Community colleges will be front and center at a House appropriations hearing on March 4, where advocates will present to lawmakers key areas of federal funding for programs that support their institutions and students, from Pell grants to workforce development efforts.
The invited witnesses include representatives of colleges that are members of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), including Patricia Sims, president of Drake State Community & Technical College (Alabama) and a member of the AACC board of directors, and Shawn Morgan, vice president of workforce and strategic initiatives at Bevill State Community College in Alabama.
As Congress begins its appropriations process for fiscal year 2027, AACC and the Association of Community College Trustees have sent a letter to House appropriations leaders with community colleges’ funding priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. They also encouraged Congress to work with the Trump administration to ensure that FY 26 appropriations go to designated programs, after the administration last fiscal year shifted funding between programs or stalled the release of funding.
“Community colleges are very concerned about the instability that could be created by deviations from prior funding levels in certain programs, particularly the student aid and higher education programs, including Higher Education Act Title III and V programs, TRIO, GEAR-UP, CCAMPIS, and more,” according to the March 2 letter.
Among the top priorities for the associations are funding for:
- Pell grants
- The Department of Labor’s Strengthening Community College Training Grants program
- Support for under-resourced institutions and students (such as the Higher Education Act Strengthening Institutions Program)
- Perkins Career and Technical Education programs
- Strengthening workforce development and adult basic education
- Other programs such as Postsecondary Student Success Grants, Basic Needs Grants within the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program
The AACC/ACCT letter provided a brief explanation for the funding requests. For example, the Pell Grant program is expected to face a huge funding shortfall — an estimated $16.9 billion — mainly due to changes stemming from expanding Pell eligibility. The groups urged Congress to address the shortfall through more funding rather than reducing eligibility or benefits, or making cuts to other education or workforce development programs.
For the Strengthening Community College Training Grants (SCCTG) program, AACC/ACCT is seeking a $10 million boost, to $75 million for FY 27. The associations said there is bipartisan congressional support for the program, which aims to expand workforce training capacity to meet growing skilled-worker needs. They also noted the Trump administration’s recently released competition using FY 25 SCCTG funds that focuses on helping colleges prepare for the new Workforce Pell, which begins July 1.
In their support of the Higher Education Act Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP, Title III-A), AACC/ACCT said they were disappointed by the $10 million cut to the program in FY 26 funding, observing that the program is critical to many institutions and offers flexibility to address their needs and goals. They urged appropriators to fund it at $140 million in FY 27.
AACC/ACCT also expressed their support for increases to Title III and V programs and minority-serving institutions.
Other areas AACC/ACCT are recommending increases:
- $1.6 billion (a 10% increase) for Perkins Career and Technical Education programs, which are the largest ongoing source of federal institutional support for community colleges
- $810 million for Adult Basic Education State Grants, which help serve 1.8 million participants each year to gain reading, numeracy, English literacy and GED preparation
- $165 million for Postsecondary Student Success Grants
- $45 million for the Basic Needs Grants within FIPSE
- $110 million for Child Care Access Means Parents, plus keeping the provision from the FY 24 appropriations bill that lifted the statutory cap on individual grants
