ACTC could get funds for new building

Fed cuts threaten programs

Merger of LCC, CKTC increases higher education options

Funding loss could mean job loss for HCTC

Hopkinsville may move college classes to high school

HCC newspaper earns 15 awards at state contest

Women in construction: though not for everyone, it has its perks

Evening with poets set for HCTC

Senators criticize proposed abolition of education programs in President's budget

House passes bill that would authorize new grants to community colleges

Enrollment of students under 22 is rising at community colleges, study finds

ACTC could get funds for new building
Ky. budget plans call for between $14.4 and $18M for classrooms

ASHLAND -- Ashland Community and Technical College is in line to receive between $14.4 million and $18 million for construction of a second classroom building at East Park.

The Kentucky House budget proposal set aside $18 million for the new building earlier this week while the Kentucky Senate version of the state budget allocated $14.4 million for the project, Greg Adkins, president of Ashland Community and Technical College said Friday.

"It will have to go to a conference committee," Adkins said. "They’ll work on it over the weekend and could have something by mid-week.

"We are very pleased to be getting consideration for this in a tough budgetary year," Adkins said.

If the project continues to stay in the state budget and is signed by the governor, the money should be available after July 1, he said. At that point, Ashland Community and Technical College officials could send out requests for proposals for architects, Adkins said.

The project could be ready to go to bid in late spring of 2006 and it could take 18 to 24 months for construction, he said.

A.V. Rash, East Park executive director, said plans are in the works to build a new building adjacent to the existing building that opened to students last year. The college owns a nearly 32-acre site in the industrial park.

Gary Bradford, dean of workforce and economic development at Ashland Community and Technical College, said the 40,000-square-foot building houses the college’s welding technology, machine tool technology, electrical technology and industrial maintenance technology programs along with office space and labs.

"The number of programs and the size of the building we can build is dictated by the amount of money we receive," Bradford said.

The existing building also has room to train workers who locate in East Park, an industrial park just off Interstate 64 near the Boyd, Carter and Greenup county lines.

Ashland Community and Technical College is in the process of moving its technology programs from its site on Roberts Drive just outside the Ashland city limits to East Park, said John McGlone, a spokesman for the community and technical college.

"Our entire legislative delegation has been supportive of the project," he said. "This is the only college campus I’m aware of that is located in an industrial park."

The Madisonville Messenger
March 5, 2005

Fed cuts threaten programs

When Seth Baucum looks into the future, he sees himself on a college campus.

Since joining Educational Talent Search in middle school, he has learned what colleges offer and how to navigate the admissions and financial aid process. The Dawson Springs High School senior is now waiting to hear back from the schools he applied to — and hoping to receive an acceptance letter from his first choice, Berea College.

The future of the ETS program — offered locally through Madisonville Community College — is more uncertain.

It is among the targets of President Bush’s proposed 2006 budget.

Bush has proposed eliminating the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education program and the TRIO programs, which include ETS and Upward Bound, plus cutting other education programs.

If the plan becomes law, MCC would lose $1.6 million in funding for work force development, vocational education and college readiness programs.

The proposal worries college officials, as well as program employees and participants.

“There are a lot of students out there who don’t know about colleges, what colleges offer, how to do the admissions process,” Baucum said. “If this has helped me, it could help a lot of people after me.”

According to MCC, under the president’s proposal, the college could lose $976,244 for Upward Bound and ETS, $424,833 in Perkins funds, $195,000 for adult basic education programs and $15,650 for the GEAR UP program.

Bush has criticized the programs’ effectiveness.

MCC Upward Bound Director Bill Hailey said that opinion is based on a sampling of 40 of the 800 programs across the country.

“The past three years, our annual performance report has focused on numbers more than the previous years,” he said. “They’re going to find when they look at the numbers, it will be different than the national evaluation they did.”

Both Upward Bound and ETS target low-income students, many of whom would be first-generation college students.

The most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education shows 92 percent of Upward Bound graduates (2000) and 73 percent of ETS participants (1999) went on to postsecondary education, compared to 31 percent of all low-income graduates in 1999.

“I don’t think you could find anyone who would come out and say these programs aren’t effective,” Hailey said. “They are effective. We know it. They know it. The Department of Education knows it. The proposal is just that — a proposal.”

