▶ 0:06:28e e
▶ 0:07:06okay good morning the uh subcommittee will come to order and I just want to thank all of our Witnesses for um being here today and coming to testify before our uh uh subcommittee especially on the topic of career uh preparation and the importance of maximizing student employment and earnings potential uh look forward to hearing from uh each of you um from your different perspectives as to what you have identified that works for students and what we should bear in mind as we evaluate the programs
▶ 0:07:37in the subcommittee's jurisdiction uh an education whether it be a two-year whether it be a four-year whether it be other credentials it's likely to be one of the most um large large or one of the largest Investments an individual will make in their entire lifetime uh in fact it's uh an investment in themselves and uh it's an investment in their future students rightfully expect to get a good return on their investment by moving up the economic ladder finding a job and
▶ 0:08:07their chosen industry and been able to provide for themselves and also to provide for their families it's no secret that college costs can be high as I mentioned many of us have experienced this in our own families and each year the federal government provides more than 100 billion dollar in Grants and Loans to help students pay for college the uh Congressional budget office CBO projected that the federal government would issue about 90 billion in new student loans for 2025
▶ 0:08:37alone with roughly half going to undergraduates or parents of undergraduates and the other half going to graduate students um all uh in total 43 million borers currently have a total of 1.6 trillion yeah 1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student loans about half of the These Bars owe less than $220,000 about 34 owe less than $40,000 and these
▶ 0:09:08amounts are probably surprising to some because it's far below what sometime is featured in the media financing higher education both for the federal government and IND and the individual is a significant investment bars expect it to be worth it on the other side of graduation with expanded job opportunities and also with higher pay however it is that is only one side of the equation taxpayers also deserve to know that their money has been well spent
▶ 0:09:38for 2025 Congressional budget office the CBO expects the government to lose 18 cents for every dollar it lends in 2025 in the recent era of higher inflation which is brought on by a lot of unnecessary federal spending students would benefit even more from costeffective ways to obain the knowledge and skills needed to advance in the labor market College can and does translate into Financial benefits that make their time
▶ 0:10:09and their money well worth it but for too many it is not a experience and for many completing a degree is a very big hurdle according to the national student clearing housee Research Center the overall six-year graduation rate in 2024 was about 61% what means nearly two and five students who enrolled in 2018 did not finish within six years and by eight years the completion
▶ 0:10:39rate was only a few percentages higher uh so I think you would agree that these rates are unacceptable and uh we can and should be doing better for our students right now there are 8 million jobs unfilled in the country however that is just of with 7 million unemployed individuals looking for work while labor force participation among people in their Prime working years has rebounded overall participation
▶ 0:11:09still lags P pre pandemic levels and even then participation had generally been trending lower than just a decade or two earlier small businesses regularly report difficulty finding qualified applicants for available jobs and there are concerns about shortages in key Industries such as manufacturing especially if a mismatch between the in demand jobs and workers with the necessary skills persist
▶ 0:11:40thankfully there are Innovative leaders focused on student outcomes and I'm pleased that we'll be able to hear from some of those leaders today about what they have found in working uh for students including the perspective of Private Industry and colleges I uh think many of us have heard from business in each of our districts about the need for skilled workers and high demand Fields whether that be health care whether it be manufacturing or construction trades uh employers have a strong
▶ 0:12:10pulse on the current and the future Workforce needs and we will hear today from a company about programs that have developed to educate students and develop Talent I'd also like to highlight that we will hear from a community uh college that is in the district that I represent uh Wallace State Community College and it serves students from a variety of backgrounds and goals uh some seek a certificate others an associates degree and so others plan to transfer to four-year institutions
▶ 0:12:41some are currently in high school where they're du have a dual enrollment While others are right out of high school uh others are older and some are trying to change careers and have families and work responsibilities as well and I look forward to hearing about the continued success of um of this school Wallace State Community College and how it is focused on improving students outcomes including retention completion earnings and employment opportunities before I turn to
▶ 0:13:11the ranking member uh Miss delaro for her remarks I will introduce our panel of witnesses so that when we conclude you can go ahead and begin first we have Mr Preston Cooper who is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute welcome good to have you here uh his research uh focuses on the return on investment of different types of U higher education next we will hear from Dr Vicky carck a president of Wallace State Community
▶ 0:13:41College in Hansville that I referred to as earlier I look forward to hearing from an education leader from the district I represent and about how your institution uh Works to increase Student Success and we will also hear from Mr Dennis Parker a consultant and North American Regional talent development at Toyota and who will tell us about the successful approach Toyota has taken develop that talent and last but certainly not least uh we will hear
▶ 0:14:12from Mary Alis McCarthy senior director of the center on education and labor at uh new America whose expertise includes College and Career Readiness credentialing and Workforce Development uh I know you all are all very busy so I appreciate you taking time to be with us here this morning and uh at this at this time I'd like to turn to the committee's ranking member for any remarks that she would like like to make um
▶ 0:14:42uh so ranking member Doo um you have the floor thank you very much Mr chairman uh for holding the hearing on Partnerships collaboration between community colleges and the private sector uh that can best prepare uh today's students for tomorrow Mar's Workforce which is um a noble cause and one which we uh want to pay attention to my thanks to the witnesses to Mr Cooper uh Dr carola Wick Carla
▶ 0:15:12Wick great Mr Parker uh and welcome to the labor Health Human Services and education subcommittee and Dr McCarthy welcome back um uh not lost on me that we gathered today on the verge of an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education Monday night president musk's so-called Department of government efficiency terminated $1 billion in education department contracts in awards that includes dozens of contracts awarded by The Institute of Education
▶ 0:15:42Sciences that's the Department's independent research and statistics panel that tracks school performance Nationwide so without ies's critical work parents Educators policy makers are left in the dark when trying to compare student and schoolwide achievement Mr musk also cancered a national study on how we can improve Elementary School students math skills along with several grants to train
▶ 0:16:13and support more educators of color they are taking a wrecking ball to the welfare of children in school and their ability to learn it is unconscionable I believe in moral and it is unlawful uh that is only where they began because they are coming for community colleges next last week president Trump reiterated that his top goal for his secretary of education the L was to and this is a quote
