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Proposed Funding Targets US Community College Upgrades

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden tour an HVAC workshop at Tidewater Community College, May 3, 2021, in Portsmouth, Va. Harlan "Skip" Krepcik, who teaches about heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, is at left.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden tour an HVAC workshop at Tidewater Community College, May 3, 2021, in Portsmouth, Va. Harlan "Skip" Krepcik, who teaches about heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, is at left.

President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, released last month, includes $12 billion for community colleges to address technological needs, help protect the health and safety of students and faculty, and narrow funding inequities.

It also calls for two years of free tuition at community colleges, one of many parts of Biden’s proposal seen by many Republicans in Congress as too expensive and an inappropriate expansion of government’s role in society.

“Research shows, when a young child goes to school — not day care — they’re far more likely to graduate from high school and go to college or something after high school,” Biden said in his joint speech to Congress on April 28. “When you add two years of free community college on top of that, you begin to change the dynamic. We can do that."

Community colleges offer an easier and less expensive pathway to higher education than most four-year colleges. Many do not require standardized admissions tests, like SATs and ACTs, and some do not require English-language proficiency, which is key for many international students.

Community colleges typically receive less state funding than four-year institutions, said Noah Brown, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Community College Trustees, a nonprofit organization that oversees community colleges.

“So what this plan does is it tries to compensate, to some extent, the fact that we’ve been underfunded and under-resourced as a sector,” Brown said.

Less costly

The cost of tuition at the average community college has risen 46%, compared with a 76% rise among public universities in the past two decades, according to EducationData.org. That translates to between $4,000 and $10,000 a year, depending on the state, for community college, compared with an average $35,720 per student per year for four-year institutions.

Outside those averages, the most prestigious or expensive four-year universities can cost upward of $100,000 a year for tuition and fees.

First lady Jill Biden, third from left, speaks during a visit with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, left, to Sauk Valley Community College, in Dixon, Ill., April 19, 2021.
First lady Jill Biden, third from left, speaks during a visit with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, left, to Sauk Valley Community College, in Dixon, Ill., April 19, 2021.

Brown said the current infrastructure proposal would benefit community colleges that have aging buildings.

“Many of them have been built in the ’60s or ’70s, so their physical plants are aging and have a lot of infrastructure challenges,” Brown said. “So we certainly welcome the proposal of $12 billion to address those needs.”

However, some four-year universities that have struggled financially during the pandemic object to the plan.

While it is a boost for community colleges, Jon Fansmith, director of government relations at the American Council on Education, wrote that he would like to see “a bit more investment in four-year colleges and universities.”

“While no one argues about the needs that exist at community colleges in the infrastructure space, there are lots of four-year institutions that similarly were impacted by the pandemic, similarly are under-resourced and could really use the support,” Fansmith said in Inside Higher Ed on April 1.

Fewer students

Colleges and universities are worried about enrollment declines as students and families face economic and educational pressures during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Pete Boyle, vice president of public affairs at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

“We need to be certain that we are not incentivizing students toward institutions that are not the best fit for them to realize their educational goals,” he said.

Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes plans to give $50 billion to the National Science Foundation and $40 billion to the nation’s research facilities. Out of the $40 billion, $20 billion will be given to historically black colleges and universities.

Minority-serving institutions would receive an additional $10 billion in research and development, while another $15 billion would be devoted to "centers of excellence" that would function as incubators for startups and training programs for students in science and engineering fields.

First lady Jill Biden, who is a professor at Northern Virginia Community College, will help with the plan, the president said.

“ ‘Any country that outeducates us is going to outcompete us,’ ” Biden said, quoting the first lady. “She’ll be deeply involved in leading this effort.”

Biden’s proposal is being debated in Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she would like to see the plan approved by members by July 4, according to The Associated Press.

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Proposal Would Remove Student Aid for Those Who Support Some Palestinian Groups

FILE - A Palestinian protester shouts slogans during a protest near the the Egyptian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 18, 2023.
FILE - A Palestinian protester shouts slogans during a protest near the the Egyptian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 18, 2023.

A Florida lawmaker has proposed eliminating scholarships, tuition breaks and fee waivers for students who are suspected of “promoting terrorist organizations.”

According to WOKV television, the bill appears to be in line with Florida efforts to disband pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses. (November 2023)

International College Student Enrollment in US Soars

FILE - Students walk across the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 6, 2023.
FILE - Students walk across the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 6, 2023.

International student enrollment at U.S. schools has bounded back from pandemic lows, Forbes reports. It increased 12% in 2022-23, the fastest growth rate in more than 40 years. Read the full story here. (November 2023)

US Lawmakers Grill University Presidents About On-Campus Antisemitism

Harvard University President Claudine Gay testifies before a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 2023.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay testifies before a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 2023.

The presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were questioned by House lawmakers on Tuesday over whether their administrations are doing enough to combat the wave of antisemitism that has swept their campuses as the Israel-Hamas war rages.

Republican Representative Virginia Foxx said the three presidents were called to testify because “we heard in particular that the most egregious situations have occurred on these campuses.”

Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University, faced particularly difficult lines of questioning from congressional Republicans, including one fraught exchange with Representative Elise Stefanik, who demanded that Gay resign.

Stefanik, a Harvard alumnus herself, grilled Gay over whether the university would rescind admission offers to students who support Hamas’ murderous beliefs.

Gay pushed back, saying she would not commit to punishing students simply for expressing their views, even if she finds them “personally abhorrent,” apparently reversing university policy.

In 2017, Harvard reneged on admission offers for 10 would-be students after it came out that they circulated racist memes in a group chat.

The theme of Gay’s testimony was her dual commitment to “combating hate while preserving free expression.”

Gay said her administration would only punish “hateful, reckless, offensive speech” when it crosses the line into physical violence or targeted harassment.

Foxx, the panel’s chair, railed against Gay and the other university leaders, claiming that “institutional antisemitism and hate are among the poisoned fruits of your institutions’ cultures."

Republican lawmakers repeatedly criticized progressivism and tied it to antisemitism in higher education.

All three university presidents outlined their strategies for ensuring student safety and open discourse on the Israel-Hamas war.

"As an American, as a Jew, and as a human being, I abhor antisemitism. And my administration is combating it actively,” Sally Kornbluth, president of MIT, said, adding that “problematic speech needs to be countered with other speech and education.”

Kornbluth said free speech that promotes harassment or incites violence is not protected by the university, but those who try to shut down campus protests are essentially advocating for unworkable “speech codes."

Harvard and UPenn have struggled. Both schools found themselves under investigation by the Department of Education over complaints of antisemitism on campus.

“This is difficult work, and I know I have not always gotten it right,” Gay said of her efforts to promote free speech and inclusion. She noted the difficulty of balancing the concerns of different groups, including Harvard’s Muslim community, which Gay noted faces the threat of rising Islamophobia.

“During these difficult days, I have felt the bonds of our community strained,” Gay told lawmakers.

UPenn President M. Elizabeth Magill came under fire for the Palestine Writes Festival, an event hosted at her university in September that was a flashpoint of antisemitism, according to a complaint submitted to the Department of Education.

U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik speaks during a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 5, 2023.
U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik speaks during a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 5, 2023.

Magill condemned antisemitic rhetoric at the festival but maintained that measures had been instituted to ensure student safety.

The presidents made clear to the Republican-run House Committee on Education and the Workforce that their schools have taken steps to prevent harassment and bullying, including public announcements.

The president of Columbia was invited but did not attend, citing a scheduling conflict, Foxx’s office said.

November polling by the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel found that, since Oct. 7, 46% of Jewish students felt safe at their colleges, a marked drop from 67% before the war. Students across the nation said they were wary of walking around their campuses wearing a Star of David necklace, kippah or other emblems of Judaism.

In late October, an upperclassman at Cornell was taken into federal custody after allegedly making online posts promising to kill any and every Jew he saw on campus.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and other advocacy groups reported that hate crimes against Muslim students were also on the rise.

Last month, a white man allegedly shot three Palestinian American college students in Burlington, Vermont. And, at Stanford, an Arab student was struck in a hit-and-run as the driver shouted, “F— you people!” according to witnesses.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have been doxxed — their names and pictures paraded around their campuses on mobile billboard trucks — in what activists say are attempts to intimidate them into silence.

China the No. 1 Country Sending Students to US, Data Show

FILE - A woman walks on the Columbia University campus, March 9, 2020, in New York.
FILE - A woman walks on the Columbia University campus, March 9, 2020, in New York.

China, India and South Korea sent the most students to the U.S. in 2023, according to Open Doors 2023 Report on International Educational Exchange. Open Doors is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Among other things, the report broke down the schools with the largest number of international students. New York University took the top spot, with Northeastern University, Columbia University, Arizona State University and the University of Southern California rounding out the top five. Get the stats here. (November 2023)

International Students Boosted US Economy by $40 Billion in 2022-23

FILE - Students walk past an entrance to Boston University College of Arts and Sciences in Boston, Nov. 29, 2018.
FILE - Students walk past an entrance to Boston University College of Arts and Sciences in Boston, Nov. 29, 2018.

In the 2022-23 academic year, more than 1 million international students were in the U.S., and they contributed more than $40 billion to the U.S. economy, Forbes reports.

That figure's up 19% from the previous academic year, according to NAFSA: Association for International Educators.

Read the full story here. (November 2023)

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