- AACC, ACCT urge House vote ASAP on Workforce Pell
- Pilot proposed for community college baccalaureate in nursing
- Top producers of Fulbright scholars
AACC, ACCT urge House vote ASAP on Workforce Pell
The American Association of Community Colleges and the Association of Community College Trustees are asking House leaders to schedule a floor vote as soon as possible on the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (BWPA), H.R. 6585.
In a February 13 letter to the House speaker and minority leader, the two organizations emphasized the importance of extending Pell Grant eligibility to quality, short-term workforce education programs.
“The bill would both grow the economy and enhance economic mobility for students. Without Workforce Pell, high-quality, skills-based programs will remain inaccessible for thousands of Americans looking for skills education that will enable them to qualify for the family-sustaining wage jobs that are currently unfilled,” according to the letter, signed by the presidents of both associations.
AACC and ACCT added that while they encourage modification of the bill’s offset, passing BWPA soon is essential to ensuring that workforce Pell grants are established this Congress. The House Education and the Workforce Committee passed the bill in December.
Pilot proposed for community college baccalaureate in nursing
California lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill that would create a pilot program to allow community college districts to offer baccalaureates in nursing to help address the growing shortage of registered nurses (RN).
Senate Bill 895 would authorize the state’s community college system chancellor to select up to 15 community college districts with existing nationally accredited associate degree in nursing programs to offer a bachelor’s of science in nursing degree.
Democratic state Sen. Richard D. Roth, who introduced the measure, said that California, like other states, has long faced an RN shortage, which has been exacerbated due to the pandemic and expected retirements. He said a key reason for the shortage has been that California’s nursing school capacity can’t keep up with demand.
“In 2018, more than 85% of hospitals in California reported that the demand for RNs was greater than the available supply – a situation that has not improved,” he said in a release. “But there is a path forward to help solve this problem and that path cuts right through our California Community Colleges.”
There are more than 70 nursing schools at California’s community colleges, according to the release. Supporters of bill noted that the difference between an ADN and a BSN is only an additional 30 units of coursework, so several ADN programs are well-positioned to expand their offerings to BSN degrees. They added that by operating within the ADN program authorization, the program would not require additional supervised clinical placements and is intended to be cost-neutral.
Top producers of Fulbright scholars
Fifteen community colleges are among the 170 top-producing higher education institutions in the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Program for the 2023-24 academic year.
The selection is based on U.S. colleges and universities that had the highest numbers of their students (young professionals with a bachelor’s degree) and scholars (faculty, researchers and administrators) awarded Fulbright scholarships for the academic year.
Twelve of the community colleges were recognized in the associate and baccalaureate/associate category for the scholars program. Kirkwood Community Collge (Iowa) was noted as having the the highest number of U.S. scholars within the classification.
Three colleges — Austin Community College (Texas), Florida State College at Jacksonville and Tacoma Community College (Washington) — were noted in the baccalaureate category for the scholars program.
