Professor Van Ry

As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, community college leaders have prepared a long list of items they’d like to see in the legislation. Chief among them is preservation and expansion of the Pell Grant program Here’s a list of some of the items considered priorities by the American Association of Community Colleges and the Association of Community College Trustees:

• Protect Pell Grants

More than 3.3 million community college students received Pell Grants in the 2011-12 award year, including 48 percent of all full-time students. Given deep cuts in state support to higher education over the last five years, institutions have been forced to raise tuition to maintain quality. Tuition now represents 31 percent of all community college revenues, an increase from 22 percent ten years ago. Eligibility changes in the program during the past few years have denied opportunities to many students. <Read more.>

Via CCW Staff, Community College Week.