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News Affecting WESTOP Members

FAFSA, the Perfect, and the Good
Obama Administration Joins Efforts to Fix Remedial Education
Boost spending on programs that make Pell Grants work
COE/ Department of Education Update May 2009
Pell Grants: Glass Half Full
SSS Draft Application Release for 30-Day Comment
COE Update
California Calamity--Community Colleges Suffer
TRIO's Level Funding-What to do
Registration Open for CSU Counselor Conference

FAFSA, the Perfect, and the Good
June 25, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Like many a politician, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is at his best when he's talking off the cuff.

"This damn form was killing us," Duncan said to a small group of reporters after a more formal presentation Wednesday to the White House press corps about the Obama administration's plan to simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. He was talking about how big a deterrent the federal form was to getting students from low-income families to apply to college, when Duncan, as superintendent of Chicago's public schools throughout this decade, was trying to increase the district's college-going rates.

In part because of the FAFSA's multiple pages and scores of questions seeking personal and financial information about students and their families, many policy experts believe, hundreds of thousands of potential recipients forgo many millions of dollars of federal college aid each year.

That, plain and simple, is the reason why so many higher education analysts -- and both of the last two presidential administrations -- have made "simplification" of the financial aid form a major priority. (It's also something that can be done without a huge financial cost, something that can't be said about too many things in this town these days.) The Obama administration has put increasing Americans' rate of college going near the top of its agenda for economic recovery and progress, and that political imperative is creating movement on the idea of simplifying the financial aid process where it has been hard to come by previously.

But the previous inertia has resulted in part because there are potential downsides to FAFSA simplification -- most notably if information the government collects through the form is narrowed so much that states and colleges no longer have confidence in its validity and fairness -- and the ultimate success of the Obama/Duncan plan will depend in part on how successfully it avoids such pitfalls.

As Duncan and the Education Department trumpeted the proposal Wednesday with the high-profile appearance at the White House, along with IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, the information they provided left many details to be determined. It seems clear, though, that as with many policy initiatives important to Obama, the administration seems intent on making forward progress even if it can't go as far as some think it should. "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," Obama has taken to saying about health care and other matters, and the administration's approach on FAFSA simplification seems to follow that approach, too.

As Duncan laid out the plan Wednesday, the Education Department will, right now, make several changes that do not require Congressional approval. This summer, the department will take advantage of existing technology on the Web-based FAFSA to allow married or independent students to skip questions about their parents, among others. In January, the department will stop requiring students with low incomes to answer questions about their financial assets, and only returning students will be asked about prior drug convictions, since the question does not affect first-year students. Department officials said they would work closely with state officials to set up the electronic form to "make it easier to answer questions that the states need but the federal government does not."

January will also mark the start of the department's test of a system to allow students who apply for aid for the spring 2010 semester to retrieve relevant tax information from the Internal Revenue Service to help them complete the online FAFSA. "When you're online filling out the FAFSA, there'll be a button that says, 'Want to go get your IRS data?' " said Shulman of the IRS.

Education Department officials say that the test will see whether the process of using IRS data to populate the FAFSA is workable, and that by focusing on students applying in the spring, they can postpone the thorny question of whether to use year-old tax data -- which creates potential challenges for financial aid officers and students alike when families' financial fortunes change significantly. "We haven't yet made the decision about whether to go to 'prior prior year,' " said Robert Shireman, deputy under secretary of education. "This will allow us to give the system a shot, and look at the prior prior year question later." About half of financial aid applicants -- those who attend college in the spring and many community college and other students who apply for aid late in the summer, right before the fall semester starts -- should be able to populate their FAFSA forms with current year data from the IRS, he said.

Other changes the department seeks would require Congressional approval. Department officials said they would ask Congress to eliminate a total of 29 questions about students' and families' finances that are not on the federal tax form. Several of those relate to families' assets ("As of today, what is the net worth of your (and spouse’s) investments, including real estate (not your home)?"), and eliminating the consideration of assets for most students by abandoning those questions would be among the more controversial steps the Obama plan calls for.