Upward Bound at MCC — the only program of its type in the state to receive two funding grants — serves 60 area high school students and 50 students at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School. The program offers academic instruction, tutoring, counseling, a summer camp, help with college admissions testing and more.

The ETS program at MCC serves 900 students in six counties.

“When we get them in the sixth grade, they’re at that age they need to be thinking about college,” said ETS adviser Melody Morris. “It’s kind of an early intervention thing.”

Advisers meet monthly with the students to discuss topics such as career exploration, goal-setting, study skills, critical thinking and communication skills. Students may tour college campuses, attend academic enrichment day camps and take a summer “cultural enrichment” trip.

Wes Ausenbaugh, now an ETS adviser, participated in the program his last two years at DSHS.

“I was in high school and I was like, ‘I can’t wait for this to be over,’” he said. “When I joined Talent Search, I could see college was a good thing. It’s not just another four years. It’s something that’s going to impact your whole life.”

Federal officials have attempted cutting TRIO funding before, but this is the first time a proposed budget has eliminated the programs entirely.

MCC is scheduled to submit its grant request this year for funding from 2006-11, said ETS Director Anna Leasure. The Department of Education has told local officials to go ahead and submit the paperwork.

“We have met or exceeded all of our objectives, which mainly had to do with retention and matriculation in middle school and high school, then postsecondary placement,” Leasure said.

During the past four years, from 77 percent to 88 percent of ETS participants at MCC went on to postsecondary education. That’s higher than statewide averages and those at area schools, she said.

Perkins funds have been used by the college to purchase technology to train students. For example, the money has purchased a wireless lab for information technology, testing and assessment tools for interdisciplinary early childhood education students, medical information technology software, digital radiography equipment for radiography students, human patient simulator for nursing instruction, and a heat pump system for HVAC training.

The budget proposal concerns Dr. Judy Rhoads, MCC president.

“There is no doubt that the Perkins awards have enabled Madisonville Community College to support the economic development efforts of the area by preparing the work force with the knowledge and skills employers need,” she said. “Without this funding, we would not be able to maintain state-of-the-art labs and classroom equipment with which to prepare students to be competitive in this community and in the global economy.”

Merger of LCC, CKTC increases higher education options

"Danville is becoming more and more an education Mecca."

Those are the words of Gail Vaughn, campus and community liaison for Central Kentucky Technical College. "We're taking away one more excuse," she said, "one more obstacle" confronting students interested in a post-secondary education of any kind.

The Corporate Drive location of the Danville school is expanding its scope, becoming a "comprehensive campus" offering both technical and transfer programs, making it possible for students to live at home and take a single class, earn a technical or associate degree, or complete the first two years of a four-year bachelor's degree.

What's more, high school students will have the opportunity to earn as many as 15 to 18 hours of college credit before they graduate.

Marketing the "Opportunity College" program to juniors and seniors in the region begins today, as 2,500 informational packets are being mailed along with an invitation to an April 14 event to introduce the concept.

Vaughn and Jim Kerley, president of the new Bluegrass Community and Technical College District, touted the benefits of the consolidation of Lexington Community College and CKTC during a Monday night meeting with Boyle County leaders in education, government, health care, community development and business.

The consolidation began last summer, the result of legislation ordering the inclusion of LCC in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. All of the state's other community colleges merged with technical schools during the administration of former governor Paul Patton, but until last year, LCC remained connected to UK.

"We are on track to truly be one, single institution by July 1," Vaughn said.

Kerley describes the merger as an opportunity to reach students who might otherwise choose not to attend college or technical school. He said that just 5 to 6 percent of Kentucky's high school freshmen earn a college degree within six years of graduation. "There's more work to be done," he said. "Every student should have the opportunity to go to college."

He hopes that the school will be able to reach students whose parents did not go to college, like his own. "My parents didn't go to college," he said. "They didn't finish high school. I know these students can do it."

The consolidation is expected to help students at different levels of ability and income. "Our students have an average ACT score of 18. We have smaller classes and more support. We tell them they can do it, not that they can't," he said. "And even those with high scores and GPAs sometimes need nurturing for a couple of years." The community college can serve as a "bridge" to the university, he said.

Kerley said hundreds of students travel to Lexington each day to take college courses. "We want to reverse that," he said. "Students can stay right here," working and going to school, perhaps earning an associate degree for less than $5,000.