▶ 0:16:44do a great job and put yourself out of a job end quote I refuse to let this hearing be a distraction from where House Republicans want to go the Department of Education is fundamental to the American dream and that will be demonstrated by our hearing today so let's begin today's hearing is on a critical matter how can we best ensure that today's secondary and postsecondary education students are studying entering fields that best line up with the
▶ 0:17:14job market that they will find when they graduate how does public education do better as a ladder of opportunity how can it play the role that it did for our Italian Irish polish and other parents historically I'm delighted that the subcommittee is revisiting this topic we last held a hearing on this in 2021 where we discussed evidence-based strategies to to support job Seekers including the strengthening Community College training grant program created and
▶ 0:17:44funded by this subcommittee we created this program in my first year as chair of this subcommittee because we know that community colleges are often best positioned to support local Workforce Development needs towns regions around the country Urban rural small and large community colleges are critical institutions for fostering an educated population a highly skilled Workforce they have the best sense of both the needs of local industri and the unique skills and talents of local students my district around New Haven Connecticut we
▶ 0:18:14have three community colleges Gateway in New Haven Middle sex in Middletown noret tuck Valley in Waterberry I've worked extensively with all three colleges for years seeing firsthand the transformational impact these institutions have on the lives and the futures of those that they serve not everyone needs a four-year degree but everyone does need the education necessary to find good paying jobs that provide Economic Security for themselves and their families community colleges provide a more cost
▶ 0:18:44effective option over other Alternatives I'm proud that this subcommittee has supported community colleges and Workforce Development in a bipartisan way in the past but I I fear that those days May may be behind us we are 4 and a half months past the end of the fiscal year without a labor Health and Human Services education bill that can become law but the funding Cuts in the year 2025 labor HHS education bill that has been proposed
▶ 0:19:15by the majority would take the wrecking ball to programs that help align postsecondary education with Workforce needs there is a proposal of a cut of $1.7 billion from the workforce Innovation and opportunity state grants slash Investments for youth job training adult job training programs that prepare our low inome neighbors for the workforce without these programs aligning students and adults with available job opportunities we will have a less skilled
▶ 0:19:45Workforce higher unemployment greater strain on safety net programs the also the majority has proposed to cut Student Financial Aid by over a billion dollars eliminate the supplemental education opportunity grants for 833 th000 students get rid of the 3 330,000 youngsters who do federal work study positions that help to finance their post-secondary education finally the total elimination of a program that helps student parents
▶ 0:20:16afford Child Care while they attend Community College classes that puts a further uh puts education further out of the reach for families that need it the most for their own economic security I'm disheartened to say the least to see my colleagues across the aisle take aim at the programs that help that help their own constituents Advance their education programs that grow local economies improve the livelihoods of families and when we sit down to negotiate
▶ 0:20:46a full year funding bill that can reach 218 votes which the House Republicans proposal cannot I look forward to maintaining this funding that allows working people to climb up the lad this committee this Congress should be focused on finishing the full year Appropriations bills we now stand less than five weeks away from March 14th deadline without so much as a Topline agreement I think the American people are demanding help with the cost of living the single
▶ 0:21:16biggest issue that faces them today and we can do that here this committee has the incredible power to change lives and to help the middle class we can help make education affordable make it easier to succeed in the workforce through our funding bills unfortunately the pressing need to finish these full year bills is not even the most urgent challenge to our federal education of uh uh priorities the Trump admin Trump Administration and maybe the musk Administration and his
▶ 0:21:46doge underlings it is unclear to me who's calling the shots in the White House are squaring their sites on the Department of Education the Department of Education created by an act of Congress funded by Appropriations bills passed by Congress signed into law ensures that no matter the wealth of their family that does not not have what they have in terms of their economic wealth or whether they have a disability or other disadvantage every single child in this country
▶ 0:22:17has the opportunity to obtain an education and dream for a better life for their kids it is the embodiment of what Horus man calls and I quote the great equalizer education has will always be locally driven in this country curriculum and other policies are best left to the states and to local leaders no one disputes that but the role of the Department of Education is crucial in securing the opportunities and the rights of every student in America instead of Shoring up our investments in American students
▶ 0:22:48president Trump plans to follow the project 2025 Playbook and turn public education over to the highest biders and to the wealthiest families fam and communities across the country are reeling from multiple crises in classrooms skyrocketing costs for child care prek postsecondary education learning loss achievement gaps educator shortages and epidemics of loneliness and school violence violence and they are looking to their elected leaders
▶ 0:23:18for Solutions the American people need smaller class sizes lower costs but the president's proposed executive order will bring the exact opposite this executive order is about creating a country where education is not a public good for the benefit of all of society but a wholly profit driven Enterprise this is about making sure the quality of education is no longer accessible to middle class families but only to
▶ 0:23:49to the privileged and for the descendants of the wealthy before the election Donald Trump said he plans to cut investments in our children's education and I quote cut in half get much better education in some of the states end quote no word on the fate of the children and the families in any of the other states and to the chairman who I have great great respect for we've worked together in the past you know I don't know if Alabama is counted
▶ 0:24:19in quote some of the states I am sure you do know this through the Department of Education because Alabama annually receives 2 $39 million for the needs of 100,000 students with disabilities $33 million to ensure there is a teacher in the classroom 452,000 lowincome students or 63% of Alabama's students $36 million for Career and Technical education Workforce Development
▶ 0:24:4950 million to help make College more accessible for lowincome and first generation students and for students with disability this in addition to the millions of dollars that go to Alabama students through pel grants and other education programs I don't know the details of the Alabama State education funding but I doubt if Alabama or Connecticut or any other state is ready to absorb the costs that are covered by the Department of Education
▶ 0:25:19rather the elimination of any of these programs will inevitably need to more students being taught by fewer teachers fewer opportunities for disadvantage students lower achievement lower economic Mobility lower prosperity for the majority of Americans who are not already well off and well connected less than two weeks ago I visited a title one school in Woodbridge Connecticut AMD Regional High School the students were in the middle of showing me their projects when President Trump illegally froze Federal funding