Most states and many private colleges now use the federal needs analysis methodology to decide how to allocate their own financial aid. While a panel of experts convened by the College Board last year called for determining financial need based solely on families' adjusted gross income and number of dependents, some college officials worry that states and colleges might stop using the FAFSA -- and require students to fill out other forms to apply for state or institutional aid -- if they no longer believe the federal form gives them sufficient information on which to base their decisions.

"The question is whether states and institutions will consider this [revised FAFSA] reliable enough," said Sarah A. Flanagan, vice president for federal relations at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. "Better a four-page federal form that gets low-income students state, institutional, and federal aid than a one-page federal form that means that students lose state and institutional dollars."

Shireman said that if Congress went along with eliminating more than two dozen questions, the department would base its assessment of students' financial need on the 18-20 financial questions that are also on the federal tax form -- and a spokesman said the department would ask Congress to drop the consideration of assets for families with assets of $100,000 or more. "Most filers would not have their assets counted," Shireman said.

Flanagan said she was heartened that department officials seemed to be inclined to experiment with various moderate approaches to changing the federal form. "The key is to strike a balance," she said, between knocking down barriers for low-income students and sustaining the FAFSA in a way that is credible.

But others said the department was being too timid. "It's a step in the right direction, but much more simplification is needed," Mark Kantrowitz, who runs Finaid.org, said in an e-mail message. "The current proposals cut one page from the six page form by prefilling with income tax return data. But to have a meaningful impact on application rates it is necessary to fit the FAFSA on a postcard. That means simplifying the formula, not just the form."
— Doug Lederman

source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/25/fafsa

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The Chronicle of Higher Education Students
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i39/39remedial.htm

Obama Administration Joins Efforts to Fix Remedial Education
By ASHLEY C. KILLOUGH

The Obama administration has thrown its weight behind a growing movement to fix remedial education - one of the main barriers between millions of students and college degrees.

The U.S. Department of Education indicated this new focus in its guidelines for how states can use education-related funds provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While the department does not specify ways to allocate the money, it instructs states to raise standards consistent with the 2007 America Competes Act, which set a goal to reduce, and even eliminate, the need for remediation.

Remedial education "is such a drain on state dollars," says Julie Davis Bell, education-program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "The number is so awful in terms of students going into remedial ed who don't graduate."

According to a study by the Education Department, 61 percent of students who attended two-year public colleges from 1992 to 2000, and a quarter of those enrolled in four-year institutions, needed remediation. And studies show that students taking developmental classes are far less likely to complete their degrees, with only 30 percent to 57 percent doing so, depending on how many remedial courses they must take.

Most of the stimulus money will go toward plugging holes in state budgets, but Ms. Bell says reforming remedial education is a top priority for many states.

The need for remediation among recent high-school graduates has been a national dilemma for years. The debate centers on which institutions should be responsible for bridging the gap between secondary and postsecondary curricula: the high schools that graduate students, or the colleges that accept them?

In many states, both seem to be stepping up to the plate. Experts highlight growing cooperation between community colleges and their surrounding school districts to make students more prepared for college. Also taking part are nonprofit projects like Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, and Achieve Inc.'s American Diploma Project. The College Board's National Office of Community College Initiatives also began looking into the issue about a year ago.

"The government's on the right track thinking about alignment," says Stephen J. Handel, national director of the College Board's community-college office. "It's the right thing to do."

Working Together

El Paso Community College and the University of Texas at El Paso work closely with their area's 12 school districts to reduce the number of students enrolling in remedial courses. Using the College Board's Accuplacer test, the colleges evaluate high-school students for college readiness in their junior and senior years. Those with low scores can take short intervention tutorials, offered jointly by the high schools and colleges, in reading, writing, and mathematics.

The tutorials have produced results: The percentage of new graduates ready for college-level English and reading has increased significantly, and far fewer of them are placing into the lowest levels of remedial math.

"Sometimes students need only a few hours of refresher lessons to test into college-level work - not an entire semester," says Richard M. Rhodes, president of the community college.

This year the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board called for the Legislature to provide $30-million to offer those short classes statewide. Because of tight economic conditions, the state built in only $5-million to get the project started. "We're glad that it got the state's attention," Mr. Rhodes says. "But our stance is that we're beyond piloting. We're ready for implementation."

Raymund A. Paredes, the state's commissioner of higher education, says the project would not have received any money had the federal stimulus dollars not freed state funds.