The consolidation will help, Kerley said, but partnerships with high schools, colleges, universities and businesses are critical to its success. Discussions with Centre College and Eastern Kentucky University on how to work together have begun, and programs already in place to assist business and industry will continue, he said.

Of particular importance is that the availability of technical degrees are not overshadowed by the college degree programs, local leaders emphasized. Kerley and Vaughn agreed, noting that CKTC's success in technical training has resulted in high-paying, important jobs in a variety of businesses and industries for many local students.

That message is expected to come through in a name change for the combined institutions which is scheduled to be announced in mid-June. The committee charge of the process has dictated that any new name must contain the words "community" and "technical," according to the KCTCS Web site at www.kctcs.edu.

The Bluegrass district over which Kerley presides includes six campuses. Besides the Danville campus, there are three in Lexington, one in Lawrenceburg and one in Winchester.

Funding loss could mean job loss for HCTC
HCTC faces possible dramatic budget cuts

The Community and Technical College system is looking at a big loss if President George Bush’s budget, which calls for a dramatic cut in education funding, passes through the legislature.

In particular, the Hazard Community and Technical College campuses will be cut $1.7 million from their annual supplemental budget from the federal government. “Never before have we seen such drastic cuts at one time,” said Evelyn Wood, PR Director for HCTC. Indeed, if Bush’s budget passes, HCTC will be facing several possibilities, not only in budgetary processes, but in personnel as well.

By eliminating the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education program, HCTC will be facing an elimination of $788,930 in funding. The Perkins fund is used for the purchasing of much needed equipment for college students preparing to enter fields such as the coal industry and the health care industry. Some equipment that the Perkins funds pays for includes x-ray equipment, bedside simulation equipment, automotive materials and others. The Perkins funding is used exclusively for support of technical programs, and if the funding is cut much of these materials will be unavailable.

“The elimination of Perkins funds would severely cripple us,” remarked Dr. Jay K. Box, President of HCTC. In the last five years, over $3.2 million have been allocated to HCTC through the Perkins program. “This is not something that can be replaced,” added Box, going on to note that in order to gather funding to continue technical programs and to gather equipment needed for these classes, cuts would have to come from elsewhere in the system’s budget; a scenario that is neither being evaluated or feasible.

In addition to losing much needed technical program funding, two student preparation programs will be eliminated or drastically under funded as well. Under President Bush’s budget plan, $360,000 will be cut from the GEAR UP program, while $540,630 will be lost to the Upward Bound program.

Heather Musick, Southeast Area Director for the state GEAR UP grant, noted that the GEAR UP program will be completely eliminated in two years under the cuts that President Bush proposes. The GEAR UP program prepares middle and high school students for college by instilling knowledge about college level academics. “If GEAR UP is eliminated) students will have to rely on themselves and will have to take their own personal initiative when choosing a college,” said Music, referring to the fact that students will no longer be exposed to college campuses through GEAR UP, and will also not be exposed to what it is they need in order to be better prepared for the college level.

The Upward Bound program, which serves high school students in preparing them for college, will lose one-half million dollars due to the cuts, drastically affecting both student services and personnel. The program first received funding in 1990, and serves students in four counties. The Upward Bound Program alone stands to lose six full time positions and twenty-five part time positions. “It’s devastating,” said Venetia Strunk, Director of the Upward Bound program.

To put the cuts into context as to how the student population will be affected, over the past five years technical programs offered by HCTC have graduated 5,500 students with various diplomas and certificates. If the President’s budget is approved, many of these technical programs currently offered will either be cut dramatically or totally lost. Under this possible loss, the college would not be able to put new programs into place. Programs currently slated to begin at a later date, such as Ceramics and Fibers at the new Kentucky School of Craft in Hindman, would be lost before they started.

Dr. Box recommended that proponents of these programs call their senator or congressman or write them a letter and let their feelings on the matter known. "It is essential that Perkins money is retained," stated Box.

The Times-Leader
February 26, 2005

Hopkinsville may move college classes to high school

Citing a need to expand their course offerings and make classes more accessible, Hopkinsville Community College officials are looking to move out of the Butler Annex on West Washington Street and into the Caldwell County school system’s Marion Road campus.

