do as a result of this shift in career and need for a new major . So they dont have to be able to sit down with an adviser for an hour to map that out. Weve been able to Access Technology that will remap it for them. And so i think the combination of some of these really scaleable Enterprise Wide Solutions were looking at are important in the thinner budgets and in the very high risk e ecosystem that an access focus comprehensive that the cal states embody. I would imagine, dean, that those principles though slightly different have some resonance to the presentation that you made . I do think that sometimes we make the mistake of scaling across campus too soon. We find a Successful Program and were too quick to try and save money. And therefore try and get everybody into that system. I put my Business School hat on and say short bursts scaling across is the way to go. You dont say, oh, this program has a wonderful lets do it for everybody. You got to systemically think your way through it. There are very specific things that we have done that i think make students successful. And i would do this whether i am Small University or large university. There are specific advicing and mentoring skill sets to impart. Students dont typically students from underrepresented and underserved groups dont typically do well in s. T. E. M. Areas or math areas unless special efforts are put into those. So the very specific counselling strategist like making sure they have course sequences in the right place, making sure no one takes economics before theyve done calculus and statistics. Because youve got to get them early into the idea that quantity and change comes before quantity and chance, quantity and chance come before quantity and prediction. If you have these kinds of specific strategies in place, they can do economics, they can do mathematics, they can do engineering, they can do experimental psychology. Thank you. Could i ask one more question, mr. Chairman . Sure. Both for dr. Hogan and chancellor white. Could you talk about the number of students who come to your campuses from the Community College . So at least my recollection is almost twothirds of the students who are graduated by the California State University came to the university as transfers from the Community College. And yet commissioner yaki, the answer to commissioners question about how predictive of success is actually going to the Community College in the first place. Those two what is the relationship between those two seemingly contradictory statistics, chancellor white and dr. Hogan . Well, briefly, we admit about 110,000 students every fall. Which about 50 come from the Community Colleges. And the balance are either restarting or coming out of high school. And youre right. The Community College transfers for us tend to be more successful and result in being about 60 or so in a given year it varies 2 or 3 of overall graduates. Couple things have come to play. First of all, in various regions, long beach being one, there is an affiliation between the k through 12 system, the Community Colleges and the cal state campus in long beach to where the faculty and administrators in the Community Know that if the stunlt does the right things in k through 12 and goes to the Community Colleges and takes certain courses and performs at the right level there, youre assured admission in Long Beach State and can get through in two more years or three more years. That partnership is developing in many different areas. Fullerton has one. Some up north in san jose, San Francisco bay area. So thats one thing where weve sort of regionalized the systems and created that feeder system in that region. Theres also legislation that occurred a handful of years ago in california creating an associate degrees for transfer, which actually challenged both the Community College faculty and the California State University faculty. And to a lesser extent the university of california faculty, to create model transfer curricula in which students if they take a certain set of courses at a given Community College, its guaranteed access when they pass those at the appropriate level guaranteed access to a California State University campus. And that has just started about two or three years ago with some degree of success. This last year some 6,000 or 7,000 of our students came in with an associate degrees for transfer. That means their entire Lower Division work is taken care of. And they can get right into their major and have a much greater probability of success. The swirl part and getting lost part happens when you get thrown out of high school into a Community College without any direction. And i think the paralysis of too many choices and the distractions of life is what gets in the way. So we actually worry sometimes particularly in first generation lowincome that if they get thrown into a Community College without some sort of a lifeline, that well never see them again. And theyll go off and never fulfill their potential. I dont think theyre contradictory, but i think its the evidence of where theres success means that theres some structure in some expectation to go beyond the Community College. Thank you. Dr. Hogan, did you want to comment . Sure. Some of my comments will sound very similar but ill also give you some specifics. 15 years ago we took in three firsttime fulltime freshmen in the University System in maryland for every one transfer. In 15 years, now today, its a 1to1 ratio. That is a huge shift. Why . I think societal. I think parents and society have deemed Community Colleges as a good im not a spokesman for the Community Colleges but maybe im just lucky. In maryland and sure there are great Community Colleges all around the country. We have 16 phenomenal Community Colleges. And if you think about what people always say its so expensive to get a College Degree. There is an affordable way if you want. And theres no more affordable way than going to community cloej, living at home, might be living at home for work reasons, family reasons, all kinds of reasons, and then transferring and doing last two years at a fouryear institution. Now, for that to work as chancellor white said, theres got to be some structure to it. We have a program in maryland called aces. And it is a collaboration between the University System of maryland, the Community Colleges and k through 12. Where Community Colleges send coaches into the k through 12 schools, identify students low income, first in family potentially going to college who with some structure that frankly they dont have at home. Or theres not a Family History of its not a question of where youre going to go to college. That question is if youre going to go to college. They help them. They get them on a guide path, a glide path and guide path to college. We have a go system that maryland runs. We go out into middle schools around the state and especially low income middle schools, and have seminars, invite the students and parents in. This is what this is the academic track you need to get on starting in middle school so youre college ready. Oh, and by the way, heres start thinking about scholarship programs and Financial Aid programs and if you can put away a little bit of money. 