As Texas works to overhaul remedial education, Mr. Paredes says, the early data on community-college and high-school partnerships have proved promising. "We'll probably encourage other community colleges to do the same, but it's not the only solution," he says. "It's not the magic bullet."

Other plans include providing better curricular training, and hiring more permanent faculty members, rather than adjuncts, to teach remedial courses. Texas also intends to experiment with developmental curricula by combining courses in reading, writing, and English - a method it hopes will be both innovative and cost-effective.

"There is nothing more important in higher education than developmental education. These students have high potential, but they aren't ready," Mr. Paredes says. "Every teacher at every level has a responsibility for these students."

In Florida, where 55 percent of students who entered public colleges in 2003-4 needed remedial courses in math, reading, or writing, the Legislature passed a law in 2008 requiring high schools to work with colleges to provide remedial instruction to seniors who test below the state's standards on the SAT, ACT, or the Florida College Entry-Level Placement Test.

In California, private foundations and the state's Department of Education have worked with the California Community Colleges and California State University to improve precollege education.

Some experts cite the America Diploma Project, started in 2005 by Achieve Inc., a nonprofit education-reform organization, as a leader in the momentum to advance college readiness. The project coordinates governors, state education officials, college leaders, and business executives from 35 states in aligning high-school curricula with college demands.

Remedial education could get another boost from the Obama administration through the proposed College Access and Completion Fund, which would allocate $500-million annually over five years for student retention.

The program would encourage grants for college readiness, says Daniel J. Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "There is potential that states and institutions will use some of the resources to facilitate college completion for students who are underprepared academically," he says.

No Adult Left Behind

As policy makers work to increase college readiness, they must focus on improving remedial education, not just eliminating the need for it, says Bruce Vandal, director of the Postsecondary and Workforce Development Institute at the Education Commission of the States. "It is often seen as a redundancy, a failure in the system. And they hate investing money in a failure." Instead, he says, remedial education should be seen as an economic-development investment.

That's particularly true when it comes to adults returning to college after years - or decades - out of school, he says. Improving the high-school curriculum will not necessarily reduce the need for remedial education among those students.

Mr. Vandal suggests that states tap into the federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, which awards competitive grants totaling $4.35-billion from stimulus funds to promote educational and employment opportunities. At least $200-million will be designated for upgrades in technology at public computing centers, including community colleges.

That money could be used, in part, to pay for technology-based remedial courses. For example, Cleveland State Community College, in Tennessee, and the National Center for Academic Transformation have seen success with a project that replaces traditional lectures in basic math, elementary algebra, and intermediate algebra with self-paced work in computer labs.

The stimulus package has also directed $3.95-billion toward Workforce Investment Act programs, which the Department of Labor expects work-force-investment boards to use to help postsecondary institutions, particularly community colleges, provide retraining for adults seeking to improve their occupational skills. Mr. Vandal says some of that money could be used to improve remedial education for returning students.

Colleges will need to make such improvements, he says, for the country to reach President Obama's ambitious goal of making the United States the nation with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

"We can't get there from here if we rely on the number of high-school students alone," Mr. Vandal says. "We have to work with adult re-entering higher education."
http://chronicle.com

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Boost spending on programs that make Pell Grants work

By Gwen Moore

Posted: Jun. 6, 2009

As Congress begins its work on the fiscal year 2010 labor, health, human services and education package, we must look toward providing critical funding for education programs.

Recently, much that has been said and written reflects the consensus that increased funding for the Pell Grant program is critical to keep the American dream of access to higher education alive. And while President Barack Obama addressed the critical need for additional funding for Pell Grants in his recent fiscal year 2010 budget outline, he did not provide additional funding for college access programs like TRIO and GEAR UP.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Pell Grant program is invaluable to the support of low-income students, and I commend congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle for continuing to make investing in Pell Grants a top priority. As I was a low-income, first-generation student, receiving a Pell Grant made a huge difference in my ability to attend college. But just receiving money wasn't sufficient. Without the academic support provided by the federally-funded TRIO program at Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I would not have graduated nor would I be serving in the U.S. Congress today.