School Board members spoke with HCC President Dr. Bonnie Rogers about the proposed move Tuesday night.

The college, she said, has concerns about using the upstairs of the Butler annex to teach classes because that area is not handicap-accessible.

“It becomes an accreditation issue,” she said.

HCC officials looked at some other sites in the area, including the Area 2 State Fire/Rescue Training Center on U.S. 62 West. That building, however, was deemed unsuitable for the college’s use.

The college ultimately settled on a proposal to use classrooms at Caldwell County High School after normal school hours for their courses.

Currently, the college offers about 17 classes in Princeton, she said. College officials would like to expand those offerings, particularly in general education/transfer courses, she said.

Moving to the high school would give HCC the opportunity to offer science courses currently unavailable at the Butler campus, because of the lack of laboratory space.

A move to the high school, she said, could also increase the college’s computer lab capabilities.

The current lab in the Butler Annex was originally established with computers donated to the college in the summer of 2000.

The college has twice since re-outfitted the lab with new computers.

The college would like to have more access to the Internet and other technological capabilities, she said.

Optimally, HCC would begin offering its courses at the high school this fall, she added.

School board members are not immediately embracing the proposal, however.

One factor involved is the amount HCC pays the school district to use its facilities.

“The money is kind of the think that’s holding us back,” said board member Charlie Watson. “We’re sure limited on our budget.”

The college currently pays the district $4,000 a year for a lease of the Butler annex.

Rogers said the college could probably come up with more money if enrollment increased.

Boyd added that the district had been using a part-time custodian to clean up the building and be present while college classes are in session.

That four-hour-a-day job costs the school district about $9,000 a year, he said.

There are also issues with the high school’s heating and cooling capabilities and costs, he said.

The addition of extra courses would probably not affect the heating/cooling system greatly during spring and fall, but summer could be a different story, he said.

The superintendent said his biggest concern, though, was that the school continued to operate safely and securely. “I’d feel more comfortable having a person designated in that area,” he said.

A part-time custodian at the school would probably be necessary, he said, to make sure things operate normally.

Board member Tim Kennaday asked CCHS Principal Jim Schmidt what problems he would foresee with college students using the same classroom space that high schools students used during the day.

Schmidt said his main concerns would be having the building clean and ready for high school students each morning and having a contact person at the school while college classes were in session.

Rogers said the college would be willing to furnish its own lab supplies, and its own computers, if the high school had a room available.

Boyd said the school probably did not have any extra rooms available presently for the computers.

He added that the district had previously worked with Murray State University and held college courses at the high school, though they were mainly graduate-level.

Rogers said the college already used high schools in Todd and Trigg counties and had experienced no major problems.

After a lengthy discussion, board members voted to table the issue until the board’s next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, March 21.

In the interval, Boyd and Rogers will negotiate the cost to HCC and its space requirements.

By that time, Rogers said, the college will have its fall 2005 schedule finalized and will have a more definite idea of what classes will be offered in Princeton this year.

The Gleaner
March 3, 2005

HCC newspaper earns 15 awards at state contest

Staff members from Henderson Community College's student newspaper, The Hill, earned 15 awards at the 40th annual Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association Convention held at Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky., on Feb. 25-26.

Educational sessions were held Feb. 26 and included presenters from the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Huntington Herald-Dispatch and the Ashland Independent. An awards brunch was held Feb. 27.

Students from 18 colleges across the state attended the convention. The Hill competes in the Division B category, which includes four-year colleges Bellarmine, Centre, Berea, Kentucky State University, Georgetown and Asbury, and four other community colleges, Jefferson, Hopkinsville, Southeastern and Elizabethtown. The Hill finished in second place overall in Division B behind The Asbury Collegian.

For HCC, first-place awards were presented to Greg Busby (Henderson) for sports game story, Wes Baggerly (Henderson) for sports photo, Tim Braden (Webster County) for comic strip and Bryan Blake (Henderson) for sports feature story.

Second-place awards were presented to Braden for comic strip and editorial cartoons. Scott Taylor (Henderson) earned a second place for copy editing.

Taylor received third-place awards in ad campaigns, ad copy, ad design, front-page design and special-section design. Todd Strawn (Henderson) earned a third place for photo essay, and Baggerly and Busby earned a third place for sports page design.