▶ 0:25:50for their technology and for teachers pay thankfully thanks for Democrats forceful objections multiple interventions from the federal court that freeze was temporarily lifted but this was just the beginning of a fullscale assault on public education meanwhile Elon Musk in his illegal campaign to take over federal agencies created by Congress has already infiltrated the Department of Education where he has reportedly accessed personal and sensitive financial information
▶ 0:26:20including for grantees so while we must continue to work towards F year Appropriations bills that can pass the Congress we cannot allow this Invasion and destruction of our government by heavily conflicted billionaires to continue government of the People by the people for the people cannot be replaced by government of billionaires by billionaires and for billionaires the world cannot afford the American experiment in self-government and our separation of powers across three branches
▶ 0:26:50of government to fail I implore my colleagues to fight to retain congress's authority over spending the Appropriations authority over spending and over the existence of departments and agencies that we created if it is the will of the people to shrink or eliminate a governmental organization and that will might be there then it is the prerogative the Congress and only the Congress to act on it education
▶ 0:27:20in this country is in crisis the Department of Education stands ready to assist state and local education agencies recover from learning loss achievement gaps educator shortages to help struggling families afford child care prek and postsecondary education as we will discuss today community colleges are an Irreplaceable source of economic mobility in this country so we must learn how to best align these institutions with local Workforce needs
▶ 0:27:51we must Implement Implement and stand up for the programs serve this need wherever this is wherever this is is a federal role to be engaged we what we cannot do and what we will not do is to retreat from our children's education Al together thank you and I you thank you Miss deloro and um now I'd like to turn to our Witnesses um you'll let you have five minutes uh to deliver your opening remarks I know you
▶ 0:28:21submitted written testimony that might be a little bit over 5 minutes so it will be included so uh we'll include that end the record in full so um Mr Cooper we will begin with you so look forward to uh hearing your testimony and you have the floor thank you good morning uh chairman aderholt ranking member deloro and distinguished members of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the federal role in post-secondary education and the value of different educational Pathways beyond the four-year college degree
▶ 0:28:51my name is Preston Cooper and I'm a senior fellow focusing on the economics of higher education at the American Enterprise Institute a nonprofit nonpartisan public policy research organization based here in DC for decades students and policy makers alike have viewed the four-year college degree as a golden ticket to the middle class but in recent years that consensus that higher education is a Surefire investment has fallen apart among other factors High rates of student loan non-payment and default have driven a collapse in public confidence in the value of college
▶ 0:29:22as a result college enrollment has fallen 12% since its peak in 2010 to be sure a fouryear college degree is still a great investment on average but an average is just that a large minority of students who pursue four-year degrees wind up no better off financially than if they had not attended College in the first place moreover a four-year degree is not the only viable Pathway to a comfortable middleclass life other promising options exist within the post-secondary education ecosystem but do not always receive the recognition they are due
▶ 0:29:52the payoff of a four-year college degree varies widely by field of study different college majors unlock different sorts of job opportunities and some skill sets are more in demand than others Majors such as engineering computer science nursing and economics tend to deliver very large Financial benefits but that isn't always the case for other Majors such as Fine Arts and literature but a students college major is not the only factor that matters tuition prices can make a difference when college is more expensive it's less likely that your degree will pay off all else being
▶ 0:30:22equal a degree which pays off when tuition is $5,000 a year may not be a good bet at $20,000 a year graduation rates can also make or break the financial value of college most of the economic value of a degree is contingent on actually finishing the degree students must graduate to reap most of the benefits but Nationwide only 62% of students who start college complete a degree within six years and 124 federally funded institutions have a completion rate below 10% the uneven
▶ 0:30:53value of four-year college degrees has led many prospective students to consider Community College or vocation school as Alternatives many certificates in the technical trades have higher expected payoffs than the median bachelor's degree moreover promising options exist outside the federal student aid system entirely for instance Virginia's fastforward initiative offers short-term training for industry recognized credentials in high demand occupations America's small but growing apprenticeship system also offers excellent opportunities for on the job learning
▶ 0:31:23with numerous studies showing High starting salaries and sustained earnings growth for apprentices unfortunately federal government subsidies create a tilted playing field uh between traditional higher education programs and other Pathways while students can use pel grants and student loans for traditional four-year degree programs and many sub Balor credentials statutory restrictions mean other types of programs are ineligible for funding for instance minimum clock hour requirements mean that short-term Workforce education programs such as Virginia
▶ 0:31:53fast forward largely cannot qualify for pel grant funding a requirement that funds only be used for courses that are part of a degree or certificate program means that some individuals completing apprenticeships or other on the job training cannot use their aid to pay for complimentary instructions finally uh new and potentially Innovative providers of higher education often cannot get access to Federal funding streams thanks to accreditation requirements designed to benefit incumbent institutions the federal government should not put its thumb on the scales in
▶ 0:32:23favor of the traditional four-year college degree or any other educational model however policy makers should also strive to ensure that all federally funded programs traditional or non-traditional maintain high standards with respect to student outcomes no single post-secondary pathway will be the right answer for every student policy makers should therefore aim to elevate high quality Pathways across the board thank you for your attention and I look forward to your
▶ 0:32:54questions good morning chairman adero ranking member delaro and distinguished members of the subcommittee as you know I'm Dr Vicki carlox and I've had the privilege of serving as president of Walla State Community College for the last 21 years thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to speak on the topic of career preparation and to represent Walla State Community College we are a nationally recognized Community College serving more than 8,000
▶ 0:33:24students each semester located in the heart of North Alabama more than half of the state's population resides within a 60 mile radius of our campus yet we are uniquely rural serving institution our region is a mix of manufacturing and agriculture including automakers like Mercedes and Honda and Hyundai and Mazda Toyota at the same time the college's home county is top in the state for poultry and
▶ 0:33:54cattle production and second for overall agricultural production my remarks today are intended to answer the questions of how does wall State help students to maximize their earnings and employment potential to maximize their return on investment and how have we maximized outcomes simply stated we focus on powerful Partnerships and purposeful Pathways Pathways to good jobs good jobs
▶ 0:34:24that pay a living wage many of our students are non-traditional they're single mothers working parents older adults displaced workers first generation and low income they need good jobs jobs that pay the minimum earnings required for economic self-sufficiency jobs that result in E social and economic Mobility those jobs don't always require a bachelor's degree but they do require