To ensure that all college students are given the necessary tools to help them succeed in postsecondary education, Congress must take a two-pronged approach to making sure first-generation, low-income students graduate from college. While Pell Grants provide critical access by supplying students with the financial resources necessary to enroll in postsecondary programs, the federal TRIO and GEAR UP Programs provide students with the tools - information, academic counseling and personal support - that are critical to ensure that these students enroll in postsecondary programs, persist in their studies and, ultimately, earn college degrees.

I am certain that the roughly 3,500 students served by the TRIO programs in the Milwaukee area (and the 14,000 served across the state of Wisconsin) would agree that these tools are vital to ensuring their success in achieving a postsecondary degree and entering into the workforce. I understand the importance of investing federal dollars in programs that are accountable and efficient.

For instance, according to recent Department of Education statistics, students who participate in TRIO's Student Support Services program and receive Pell Grants are almost 10% more likely to attain a bachelor's degree than those students who solely receive Pell Grant funding with no participation in SSS. This shows that money alone will not solve the issue of underachievement of low-income students. This is just one of a number of statistics I could show you validating the life-changing importance of these programs.

What programs like TRIO and GEAR UP provide is the knowledge of what underrepresented students need to succeed in college and provide those services. Furthermore, they allow Pell Grant recipients to take full advantage of the financial assistance provided by their grants - and ensure that the U.S. government gets a strong return on its investment by producing a strong, well-educated workforce. The Pell Grant program has seen dramatic increases because of bipartisan support and increased college-going among low-income youth and adults.

However, TRIO and GEAR UP have not seen significant increased federal support to ensure that the government's Pell investment is at its maximum potential. The president's 2010 budget request, which level-funds TRIO and GEAR UP, obviously doesn't make this connection. It is essential to increase funding for these programs to protect and enhance the value of the federal student aid investment and to make an even more substantial difference in the lives of low-income American students.

As shown above, there are a number of statistics that illustrate the value and effectiveness of TRIO programs, but I know personally, beyond any data, how valuable and effective the program is - because I am a graduate of a TRIO program. I am positive that while tremendously important, grant money did not allow me to succeed in college.

We know the TRIO programs work, and we know that Pell Grants alone will not solve the problem. But together, Pell Grants and college opportunity programs like TRIO and GEAR UP provide an invaluable service to those students who are traditionally underrepresented like I once was.

Gwen Moore is a Democratic member of Congress who represents Wisconsin's 4th District.
An online version of the article is available here: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/47071027.html

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COE/ Department of Education Update
May 2009

I. FY 2010 Appropriations
President Obama has proposed level funding for TRiO. Will probably not see any action on the budget until September/October. COE will continue to work towards the $100 million increase. There may be a chance that we can get an increase in Reconciliation Bill if we are unable to get the increase in the FY2010 budget.

With the current proposed funding, COE expects that 115 current SSS programs (approximately 25,000 students)) will lose funding for the next competition.

II. National Studies on TRiO programs
The Pell Institute has put together a publication highlighting the Department of Education’s studies on Upward Bound Math/Science, SSS, Talent Search and Upward Bound. The publication, “National Studies Find TRIO Programs Effective at Increasing College Enrollment and Graduation”, which was distributed during the Policy Seminar was also distributed at a briefing on Capitol Hill on May 20th. There have been no studies done on EOC and McNair.

III. Department of Education Update

SSS Competition- SSS application released May 23rd. Application will be due in October. TRiO community is encouraged to submit comments during the 30 day comment period (ends June 22nd). Page limit is 65 and the application will be on e-applications rather than grants.gov.

TS/EOC Competition- Competition will most likely not happen until Summer/Fall 2010.

Negotiated Rulemaking- Dr. Byrd-Johnson thanked Council and TRiO personnel for their time during the negotiated rulemaking process. Although a consensus was not reached, it was a positive process. Department looking to have the first draft of Regulations in late August/early September. Hope to have final Regulations by December/January. Major points of contention between the negotiators and the Department, were the appeals process and allowing TS programs to pay for tuition when rigorous course work is not available. Department may possibly honor all agreed upon terms during the process.

Substantial Progress- Department of Education staff working on getting continuation awards out by late July. Staff have completed review of substantial progress for Upward Bound. Looking at number of students served and draw downs (waiting to the end of the year to draw down or drawing down large amounts at the beginning of the grant year). Will follow same procedures for TS/EOC continuation awards.