Anna-Jill Robertson (Webster County) earned an honorable mention for general-interest columns.

Two staff members and the two co-advisers from The Hill attended the convention. Staff members attending were Scott Taylor and Elizabeth Ahmadi. The advisers for the paper are Tony Strawn and Amy Riebold.

Ledger Independent
March 4, 2005

Women in construction: though not for everyone, it has its perks

Michelle McKee will soon be trading her serving tray and order pad for a tool belt.

Being a server was not part of her life plan but just like every job she's ever had, she's learned a lesson or two which will ultimately help her reach her goal.

Michelle is a graduate of the Women in Construction program. She studied in Covington but the program will soon be offered at Maysville Community and Technical College beginning March 28.

At the age of 22, Michelle found herself the mother of four children. Divorced and turning 30, she decided to go to college and enrolled in Morehead State University.

A test she took which gives you an idea of careers to choose from according to your interests and skills led her to decide to pursue a degree in project management. What appealed to her was the skills needed and the salary she could earn to support her family.

Her desire was to be successful in her career choice and she knew that as a woman in a male-dominated profession, she needed to know a lot more.

"I want to be solid in my seat when I reach my career goal."

With the demands of family and bills to pay, she put her college goal on hold temporarily to find a job.

In 2003 while doing some general searches on the Internet, she came across the Women in Construction program soon to begin in Covington. In the program she learned basic carpentry but the course also included OSHA training, CPR, first aid, plan reading, math and measurement and flagger certification.

Michelle successfully completed the program and joined the carpenter's union in October, 2003.

Most of her job assignments have involved working at power plants. She has worked in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

"In every job I've been the only female carpenter," she said. "We did have a couple of female laborers, but I have worked mainly with men."

From Day 1 she knew she had to earn their respect. No treating her like a fragile female, no holding the door open and definitely no calling her "sweetie" or "hon."

"I wanted them to respect me as their co-worker, not because I was a woman."

On one job she had to stay during the week, returning home only on weekends or longer if the job required working extra hours.

"I never went out partying with the guys on the weekend," she says. "I made it clear they could call me to come get them if they wanted, but I wasn't going with them."

The jobs were never easy and she quickly advises they are not for every woman.

"Sometimes I get really beat up and bruised from head to toe," she said. "And it's dirty work. You can't worry about a broken nail or if your hair is out of place."

What her supervisors expected of her as a carpenter apprentice was quality work and no whining.

That was easy for Michelle.

"I'm the kind of person who would rather die than say I can't do it."

Frequently, power plant jobs require her to be on scaffolding, once 376 feet in the air. She also often has to be able to lift as much as 80 pounds over her head.

Another perk is that with the carpenter's union, she has the flexibility of being able to step back for awhile, which is what she is doing now.

"I needed to be close to home for now," she said.

With no jobs close to home at this time, she recently started to work at Buffalo Trace Wild Wings, a restaurant that recently opened in Maysville. She's been pulling double shifts but hard work doesn't matter to her.

What she learns does.

"I've learned about dealing with people, both co-workers and the public," she said. "Those are skills you must have if you're going to be in charge."

Add one more skill to her list.

Last summer she worked with her brother-in-law and learned to pour concrete.

This summer she plans to get her CDL license.

And when her youngest daughter is a senior in high school, she plans to go back to Morehead and get that degree.

Her ultimate career goal is to build bridges.

In the meantime, she also plans to make an appearance or two when the local Women in Construction program begins at the end of this month.

"Single mothers need to make a good wage," she said. "I believe I can share my experiences with the class, experiences that will help them."

Even if it's as simple as telling them to add a tube of Chapstick and a bottle of lotion to their tool belt or how strength training really does apply to the job.

"Above all, I want to be a good role model for my children, especially my daughters," said Michelle. "When they were little I used to read them the story of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but I also added a little to the story."

Michelle says she told her daughters that it's definitely possible to get their prince like the story promised.. But after finding out the glass slipper fits, there's still laundry to do, floors to sweep and dishes to wash, no matter how happily ever after your life becomes.

Women in Construction, a program of Kentucky State University, will begin at the Maysville Community and Technical College on March 28. There is no fee for the 10-week course which is open to women and men, however, some criteria must be met.