25 a month, we have a College Savings program. So all of those structures are in place. And we have a very you can watch this event in its entirety at cspan. Org. Were going to leave it now to take you live to a discussion on the future of iraq with the iraqi ambassador to the United States lukman faily who has served in that post for the last two years. Live coverage from the center for strategic and international studies. Welcome. When i was talking to the ambassador a few weeks ago, i said its before labor day, i dont know if we can get an audience, but well try. And im glad youre all here. Im delighted to welcome the ambassador of the republic of iraq, his excellence lukman faily. Prior to that he was iraqs ambassador to japan. He has extensive experience in diplomacy, business, employment management and information technology. He spent many years in the uk. So technology consultant. He has a bachelor of science in math and Computer Science from manchester metropolitan university, an mba in Technology Management and a post graduate degree in computing for commerce and industry. Ambassador faily will speak and then we will have a distinguished panel who ill invite up afterwards we will have a discussion among ourselves and then turn the discussion over to you. So i give you ambassador lukman faily. [ applause ] [ speaking in a Foreign Language ] good afternoon everybody. Thank you, john, for your kind introduction. And also thank you for csis for allowing an opportunity for me to talk to you about my country and for us to have an honest fruitful discussion about whats taking place in our region and in iraq in particular. You have also asked me to talk about where is iraq heading. I will discuss where our country is heading on a domestic political front, on military and security front and also on the regional and International Dimension front. And i will try to refute a few false choices. And outright myths that are distorting americans understanding of iraq. First, i want to make one important point. Slowly but surely and steadily iraq is moving forward toward democracy. And toward one country. In fact, the only way we can defe defeat isis, isil, whatever you want to label it and build a democracy is to strengthen ties within our country and along the arrangements that in line with our constitution which all communities in iraq voted for. And other courses of action leads to division, distort and defeat, and that in the future and that is the future that daiish with this divide and conquer strategy wants for iraq. Our neighbors and Work Community must never, ever accept division for iraq and should never, ever accept division of a threestate solution for iraq. Recent event have demonstrated what outside claim iraq is not divided along ethnic or sectarian lines. This is the first myth i will refute this afternoon. Make no mistake, my friends, for all this contents, for all the differences, iraqis want to succeed. This was apparent during what could have been polarizing protests this summer. In baghdad and other major cities. Look at the images from these and you will see a sea of iraqi flags, no other flag but iraq. Iraqis do not want a revolution that overcomes the post 2003 democratic order. They want reforms that will strengthen the unity of iraq, the inclusiveness of our democracy and the effectiveness of our government that is not ham strung by corruption nor by sectarianism. And a shared understanding that is all too well in the middle east the protesters and our government both, both, want to unite our country and uphold the rule of law. Security forces were deployed to protect the protesters rather than suppress them. On many occasions police were seen distributing bottles of water to protesters and even sometimes joining them on some of the chants. This dynamic between citizens and the Security Forces represents a paradigm shift that is representing of the new iraq. Those who will still question whether life was better under Saddam Hussein should think back to how this henchman would have responded to even the suspicions of dissent. In that spirit let me address the first issue, development on our Democratic Political front. Almost one year ago Prime Minister abadi government took office after free elections and a peaceful transition of power. With the support of the protesters the initial approval of parliament and the backing, the Prime Minister has a diplomatic that represent, improve aspects for all iraqis for all work of life. The government is streamlining selfeliminating costly ceremonial positions and divisive sectarian quotas. And we are decentralizing Decision Making to the provisional level so that local communities can determine their resources as they most need it. We also are addressing the fiscal crisis that was worsened by the bureaucratic bureaucracies and oil reliance on oil revenue. We are investing in all our agricultu agriculture, industrial and housing sectors. Just last week the cabinet approved a capital injection in these sectors worth about 4. 