CAMPISS Competition- FY2009 competition, 300 applications received, reading is underway, there will be 119 awards. Expect notification of awards in mid-July.

Additional Funds for UBMS/VUB/McNair- $19 million for additional programs to be funded (will be going down the last competition’s slate. Only waiting for the Secretary’s approval. $5 million will go to SSS Grant Aid.

Department of Education Staffing- 3 Program Specialists have retired, there are now 24 Program Specialists with an average of 127 programs. Department is looking to hire an additional 5 Program Specialists.

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Pell Grants: Glass Half Full
June 1, 2009
By Arnold Mitchem

President Obama’s avowed goal is to provide an “education so that every child can compete in the global economy,” and in so doing to restore the United States’ leadership role by having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020. He’s recognized that one of the mechanisms necessary to achieve that is to transform Pell Grants into an entitlement.

The Pell Grant program is the sine qua non of equal educational opportunity. It represents one of the most important mechanisms developed in higher education to ensure low-income students are afforded financial access to postsecondary opportunities. By all accounts, Pell Grants historically have contributed to allowing millions of low-income students unparalleled access to higher education in the last four decades, and yet they have been vulnerable to funding shortfalls and their value has frequently lagged behind college cost increases. Therefore, proposing to make the Pell Grant an entitlement is a smart step by the Obama Administration. This constitutes a much-needed, long-overdue reform.
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However, unless the administration changes course, it is likely to squander this terrific opportunity for the United States to boost both its academic and economic competitiveness. The administration risks compromising this critical investment in human capital by failing to dramatically enhance investment in college retention and completion.

So the president’s reform measure, as it now stands, resembles nothing so much as a doctor’s prescription to treat a complex condition — in this case, barriers to postsecondary access and attainment — with a single medication. In isolating an important and necessary pre-condition — the provision of financial aid — but failing to consider other dimensions of this phenomenon, the treatment is doomed to failure.

Unless and until the administration addresses the full spectrum of causes, it will not achieve its goals. And until it takes a holistic approach to student aid, its enormous investment in Pell Grants will not be fully leveraged.

Simply put, the Obama administration’s definition of student aid is far too narrow. What is desperately needed instead is a more comprehensive view of student aid that reflects the recognition that low-income and first-generation students face multiple barriers — class, cultural, informational, academic, and social — to postsecondary education, and not just a lack of funds. Merely providing financial resources through mechanisms like the Pell Grant alone will not solve the problem of getting first-generation and low-income students through college. Congress recognized this more than a quarter of a century ago in the Education Amendments of 1980 when it proclaimed the principle that the TRIO programs were “an integral part of the student assistance programs aimed at achieving equal educational opportunity.”

“Without the information, counseling, and academic services provided by the TRIO programs,” the House Report went on to say, “disadvantaged students are often unable to take advantage of the financial assistance provided by the other Title IV programs, and more importantly, such students do not develop their talents by gaining access to postsecondary educational opportunities and completing a course of study once they have embarked on it.”

By investing in financial aid but not providing increases for TRIO and GEAR UP, the Obama administration is failing to raise the aspirations of low-income students and to equip them with the tools necessary to persist in their studies and, ultimately, achieve college degrees. Thus we have to conclude that in this budget, the Administration is, perhaps unwittingly, undermining its own policy goals.

There is ample evidence that financial aid alone has never been and can never be the “silver bullet” to guarantee educational opportunity. And the public investment in Pell Grants has grown so large that there is a real liability to taxpayers unless it can be properly leveraged. In fact, just over the last eight years, Pell Grants have seen a 214 percent increase in funding (from $8.8 billion FY2001 to $18.8 billion in FY2009).

Looked at another way, in constant terms, funding for Pell Grants in the last three decades has grown by 143 percent. Yet the disparity in bachelor’s degree attainment rates between students from the top and bottom quartiles of family income has nearly doubled since 1970, according to Tom Mortenson in “Family Income and Higher Education Opportunity, 1970-2006."

Through a comparison of college completion rates of Pell recipients who did and did not receive support services, we know that Pell Grants alone do not suffice to retain low-income and first-generation students. Data from the U.S. Department of Education show that six years after beginning a postsecondary program, students who have participated in TRIO Student Support Services have a higher rate of earning a baccalaureate degree (30.9 percent) than other low-income college students, regardless of whether they received (21 percent) or did not receive (8.9 percent) Pell Grants.