Participants must be at least 18 years old, a high school graduate or have a GED, a valid driver's license and be income eligible. The program is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and is designed for low-income women and men.

Those completing the course will receive four college credit hours and receive assistance in job placement. No experience is necessary to enroll in the program.

For more information or to apply contact Sandi Estill at 606-759-7141 ext. 66119.

Evening with poets set for HCTC

Hazard Community and Technical College will host the 13th Annual Evening With Poets on Thursday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Bruce and Jo Stephens Library, located in the J. Marvin Jolly Classroom Center at the Hazard Campus of HCTC.

The evening will consist of unveiling of Kudzu, the college’s literary magazine. Selected individuals will read their works published in Kudzu.

Jim Webb will be the Master of Ceremonies for the event. Webb, a noted poet, playwright and sworper, is the author of Buzzsaws in the Rain.

Frank X. Walker will speak. Walker is an award winning poet and multidisciplinary teaching-artist who has recently completed two new poetry collections—Black Box (forthcoming, April 2005) and Buffalo Dance, the Journey of York, published by University Press of Kentucky. Buffalo Dance is written in the voice of York, the slave who accompanied his master, William Clark, on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. For his work in poetry, his collection of poems in Affrilachia has recently been nominated for the Kentucky Public Librarians’ Choice award. He is also a recipient of the Al Smith Fellowship award. He is currently an assistant professor of English and Interim Director of African/African-American studies program at Eastern Kentucky University. He is a native of Danville.

For more information contact Scott Lucero at 606 487-3200 or 800 246-7521, ext. 73200.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 3, 2005

Senators criticize proposed abolition of education programs in President's budget

Members of a Senate Appropriations panel grilled Education Secretary Margaret Spellings about the president's fiscal-2006 budget plan on Wednesday, asking her to justify the proposed canceling of 48 education programs.

"We're going to need specifics on why you have eliminated these programs," said the subcommittee's chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania. "Every one of these programs has a sponsor, and people are very concerned."

Among the programs that would be abolished are the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act programs, which provide money to community colleges to train students from low-income families for jobs, and two popular college-access TRIO programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search.

Ms. Spellings said the Bush administration had taken aim at those and several other programs because it believed that "they do not represent a critical mass, or have been an ineffective use of resources."

Under President Bush's plan, the savings from terminating the programs would be transferred to a block grant that states could use in a variety of ways "to increase the achievement of high-school students," according to budget documents.

But Sen. Herbert H. Kohl, a Democrat from Wisconsin, said the proposed shift would divert money from community colleges, which receive some $400-million annually under the $1.33-billion Perkins programs.

Ms. Spellings responded that community colleges would be "made whole" through two proposed new initiatives: a $125-million grant program that would allow high-school students to take college-level courses for credit, and a $250-million partnership grant program that would help community colleges train workers for fast-growing fields like health care and information technology.

"It is a different allocation of resources," she said, "but we do believe the funding levels are approximately the same."

Mr. Kohl also asked the secretary to exempt current students from recent revisions to the federal formula that determines how much a family is supposed to contribute to their children's college costs. Those changes, which updated the amount a family can deduct for state and local taxes when calculating their expected contributions, will cost thousands of students a portion or all of their federal Pell Grant.

Ms. Spellings did not respond directly to that request, but she noted that the department is required to update the formula annually and had not done so in more than a decade. She vowed that the department would be more consistent in the future, so that coming updates would affect fewer students.

Meanwhile, the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, defended the TRIO programs, saying that they have helped thousands of low-income students prepare for college over the past four decades. Ms. Spellings replied that local school districts could double their TRIO spending if they chose to under the president's plan, but Mr. Harkin said that was unlikely.

"These are the poorest kids in the poorest communities -- they have no say," he said. "I wouldn't think it's fair to say that local districts will pick this up."

Finally, Mr. Harkin asked Ms. Spellings to have the Education Department provide, by April 5, its plan for carrying out "Constitution Day" on September 17. Mr. Harkin said he was speaking on behalf of the absent Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat from West Virginia. Mr. Byrd inserted language last fall into a spending bill for the 2005 fiscal year that requires educational institutions that receive federal funds to hold programs about the U.S. Constitution on that day, the anniversary of the document's adoption.