3 billion. Now, i need to dispel the other myth that abolishing the sectarian quota systems will undermine the right of minorities. In fact, this is a Coalition Government representing every major sector, political faction and ethnic religious communities within iraq. Lets also not forget that we do not at yet have any Opposition Party within the parliament. All parties are represented at the cabinet level. Let me be clear National Unity effective as well as inclusive government. Whatever the religious beliefs, whatever their ethnic backgrounds, iraqis want an honest, effective and lawabiding government. This aspiration we say is unifying and not divisive. In order to unify iraq, our government has set forth a framework for National Reconciliation. We seek a fair, comprehensive and historic settlement between every segment of our society in order to save our country from the prospects of civil war. Our framework for National Reconciliation is built upon three pillars, the constitution, political agreements through the Major Political blocks spouppor Prime Minister abadi and parliament. These are the basic principles. Every stakeholder in our society must be committed to National Unity and rule of law. Everyone must accept the results of democratic process. Everyone must reject dictatorship, sectarianism and the use of violence as a mean to extract political concessions. And everyone must respect each other and respect each others basic human rights. Iraqis also deserve and demand Security Forces that can protect our people from the barberism of daesh. Our Security Forces must be cleanse ed of corruption while reflecting the populations they protect. Just as there must be no more noshow employees on government payrolls. We also are working on no ghost soldiers on military payroll. Defending their own communities, parliament is currently debating the draft second reading and so on third as we speak. This has been strenuous but need to undergo this rigor of the democratic process if we are to stand the test of time. We are determined to train and equip more local people to protect themselves and their neighborhood. Together these reforms will make our society more democratic, more stable and more secure. Democracy enhances stability. And stability enhances security. Yes, there are those who say we must choose between democracy on one hand and stability and security on the other, but that is a false choice we must move way beyond. This leads me to my second topic, development on the military and security front. The government of iraq is committed to taking back every inch on our territory and liberating every segment of our society from daesh. We are determined not to coexist one extra second with daesh. Thats the determination of the people. Not to coexist. We are conducting Ongoing Operations in Anbar Province around ramadi and fallujah in coordination with the Coalition Forces and in coordination with air strikes and all other kind of support we have been getting from our Coalition Partners. And also were working with our Security Forces and our Kurdish Peshmerga on a number of fronts. But the stark reality is with oil prices currently around 40 a barrel, our ability to finance the world against daesh is becoming increasingly difficult. This is why we continue to urge our Coalition Partners to increase their military assistance as a simple example when areas contested tons of retaking by our forces daesh respond by deploying a wave of armored suicide trucks bombs to break down our defenses. Just an example these suicide bombs are Something Like 12 to 14 tons of explosives, each single one of them. We are in short supply and at times our troops are overrun by the Sheer Velocity of the counterattacks. While we have a long hard struggle ahead, we can be encouraged that towns are being liberated from daesh. And many local residents feel safe enough to return to their homes. Some 75,000 rdps have returned to their homes since we liberated it back in march. Across iraq almost 300,000 individuals in total have been able to return to their homes when we are able to liberate them from daesh. However, this only represents 10 of the 3. 1 million individuals who have been displaced by daesh and their acts. The scale of this human tragedy should remind us of the daunting dimensions of the challenges that will come from the Iraqi Government including the kurdish region. As we defeat daesh and drive them once and for all out of our country. And that leads me to my third point, the challenge on the regional and international front. Iraq is on the forefront of the struggle in the fight against daesh. But as United NationsSecurity Council resolutions 2170 and 2199 recognize daesh as a Global Network with global finances and global recruitments. These transnational terrorists threaten every country in the middle east, around the world and therefore all the countries in the region have a binding commitment under chapter 7 of the United Nations charter to do their part to defeat daesh. Its a very positive development that the United States and uae, United Arab Emirates and other Coalition Countries have founded center in abu dhabi to communicate islamic messaging against daesh on Digital Media and other platforms. We need to counter the messages that daesh disseminates with truth from for our muslim brothers and sisters that speak to their hearts and the souls of the potential recruiters. We need more nations to participate in this communication effort and to better coordinate messaging between the military and civilian components of the coalition. Because daesh finances itself by laundering money and Human Trafficking and other methods of income, we also need to Work Together to stop these sources of support from financial transfers to sexual slavery. As we look toward National Reconciliation and reconstruction, the United States and other Coalition Countries can continue to help us stabilize iraq. You can provide us with technical assistance, rooting out corruption and improving Public Services and restoring our infrastructure. Together we can address these challenges on the home front and battle front, and the regional and international fronts. Together we can build a secure and stable iraq in the middle east where the transnational terrorists have been defeated once and for all and forever. Together we can redeem the sacrifices that iraqis, americans and others have made over the past 12 years. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. Thank you. [ applause ] mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for those comments. Were now joined with by two experts who i will introduce as i ask them to speak. Ahem camo is director for middle Eastern North Africa all the eurasia group. He is to my mind one of the shrewdest rising stars in the middle east analysis business. I think he doesnt get out a lot because often his bosses say if you want to hear him, you have to pay. This is a teaser. He has gone back and forth to the middle east, you were just in iraq. What is the political environment . We heard the ambassador describe the prospective environment, we heard about a change mode of protest people having a different relationship to authority how would you characterize where the politics are right now . So i think john turn the mic on. Little green light needs to be on. Its on the top. Its a switch. Travis, i need your here we go. So i think, john, were in an area where were treating iraq ashe