Yet the president’s budget continues the pattern of previous years of level funding. Funding for TRIO and GEAR UP programs that provide such vital supports to low-income and first-generation students has essentially been flat for the last seven years. By virtue of this stagnant funding as well as rising costs, TRIO programs serve 25,000 fewer students now than in 2003.

Here’s what we know for certain: This year, an estimated 1.6 million low-income students will begin their pursuit of a postsecondary degree. If previous trends continue, only 176,000 of these students will earn a baccalaureate within the next six years. And if the president’s budget proposal is enacted, about 20,000 students already in college will lose support services, thus increasing the likelihood that they will fail to earn degrees.

Is it possible that President Obama is ignoring his campaign promise to support TRIO, GEAR UP, and the first-generation and low-income students the programs serve across the country? During a May 2008 speech in Denver, then-candidate Obama said the key to improving the lives of American families was to “expand college outreach programs like GEAR UP and TRIO.” If these “promises” are to become reality, President Obama must act decisively to assume responsibility for students’ success now. America simply does not have time to “wait and see” while the futures of hundreds of thousands of low-income students hang in the balance. Their futures are our own.

Arnold Mitchem is president of the Council for Opportunity in Education.
Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/06/01/mitchem

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SSS Draft Application Release for 30-Day Comment

May 22, 2009

In August 2008, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 was signed into law and additional changes to the SSS program and the grant application were required. The competition was delayed in order to accommodate the changes in the new law.

Today the draft application package was release for public comment. This draft includes changes mandated by the new law as well as policy revisions necessary to manage the upcoming competition.

The U.S. Dept. of Education is requesting your comments on the draft SSS application, which is due in the next 30 days from today.

Written comments should be addressed as follows:

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Attention: Education Desk Officer
Office of Management and Budget
725 17th St., N.W., Room 10222
New Executived Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20503

or be faxed to (202) 395-5806

or be emailed to oira_submission@omb.eop.gov

Please review the attached information at your earliest convenience. For additional information, please contact Deborah Walsh at (202) 502-7694 or Eileen Bland at (202) 502-7730.

The entire package with a series of attachments is available at: http://edicsweb.ed.gov . Click on the “Browse Pending Collections” link; click collection number 4027; and then click on “download attachments” link to access the documents.

WESTOP NEEDS TO RESPOND

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May 27, 2009

Dear Colleague:

Last week, COE's Board of Directors convened in Washington, DC for its Spring Board Meeting. During the week, COE President, Arnold Mitchem, charged the Board of Directors to energize their regional and state memberships to take swift action in light of the Administration's request to level-fund TRIO in its FY 2010 budget. In particular, Mitchem stated that, when speaking to congressional offices, TRIO advocates must make four basic points: (1) President Obama's FY 2010 budget is the same as President Bush's FY 2009 budget; (2) Level funding will result in big losses in this year's Student Support Services competition; (3) Level funding will not provide sufficient funds for Talent Search and Upward Bound programs to meet the rigorous curriculum requirements of the Higher Education Opportunity Act; and (4) The proposed budget is inconsistent with the Obama Administration's stated goals of leading the world in terms of college completion.

In addition to several meetings, the week's activities included a congressional briefing sponsored by the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. At this event, Department of Education researchers Margaret Cahalan and Michael Fong discussed the findings of four national studies of the Student Support Services, Talent Search, Upward Bound, and Upward Bound Math-Science programs. (A copy of these findings is available here: http://www.coenet.us/files/files-Studies_Find_TRIO_Programs_Effective.pdf.) During the event, the following current and former TRIO students shared testimonies about how these programs positively impacted their lives: Sheyla Medina, a participant in the Student Support Services and McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Programs at the University of Pennsylvania; Tiffany Verdell, an alumna of the Talent Search Program at the University of Maine-Orono; Jamie Bryant, an alumna of the Upward Bound Program at Southern Arkansas University; and Julius Oguntayo, an alumnus of the Upward Bound Math-Science Program at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. These students offered wonderful presentations that greatly impressed the congressional staff in attendance at the event.