▶ 0:34:55some post-secondary education Beyond high school diploma and they are often middle skills jobs middle skills workers are vital to the American economy and to their local communities our Pathways work was Advanced through the the design and implementation of guided Pathways which included curricular alignment designed to accelerate students to completion of credentials having Workforce value in the middle skills jobs as well as toward University
▶ 0:35:25transfer the curricular alignment is closely tied to labor market outcomes and to our partners in industry and education an important strategy has been the creation of stacked credentials because so many community college students do stop out before earning a college degree latest credentials enable those students to leave the college with marketable credentials at multiple points in their progress an example
▶ 0:35:56of this practice is a student earning a practical nursing credential on the pathway to the associate degree for registered Nursing should that student be forced to stop out due to life circumstances he or she could still work as an LPN and make a living wage while state is very intentional about career preparedness along the lifelong Continuum from Cradle to grave essential to Our Success are the Partnerships that we cultivate
▶ 0:36:26with business and industry K12 universities Health Care nonprofits and government one of the most valuable strategies the college has employed to enable students to maximize their employment and earnings potential is work-based learning earn and learn opportunities such as apprenticeships and internships connect students to high value middle schills jobs along the pathway to completion maximizing their earnings potential
▶ 0:36:56at graduation through higher starting salaries one of the college's high impact practices is our encal Fame program Wate partnered with industry leaders to develop the North Central Alabama Federation for advanced manufacturing education and to create a curriculum that is aligned to employers requirements adopting the advanced manufacturing technician or AMT model that was developed by Toyota in an
▶ 0:37:27earn and Lear learn format and just as an aside there was a competition in Montgomery yesterday the Alabama Fame Summit and our student won the gold so we're proud of that because of our intentionality and focus on creating purposeful Pathways and Powerful Partnerships our student success rate is more than 80% this is just a brief snapshot of wall State's multi-layered approach to Preparing our students for careers with living wages
▶ 0:37:57again again I'm very honored to be here with you today my team and I will be back in Washington by the way in April to find out if we have won the 1 million Aspen prize awarded to the best community college in the nation we are currently at top 10 finalist thank you again Mr chairman for this opportunity and I look forward to this discussion thank you okay uh Dr McCarthy we'll go you next good morning chairman
▶ 0:38:27atol ranking member deloro and Este teemed members of the committee it is an honor to be with you this morning thank you for this opportunity I lead the center on education and labor at new America we are committed to expanding access to the middle class and family sustaining careers we have a large body of of work on community colleges apprenticeships youth Pathways and Career Technical education and this topic is very dear to my heart I have been working to build more Pathways to the middle class for well over a decade
▶ 0:38:57first as a member of the career service at the US Department of Labor and then at the Department of Education and now at new America over that time I have learned three big lessons on the opportunities and challenges to expanding access to the middle class the first is that the desire to to expand access to good jobs and family sustaining careers and to strengthen our middle class is broadly shared the understanding that community colleges and high quality Career and Technical education will be essential for making
▶ 0:39:28that happen is also widely understood and shared it's one of the best things about working in this space you can pretty much go anywhere uh red States blue States big cities small towns and you will find that most people want to see more opportunities for young people that aren't just traditional College in fact I imagine the majority of everyone's constituents in this room would like to see more Pathways into the middle class in this time of such intense polarization is it's a comfort to know
▶ 0:39:58that we still that that there are uh there are important things that we still agree on the second thing the second lesson is that in all my time working in this space I have never heard anyone complain that our community colleges are just getting too much money I've never visited a college that had a surplus of resources or that could provide all of the support services that they know their students need I have certainly heard College uh complaints about community colleges in particular particular about their completion rates
▶ 0:40:28being too low but these have just as often come from college leaders themselves eager to find ways to improve those outcomes and curious about the research and the third lesson is that when community colleges do have additional funding whether it's targeted grants like the strengthening Community College training grant program or the herf funds during the pandemic they put them to good use colleges use these resources to develop programs in new and emerging sectors in fields like artificial intelligence
▶ 0:40:59or electric vehicles they build new industry Partnerships and work-based learning opportunities create and staff the advising and career services that their students need and build highquality Data Systems that help them understand who their students are and how they're doing every step of the way so as we enter the budgeting season I'm finding myself more than a bit bewildered and alarmed by the attacks on education taking place right now first is the decision to Halt
▶ 0:41:29educational resources research supported through the institute for educational Sciences IES in my written testimony I provide examples of evidence-based practices for helping students complete highquality career preparation programs at community colleges we know these strategies are successful because they've been extensively studied subject to rigorous research and evaluation much of it funded through IES these Studies have been a critical source of learning for Education leaders for decades it's essential that this research
▶ 0:42:01continue second is the insistence that we cut education spending in my written testimony I note that current funding for Career and Technical education is less than what it was in 2001 and I call for substantial increase to investments in community colleges including tripling the investment in the Carl D Perkins current technical education program to $4 billion a year even at this level we would still be far behind what other advanced economies invest in their vocational education systems
▶ 0:42:31and well within our means most importantly it is critical to meeting the desire of the majority of Americans for building more Pathways to the middle class that do not pass through traditional IR education which again I believe all of your constituents share instead of increasing funding for something that most Americans support we are hearing that we cannot afford to invest more in CTE and community colleges or in Head Start or job training or weoa or pel grants because we need to extend tax cuts to billionaires literally
▶ 0:43:01putting the financial demands of billionaires and multi-millionaires over young people who need quality Career Education over middleclass families that need affordable Pathways to good jobs third are The Reckless threats to dismantle the Department of Education an extreme position that is well outside the mainstream public opinion I'm not a constitutional lawyer so I won't get into the legality of these actions which seem Highly Questionable but I can say with confidence
▶ 0:43:32that dismantling the Department of Education and relocating its various programs to other agencies will not be good for students in the case of CTE Career and Technical education and community colleges the tremendous improvements o in both over the last two decades have come primarily through strengthening their connections to our k12 and higher education systems making it easier for students to move from high school to Community College to higher education or directly into a career without losing credit