College leaders have expressed concern that the provision could establish a precedent under which Congress sets colleges' curricular requirements.

Ms. Spellings said she would look into Mr. Harkin's request, but she noted that September 17 falls on a Saturday this year. "I think they're trying to work through issues like that," she said.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 3, 2005

House passes bill that would authorize new grants to community colleges

Community colleges could receive $250-million in new federal job-training grants under a bill that the U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday night.

The legislation, the Job Training Improvement Act (HR 27), would renew, or reauthorize, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which governs a multibillion program in the Labor Department. It passed on a party-line vote.

A provision in the bill would authorize grants to two-year institutions to work with businesses and local work-force-investment boards to provide job training in high-growth, high-skill fields with labor shortages. Half of that money would come from what is referred to as a "pilot and demonstration" account in the bill, and half would come from national reserve funds for worker-training programs.

As an authorizing measure, the legislation would not actually provide the funds it describes. For the money to be spent, Congress would have to pass a separate appropriations bill.

The bill would also allow governors, in consultation with state work-force-investment boards, to determine how much community colleges should contribute to the administrative costs of one-stop career centers, which provide labor-market information, job counseling, and training referrals to job seekers.

Under current law, all "program partners" that use the centers decide how much each user will contribute to such costs. Community-college officials say they have sometimes been pressured to ante up what they consider an unfair share of the costs of running the centers.

Community-college lobbyists fear that the proposed payment change would divert resources from other job-training programs they participate in.

The bill would also give governors leeway to determine how colleges could meet the legislation's reporting requirements. They say stringent reporting requirements have discouraged some colleges from participating in the federal programs.

A Senate committee is expected to take up a companion bill within the next two months.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 7, 2005

Enrollment of students under 22 is rising at community colleges, study finds

Forty-two percent of community-college students taking courses for credit are under the age of 22, up from 32 percent a decade ago, according to a study being released this week by the U.S. Education Department.

A report on the study concluded that traditional students "live on another planet" from their older peers, are more likely to think of themselves first as students, and have much higher rates of staying in college and transferring to four-year institutions.

"Moving Into Town -- and Moving On: the Community College in the Lives of Traditional Age Students" paints a portrait of a group of students based on some 8,900 transcripts. Its author says that in the age of accountability measures, policy makers and community-college officials must take into account the night-and-day differences between students of college age and older students. Student services and academic planning should be re-examined accordingly, the report asserts.

"First and most important to understanding what community colleges do and how to judge what they do is to divide their student population by age," wrote Clifford Adelman, a senior research analyst with the Education Department and author of the report.

The study looked at students who were eighth graders in 1988 and followed them through the year 2000. For students under the age of 24:

27 percent thought of themselves as employees who happen to be going to school, compared with 74 percent of students 24 and older.
29 percent were members of minority groups, compared with 24 percent of students 24 and older.
7 percent had children when they started at a community college, compared with 58 percent of students 24 and older.
50 percent transferred somewhere within six years, while only 18 percent of students 24 and older did so.
72 percent returned to college after their first year, compared with 49 percent of students 24 and older.
Indicators of Progress

In examining transcripts, the study found some indicators of degree attainment and transfer rates that college administrators often ignore. Students who earned four or more credits in college-level math -- like algebra, finite mathematics, statistics, and pre-calculus -- were more likely to earn an associate degree or transfer to a four-year institution, as were students who took summer courses, those who maintained continuous enrollment, and those who withdrew from or repeated no more than 20 percent their courses.

Furthermore, students who entered a community college directly from high school and those who held a campus job were more likely to earn an associate degree.

The findings "drive home the importance of community-college relations with secondary schools," Mr. Adelman wrote in the report, arguing that a stronger emphasis on high-school math courses and on encouraging students to enroll directly after high school would result in greater "academic momentum."

The report compared community colleges to towns, and students to a town's residents, and pointed out the degree to which different kinds of settlers -- drifters, long-term "homeowners," visitors -- participate in different aspects of its infrastructure and economy.

The study grouped the traditional-age students based on their enrollment patterns. There were the "reverse transfers" from four-year institutions; the "four-year drop ins," who went to a community college to take a few courses while enrolled at another college or university; and the "swirlers," who bounced around among a number of different institutions.

A copy of the report's executive summary is available on the Education Department's Web site