Finally, Linda Byrd-Johnson, Director of the Office of Federal TRIO Programs, offered a few updates on happenings within the Department of Education. With respect to the recently concluded negotiated rulemaking session, she indicated that the Department would likely publish draft rules for a 30-day public comment period in late August or early September and publish final rules in late December or early January. She underscored the recent release of the Student Support Services draft application, which allows for the submission of multiple grant applications from institutions that aim to serve different student populations (i.e., disabled students, students for whom English is not the first language, and students in certain academic disciplines). A copy of the draft application is available here: http://edicsweb.ed.gov/browse/browsecoll.cfm?pkg_serial_num=4027. Dr. Byrd-Johnson anticipates that the grant applications will be due in early October.

Thank you for your continued efforts on behalf of low-income, first-generation students everywhere.

Sincerely,

Heather Valentine
Council for Opportunity in Education

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California Calamity
May 21, 2009

For community colleges in the Golden State, things have gone from worse to worst.

The state’s 110 two-year institutions will lose about $825 million in funding over the next 13 months, said Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California. He added that, of this large cut, $200 million will be trimmed in the next 45 days. This drastic funding cut comes thanks to the defeat of a series of budget proposals, on the ballot of Tuesday’s special election, which would have minimized cuts to public higher education and other state agencies.
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“The last time community colleges saw funding like this was in 1982, before the Internet, the Americans With Disabilities Act and other costly measures,” Lay said.

Per-student funding will be reduced by around 11 percent, he said, forcing colleges around the state to turn away nearly 250,000 students in the coming year. Lay also noted that a “large number” of full- and part-time faculty members will be laid off because of these state cuts. Though he did not make an estimate for full-time faculty, he said he anticipated nearly 6,000 part-time faculty members will lose their jobs.

In one community college district struggling to plan Wednesday, there is hope that faculty layoffs may be avoided. Still, there is every expectation that courses will be slashed and students turned away in large numbers.

Constance M. Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, said her district’s conservative budget approach has braced it for the worst of these state budget cuts and will protect current faculty. For instance, she noted that, unlike many other districts around the state, San Diego currently has no debt. Even still, her district will have to make some significant sacrifices in the coming year.

“One of our big-ticket reductions is being carried out through a hiring freeze,” Carroll said. “Our philosophy has been to bring our payroll down by attrition rather than layoff. So, about 117 positions are being defunded, and we expect to do the same amount next year. The worst thing you can do in any organization, especially in higher education, is to lay off people. It takes a whole generation of faculty and staff to recover. We’d rather take the most draconian measures possible to avoid laying off permanent staff.”

Most troubling of all for Carroll and other San Diego officials, these budget cuts will adversely affect the one constituency that they have been trying to shield throughout these tough economic times: students. Even before Tuesday’s vote, Carroll said, the district trimmed nearly 600 courses, despite a 10 percent jump in enrollment. As a result, about 8,000 students were left on waiting lists and did not get into any classes this year.

This summer, she continued, the district will cut about 200 courses; it will also have to cut somewhere between 400 and 600 more before the next academic year. As the state has capped the community college’s enrollment growth to 2 percent a year, Carroll estimated that nearly 9,000 students in her district will be left without any classes to take in the fall. While there are plenty of colleges that boast about how many students they reject, these numbers horrify educators at this district, who view the community college's mission as providing access to a diverse and often needy population.

“This is a horrendous period for time for us and a massive public policy failure for community colleges,” said Carroll, who strongly advocates that California change the way in which it funds two-year institutions.

Currently, California Community Colleges are entirely funded by state appropriations and tuition, which they are prohibited from raising. In many other states, community colleges may levy or ask voters to levy local property taxes to fund their operations. For these institutions, this third revenue stream often proves more fruitful than state appropriations. The recent budget crisis is California has stirred Carroll and others to push for the ability to seek alternative funding beyond state appropriation.

“If the state is not ready to fund community colleges, then they should release them to take the steps they need to obtain funding and serve the public,” Carroll said.

While faceless discussion of policy changes and strategic budget planning dominates at the district and state level, the intensely personal impact of these cuts can be felt on the ground among officials who deal with students daily.