▶ 0:44:02or without losing momentum moving the office of Career Technical and adult education out of the Department of Education would be a step backward toward it would be a step toward the time when vocational education was disconnected from other systems and a dead end for many students as a last request I implore Congress to exercise its responsibilities under article one of the Constitution and Reign these destructive and frankly anti- American attacks on the middle class by the executive branch since January 20th thank you for
▶ 0:44:32the opportunity to be with you today and for your kind consideration of these recommendations thank you Dr mcarthy um I'm e
▶ 0:45:27through our T10 program we maintain a long partnership with the University of Kentucky that provides technology degrees in lean systems and uh Computer Engineering today however I will focus on a leading example of Engagement between industry and education developed by Toyota called Fame the Federation for advanced manufacturing education Fame is a career pathway program whose goal is to produce globally competitive entry-level
▶ 0:45:58technicians Fame is revolutionary first it reinvented the two-year educational experience at the community college level by reimagining the manufacturing curriculum the education delivery model and the classroom setting second it incorporates a deep engagement with primary and secondary education and a seamless set of continuing Pathways leading to bachelor's and master's degrees third Fame focuses on developing the whole person who can be highly successful
▶ 0:46:28in additional in addition to the technical education a robust soft skills component and a powerful productivity component or incorporated into a 24mon curriculum with students alternating days at work and days at school fourth Fame is developed and driven by employers this overarching principle dictates many aspects of the program employers choose the college most suited to program success help develop and approve
▶ 0:46:58coursework visit high schools recruit students interview applicants and structure on the job experience at the companies developed by Toyota in 2010 at a school near our Kentucky plant today Fame stretches from North Carolina to Michigan from Florida uh from North Carolina to California excuse me from Michigan to Florida in 16 states with over 45 community colleges and over 450
▶ 0:47:29participating uh company Partners States like Alabama Indiana Kentucky and Texas leverage the programs at multiple locations within the state at the national level Fame USA is led by the manufacturing Institute the workforce partner of the National Association of Manufacturers Fame in Alabama demonstrates the program's Effectiveness uh at developing a high a highly skilled Workforce with the $12 million Federal grant awarded in 2019 Alabama
▶ 0:48:00expanded its Fame chapters from 1 to 11 the program success caused participation to Surge now involving nearly half of the state's colleges and 125 plus employers Alabama became the first state to Pioneer a second Fame occupational pathway broadening the model's relevance with a third pathway under consideration in California Fame underscores its adaptability and success in addressing Workforce shortages across multiple
▶ 0:48:30sectors strategic Federal funding plays a crucial role in scaling Workforce training programs like Fame by allowing employer collaboratives to direct funds towards specific training needs these resources help institutions to build facilities acquire equipment and hire instructors critical elements for launching and sustaining high quality programs ongoing access to funding for Capital expansion ensures that the programs can meet increasing demand without Financial
▶ 0:49:00bottlenecks Perkins Career and Technical education funding used for equipment purchases and educational settings remains an essential resource in additional Federal support through targeted Workforce grants would further accelerate the ability to produce the highly skilled professionals needed to secure America's manufacturing dominance a strong manufacturing industry is fundamental to America's economic Prosperity I hope I've demonstrated how us manufacturing and education Partnerships can generate
▶ 0:49:31a worldclass Workforce pipeline this committee is uniquely situated to help sustain America's Global manufacturing competitiveness to keep our economy thriving the funding your committee authorizes can reinvigorate the foundation required to ensure America's long-term Global manufacturing leadership I very much appreciate the opportunity to testify the before the subcommittee and I would be happy to take any questions that you have thank you
▶ 0:50:01thank you uh Mr Parker and uh let me begin with you um uh I know uh Toyota has developed two worldclass Talent Development programs uh AMT uh which you described and also is T10 yes um I want say that right which supports Automotive uh dealers across the country uh despite the this um uh verified success in creating training programs uh Toyota relies on a decentralized
▶ 0:50:31approach uh to Recruitment and talent development um can you talk a little bit about the advantages of this decentralized approach that that Toyota uses uh let me clarify what do you mean by the decentralized approach well just as of opposed to uh actually one centralized location where use it you've talked about different parts of the country and uh how uh each um you know from California all the way over to Florida to Alabama
▶ 0:51:01and um just a little bit about how how that has been more effective than a top from top to bottom you've allowed the decentralization of that program thank you that's a that that clarification helps we feel this and this principle uh expands across this program and others in many ways we feel that the best decisions for employment and gaining the best fit for workers which feeds everyone's success are best determined by local plants
▶ 0:51:32working with their local communities now in a program like Fame we that's the one we referenced that had the scale that you mentioned in a program like Fame we have guidelines that all of those locations would observe but then in in applying those guidelines locally they would make those local decisions and they can best staff our plants uh with that local control I make all all right um Dr carck um many of have heard from U employers
▶ 0:52:02U I would say pretty much everybody probably on this uh on this subcommittee about need to find workers especially in a competitive labor market uh and there's a need to ensure that uh what students are learning aligns with the job demands uh and uh can you tell us a little bit more about Wallace State uh and how it L its programs and Majors to match what employers are actually looking for especially for the
▶ 0:52:32these in demand Fields um and uh second of all talk about maybe about students are they staying in the Coleman anille Coleman County area or the uh broader region after The Graduate um uh because they are connected to those good jobs that are in the market so you talk about those two things please thank you Mr chairman I be happy to answer that question uh the first I would say yes that our students because we are the community's college
▶ 0:53:03that's what community colleges are our students do predominantly stay in our region and and we want them to simply because we need that Talent pipeline for for our Employers in our region our programs are very closely tied to labor market outcomes we regularly assess the new and emerging uh careers we assess our top 10 top 20 occupations what the labor market outcomes are for those what the salaries are and we align our programs to that because ultimately
▶ 0:53:34we want our students to have those good jobs that pay the wage um I'm sorry could you repeat that question the oh yeah part question four is U the uh tell us a little bit more about how your programs of are line to to match what employers are actually looking for yes we regularly assess that labor market data and make sure that that we are teaching the skills that our student students need to be successful in the
▶ 0:54:04workforce and we uh include the earn and learn opportunities in there to the extent that we can it's it makes such a difference for a student who comes from poverty to have an opportunity to make a living wage while they're working toward their associate degree so those apprenticeships and internships we created a a nursing apprenticeship the first one in the state which is a registered Nursing apprenticeship which allows students to work two to four
▶ 0:54:35days in a hospital while they're working on their associate degree in nursing that is a lifechanging uh opportunity for a single mother uh and you know Alabama has Mr chairman Alabama has a higher rate of poverty than the United States we have a lower rate of Labor Force participation than the United States and so lifting people out of poverty requires being able to connect them to to good paying jobs and we do that through the earn and learn
▶ 0:55:05opportunities for the most part and as you say um you know just clarify that about your that your students are staying in the Coleman area yes because of the job demand and also just because they want to stay closer to home as opposed to traveling off so they do contribute to some of the out migration numb numbers that our Economic Development agency would report to you because if we um get a student through the fame Advanced manufacturing and technician the
▶ 0:55:35AMT program that we talked about if a student finishes that program they're going to go to work at Mazda Toyota or Honda which is a commute it's a 45 minute or an hour commute and so they out migrate to jobs that pay more and then they come back and spend their money in the colan Community which is what we want them to do but 90 I'm sorry 96% of our student body in the community colleges in the state of Alabama are alabamians where
▶ 0:56:05up to half of the universities are educating students from outside of the state and they're more likely to return to their home communities but ours are a part of our community because they're it's their home community so yes they stay with us well 45 minute commute around here is not not much at all so that's easy isn't it so that's um understandable okay um or thank you Mr chairman I I just want to just say I want to just thank you for talking about how in fact the
▶ 0:56:36uh uh Federal resources the grants Etc are giving you viable opportunities to help give uh young people uh a a pathway to a future and so we're grateful for that to understand the the value of what we do and it's uh and its success rate so I I than to you to both of my colleagues who the guests who just spoke but let me just because several of the witness you testified how weoa uh the training programs are vital um
▶ 0:57:06uh their Source they're vital sources of funding for Workforce training and developed and implemented at community colleges um and despite the needs for these These funds it's alarming um the the the the the bill that majority has come up with um 2025 funding bill a El minates the weoa youth job training program denied training employment Serv and employment services for 134,000 youth
▶ 0:57:36who face barriers to finding a good paying job that cuts to weoa adult job training would deny job training and employment services for 250,000 adults facing the same barriers Dr McCarthy explained how community colleges access and the utilization of weo funding helps job Seekers how would the ation cuts to the program uh proposed here impact community college students who are benefiting from the grants thank you ranking member uh doloro for the
▶ 0:58:07question and I will just say I mean eliminating the weoa youth program would just be catastrophic for many communities uh where for for many uh young people who are neither in school or working it is our public Workforce system that provides that point of connection either to school or to work or best of all to both uh so it's hard to even imagine how we could think that this was a good idea it's deeply self-defeating um at the center on education and labor at new America we have done quite a bit of research on how community
▶ 0:58:37colleges and the public Workforce system uh work together um and again you know these these are things that could be improved but community colleges and when community colleges and their local Workforce Development boards are able to work together they're able to really capitalize on one another's strengths um we've seen um some excellent examples for example in the state of New Jersey where the uh and Rowan College of South Jersey the workforce board and the Community College share staff and and the and the American one job the American job center
▶ 0:59:07is located on campus this allows them to work together uh and to leverage the workforce systems resources for building sectoral Partnerships and engaging employers with the community colleges a deep expertise on how to serve students um um particularly students who might need extra supports or uh developmental educ ucation in um Morris County New Jersey the workforce system and Morris County College of New Jersey are are are um collaborating on the creation of a a registered apprenticeship program
▶ 0:59:37that also leads to an associate degree perhaps similar to what you have at Wallace State the workforce system is is a little bit more closely connected to our uh registered apprentiship system generally than than community colleges so they can be an important intermediary and in the state of Kentucky too we've seen fantastic Partnerships between Workforce boards and community colleges just a very quick one and Jefferson Community and Technical College has a project based partnership with their local Workforce board that moves students away from the really short individual training accounts that are just sort of quick
▶ 1:00:08eight weeks of training and into longer term programs that lead to those good family jobs this is not the time to be cutting our our Workforce Development system we have we our employers face worker shortages people are having a hard time finding their way to those good jobs that's what the system is for and when it works together with community colleges they amplify each other thank you let me just ask u u uh Dr Parker here because I read your testimony carefully page four of your testimony says
▶ 1:00:38strategic Federal funding resources allocated through the workforce Innovation opportunity program plays a crucial role in scaling Workforce training programs like Fame and it sounds good Advanced manufacturing is where we should should be going but and that's a Workforce Development board it's allowing employer collaboratives to direct funds towards specific training needs resources help institutions acquire equipment build facilities hire instructors critical elements for launching and sustaining highquality high quality programs so um
▶ 1:01:08you what a collaboration that you you have going here if you eliminate weoa for job Seekers nawi what does that mean for this collaboration of you know community colleges and the goals that you are trying to uh to meet um with and I complement Toyota I complement businesses these days in in in that function it's now for the first time that we see business and community colleges Etc uniting to say what is the
▶ 1:01:38best course for a person to take to help them realize their goals so certainly at our Fame chapters that we have in the fame program uh funding uh for example that comes through or via weoa that's very helpful as I had as I had testified uh looking at the larger ramifications of what that loss of funding or that change of funding might be would be difficult to uh to estimate for any given chapter because again it it goes
▶ 1:02:08with that principle I mentioned earlier each chapter works out their unique chemistry uh that they have uh certainly Federal funding is very important to what we do it helps us to accomplish outcomes we would be uh paying a lot of interested attention to uh how that continues to be orchestrated I'm not sure I can uh I could give an answer that would be exactly true or exactly representative for every chapter's situation
▶ 1:02:38thank you I think I think we've done well at the federal level and app you know being able to appropriate dollars uh that allow youngsters and single parents as you've talked about probably mostly women uh that can can climb that ladder climb that ladder to success thank you very very much and thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Cooper uh you in your testimony talked about Virginia fast forward