“We have done everything possible to keep these budget cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, but now we are out of options,” said Rita M. Cepeda, president of San Diego Mesa College. “By law, we are an open access institution. But students will come to our campus now and seek to be enrolled and there will be no courses for them to take.”

Courses once considered essential offerings, such as those in the core curriculum offered to students seeking transfer to four-year institutions, will be among those to have sections cut, Cepeda said. Additionally, she noted that some programs with a set of sequential courses will no longer offer certain courses every semester, as in years past. She said these scheduling changes will force many students to delay their progress toward graduation, potentially stranding many before they reach their goal.

“Whereas, at the policy level, the answers might be a little cleaner; at the college level, we cannot give up on trying to find more extraordinary ways to serve our students,” Cepeda said. “Our faculty and staff are seeking ways to do more with less. We’re asking, ‘Can you teach Saturday morning?’ and ‘Can you teach more students?’ Even students themselves are offering more resources to one another. Many are now sharing books, for example.”

Many students have come to Cepeda’s office in recent weeks, she said, bemoaning that the college is not offering the “one course that they need” at a time when they can take it. Cepeda said she can only encourage the students to “not give up” and hold on to finish their degrees.

“Some of these students cry,” Cepeda said. “Sometimes I have to almost hold it in myself. But, not one of them leave irate. They all leave saying, ‘I understand.’ It’s a resiliency they have. They’re amazing. I tell them that the financial picture may be dark right now, but the future isn’t.”
— David Moltz

Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/05/21/california

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May 19, 2009

Dear Colleague:

Over the last several days, many of you have reached out to the Council to express concern about the Administration's proposal to level-fund TRIO in the FY 2010 budget. We share your concern and we are currently working to launch a massive campaign to secure additional funding through the appropriations process, which is slated to begin in just a few short weeks. A vital component of this strategy is TRIO staff, students, and parents contacting their Members of Congress (particularly if they sit on the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittees in the House or Senate) and emphasize the following points:

1. President Obama level-funded TRIO in his FY 2010 Budget. While the budget lists a higher number over last year's appropriations - $905 million - this is because the Office of Management and Budget included the $57 million allocated in 2007's College Cost Reduction and Access Act to fund the 187 additional Upward Bound projects and last year's appropriation's increase of $19.9 million. These figures were added to our FY 2008 appropriation - $828.2 million - to achieve the FY 2010 budget request of $905 million.

2. His budget request is extremely short sighted. By funneling billions of dollars into programs like the Pell Grant program, but not adequately funding college access programs like TRIO, the President is not equipping low-income and first-generation students with the tools they need to successfully enter into and complete college.

3. Tens of thousands of students could lose critical services. Without additional funding in FY 2010, we estimate that during the next TRIO competition - for Student Support Services - at least 115 current SSS programs serving 24,550 students will be lost.

4. TRIO is vital to the Administration's goal of leading the world in educational attainment. In order to regain top status in the world for college graduation and to shore up other educational investments, particularly investments in the Pell Grant program, the Congress must afford a substantial increase in TRIO funding.

Next week, we will begin hosting a series of targeted state-based calls to help equip you in carrying this message to your legislators. Please be on the lookout for announcements about these calls over the next several days.

Working together, we can ensure that our government invests additional monies into TRIO in FY 2010.

Thank you for your continued support of low-income, first-generation students everywhere.

Sincerely,

Heather Valentine
Council for Opportunity in Education

Please do not "reply" to this message; rather, send responses directly to heather.valentine@coenet.us or kimberly.jones@coenet.us.

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Hello WESTOP Colleagues –

The dates for the Fall 2009 CSU Counselor Conferences are set and registration is now open and available. For your convenience, below are links to the CSU website and to the counselor conference site. Registration continues to be a reasonable $65. Have a great day! Marsha

http://www.calstate.edu/

http://www.calstate.edu/sas/counselors.shtml

Marsha V. Gable, M.A.
Associate Director, Outreach Programs
(Early Outreach, Early Assessment Program, Educational Talent Search,
Upward Bound Program, CSU College Corps Program)
Office of Admissions & Recruitment
California State University San Marcos
(760) 750-4872 office/(760) 750-3089 fax

Email: mgable@csusm.edu
www.csusm.edu/outreach

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DIRECTORS-

CONFERENCES-

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