▶ 1:03:09a program I believe that you're familiar with uh that gives a credential for Workforce Development in high demand areas you also mentioned the pel program the pel grant really doesn't have the flexibility to be used in a program like that is that accurate that's right so the pel grant program has a minimum of 15 weeks that the programs that needs to be funded need to be at least 15 weeks in duration and
▶ 1:03:39at least 600 clock hours but a number of the uh short-term training programs that lead to Industry recognized credentials that Virginia fast forward uh supports are not eligible for pill grant funding because of that restriction so if you were going to design a new pel criteria that would give that kind of flexibility uh how would you design that I would certainly uh lower the uh the minimum uh number of weeks the minimum number of clock hours we could probably have a debate about the exact number the uh
▶ 1:04:09bipartisan Workforce pel act uh says 150 clock hours eight weeks uh which would allow some Virginia fast forward programs but not all uh but I would also argue that that would have to be paired with a some sort of outcomes Benchmark to ensure that we're funding high quality programs okay thank you uh Dr carlox um what are your thoughts on this topic because I hear quite often from people that we'd like to have more flexibility in the pel Grant and and I know you know there
▶ 1:04:39we made it year round uh gave a little bit more flexibility but do you have any thoughts on on that I do as a matter of fact um the year round p has been a Lifeline for most of our of our students more than half of our students uh reive knee- based financial aid uh because as I said earlier we serve rural Alabama and many parts of rural Alabama are in poverty so one thought in particular an example that I could suggest is like
▶ 1:05:09a commercial truck driving program so a living wage in the state of Alabama in our region is considered about $40,000 a year so we train um commercial truck driving classes on a non-credit basis but we call it Workforce credit because every credit counts um and and it's about a four to five week program so there's no way to to have pel um provi provide for paying for that tuition so students have
▶ 1:05:40to figure out how to come up with it themselves and that's very difficult for some of them to do but how life-changing would that be to fund a program that has a more narrow number of hours a more narrow number of weeks to be able to to put a student or a graduate in a a living wage job the average earnings for a commercial truck driver at entry level in the state of Alabama exceeds $60,000 that's life-changing for um you know for a single parent so while estate
▶ 1:06:10started a program that's um that seeks to train persons who are wheelchair bound or use a wheelchair um one of our most recent students came to us from the state of Colorado he learned about our program he was a veteran he was hurt um paralyzed and he came to us to to uh re-enter the commercial truck driving world we trained him and on the day that he graduated he had a job offer and so that's
▶ 1:06:40that's lifechanging so shortterm programs of a certain number of weeks and with certain kinds of outcomes I very much support that I very much support that because it it's not in a student's best interest to take a truck driving program and make it a 15we program and I have seen that happen simply so that a student could be eligible for federal pill Grant and if I could follow up with you you mentioned you're always assessing kind of what the workforce needs are how
▶ 1:07:10what tools do you use to do those assessments we have national and local labor market data so we study all of the different regions in state of Alabama the workforce regions and we have very specific labor market data about that so we look at professions that are Contracting professions that are growing the high wage high demand professions and we make sure that our programs are aligned with that but not only the programmatic alignment but also the curricular alignment so that we are teaching the skills that employers
▶ 1:07:41need most and then Mr Parker I just wanted to follow up with you on from an employer standpoint and the collaboration that you have um with respect to the pel grant uh are you finding that greater flexibility would create more options for you or is that not really a it would yeah it would absolutely create additional options in my testimony I noted that there are additional occupational Pathways
▶ 1:08:11being uh developed with Fame and I'm just using Fame as an example you know there's many valuable programs out there these principles would apply to uh some of those occupational Pathways would take significantly less time to train uh and for the preparation uh uh completion to be attained and when we reach those and begin developing those having more flexibility in uh those grants and who's eligible would uh certainly be very helpful okay thank you thank you
▶ 1:08:41Mr chairman I back thank you very much Mr chairman first uh I want to adopt the remarks that Mr deloro made in the opening comments uh she made I think all of us on this committee I I presume are supporters of Community College its objectives and its role that it plays in ensuring that
▶ 1:09:12we have skills trading in America we're going to be competitive worldwide I I've been pressing an agenda since 2010 when I was majority leader called Make It in America which simply means both making sure we make things in America including services but also that we succeed in America you make it um the three major components of that program that I set forth were
▶ 1:09:42U Education and Training uh infrastructure and Entrepreneurship making sure people know how to go into a small business that they can then grow into a large business and be successful in um at the same time we're having a hearing on things I think that most of us support what we're not having a hearing on is the undermining of uh
▶ 1:10:12the separation of powers the checks and balances and the ability of Congress to set policy and have that policy carried out we essentially seem to be governing by executive order um both IND involving legislative and executive responsibilities uh personally Mr chairman I think we're ought to have hearings on that frankly for the last 70 years may be longer
▶ 1:10:43the authority of the Congress of the United States over those years has been diminishing uh and creting to the executive greater and greater power under both Dem Democrats Franklin Roosevelt on forward I think that's a that's a challenge for country uh and I think what is happening today demands frankly Mr chairman that we have hearings on the usurpation
▶ 1:11:14unconstitutionally and illegally of the powers of the Congress of the United States which of course under article one are the policy makers and the policy is supposed to be carried out by the president of the United States now having said that I'm a big supporter of community colleges as a matter of fact the community college in Prince George County which abuts the District of Columbia was started in the same high school that I graduated from at night in 1957 I was elected to the state senate 1966
▶ 1:11:45and participated in the formation of the community college system in the 1960s uh and and a very strong supporter and in fact I have two community colleges in my uh District that have over 40,000 students I don't miss W M Carol doctor how many students do you have about 8 so substantial size yeah substantial size
▶ 1:12:15um and they provide a service Mr Cooper let me ask you a yes or no but you can expand on it do you believe the federal government has a role in assuring that these community colleges which have been created all over the country do in fact lead to us being having more a competitive stature because we are training people for the jobs that are needed to be done in a country
▶ 1:12:46uh like America to be competitive yes uh I believe that and I also believe that uh we see students actually voting with their feet going to community colleges that are providing direct Pathways into the labor force community colleges with a vocational orientation saw a 14% increase in student enrollment just in the last year thank you very much I share that view um and I want to ask Dr McCarthy Dr and and perhaps Dr C you as well matter of fact
▶ 1:13:16is it Dr Parker it's Mr Parker oh uh but I appreciate the promotion I'm I'm prepared to follow those the uh appellation of doctor but in any event all three of you might mention how can we better coordinate and you're all coordinating because the workforce is changing so rapidly in America and indeed throughout the world to make sure that we are keeping up with offerings of uh that are relevant
▶ 1:13:46not today but five 10 15 years from today yeah that is one of the one of the biggest challenges I think that our community colleges and just Local Economic Development uh agencies face and I think um the best way to do that is you know when when when institutions have resources to be able to do the kind of labor market research uh needed that they're able to get out in front of those we are supporting a group of community colleges colleges that are part of the National
▶ 1:14:16Science foundation's Regional Innovation engines these are investments in Regional uh economies around the country that are building next gener ation Technologies and community colleges are are part of those consorti along with their University partners and other Economic Development agencies so we need to fund Partnerships and we need to to to give community colleges the resources they need to be able to look around the corner Dr dror yes sir thank you um I would say continue doing what
▶ 1:14:46Congress has been doing over the years I can give you examples of uh sources of funds that have really transformed the way that that we serve students one of those is most recently the work Grant the workforce opportunities for Rural communities we used those funds and leveraged other funds to begin a diesel by distance program and we're in north Alabama as you recall so uh our diesel by distance program was developed in an online format with virtual reality
▶ 1:15:17simulations and then just in time learning so that students when they finish their uh lab portions and they could then they also had earn and learn opportunities but when they finished their lab portions of the curriculum they could schedule time with us uh on nights or weekends to come and do lab check offs we would not have been able to do that without the funding provided through the work Grant so another example is through uh the TAC Grant many of you might remember the TAC Grant from many years ago
▶ 1:15:47we started our very first um delving into curriculum development with uh virtual reality and simulation simulations have changed the face of of Nursing education today title three uh we're a caring campus and we used our title 3 funds uh the last couple of years to develop that model for being caring campus and serving the holistic needs of our students so the things that you have been doing are the things that I would recommend that you continue to do because they
▶ 1:16:21work I think one of the most important uh answers uh to this one of the most important Solutions not the only solution is to more highly engage Employers in the process so looking at the coordination how we can better cooperate uh and so where you have where you have employers uh leading the activity or leading leading the program they are by the very nature of what they're doing they're involved
▶ 1:16:51they're engaged and they're helping to make things happen and when you look at where the churn of the economy occurs it occurs in the workplace with that employer engagement you're going to have you will have better communication between them and education that in turn will produce stronger programs better prepared students and that will complete a cycle into the place of work where they will produce better work with stronger outcomes good for the American economy good for the local economy uh the key I
▶ 1:17:21think is how do you get that employer engagement to become the glue for those activities thank you Mr chairman um it truly warms my heart when we're when our educational institutions and private sectors uh partner together to ensure students are ready and fully prepared to meet a critical Workforce need public private Partnerships are the answer and I'm so excited about today's hearing and and
▶ 1:17:51I want to share I want to brag a little bit about my own District I want example happening in my own backyard is Louisiana Delta Community College came together with the Northeast Louisiana power cooperative and Workforce Development board 83 to create an intensive 16-week program that feels a critical need for line workers in the energy sector and you can imagine in Louisiana we desperately need those and this highquality short-term Workforce training program graduated their first cohort of 10 students last fall a new Co cohort of six students
▶ 1:18:22just completed their training last week and a third cohort is expected to begin in March the ldcc program benefits from direct funding from our committee supplemental State funding and additional resources for equipment and scholarships through several electric and power companies including Intergy Northeast Louisiana power cooperative and Chain Electric there are four total programs like this one across the state of of Louisiana I am a strong advocate for Career and Technical education funding and a variety of other Workforce programs
▶ 1:18:52and hopefully one day we can come together and in agreement expand pale grants for these types of short-term Workforce programs that we've already discussed um my first question is to you uh Dr carlox you come from a rural area of Alabama similar to mine I imagine your community college as well as students face different challenges than institutions located in urban areas as I visited these schools throughout my district I've heard they often do not have the financial resources to hire professional grant
▶ 1:19:22writers to help them through a complex and burdensome Grant process is this something that your institution is facing and how can we be better Partners in helping you identify grants um thank you uh congresswoman Leto uh my institution particularly is not facing a crisis with regard to grant writers we've we've been very successful in the grant space over the years uh but I do know other institutions in the state of Alabama are because they have finite
▶ 1:19:53resources and they just don't have the the funds to be able to staff that position uh we've tried to address that in the state of Alabama through our system office by by sharing Grant Riders uh that are employed at the system level to help them Reach into uh the grant space and so to the extent that you could help sure that would be useful yeah very much so it's it's my concern that uh the money is not reaching the rural communities as it's intended I was encouraged to hear that you are
▶ 1:20:23um using some of the programs especially the Department of Labor's Workforce opportunity for Rural communities and other rural focused priority areas with grants um do you feel like these programs help level the playing field to make sure that that money is getting to rural areas as opposed to Urban absolutely um we serve a 4Count area and we have 8,400 students in fall semester the population of the town our hometown is 3,300 we serve
▶ 1:20:54another County Winston County uh chairman atol knows it well know knows it well um there are problems with Transportation there are problems with child care we are in the middle of a child care desert so if you are a single mother like the diesel by distance program that I mentioned a minute ago our very first student enrolling in that program once we we developed it was a single mother from South Alabama who was Place bound and that Grant and our
▶ 1:21:24development of the curriculum that would meet her where she was changed her life because not only did she achieve her dream if you will of becoming a a diesel technician but she uh it led to intergenerational change for her family sure and so that's where the the greatest impact has made in in rural Winston County uh it's about a 55 minute drive to our campus if a student does not have a car they certainly can't get to campus so making
▶ 1:21:55learning accessible to them makes a lifetime difference to to them and to their family sure thank you for your response looks like I'm running out of time I yield back Mr chairman uh thank you Mr chairman thanks to the panelists um you know unfortunately and this is not directed to the chairman but to perhaps what we're doing in Congress right now there's an incredible Congressional tone deafness to the moment that we all are in I mean
▶ 1:22:25we literally are raking leaves while there's a forest fire behind us and ignoring what's actually all going on um and having a hearing like this today when uh we have this incredibly slow pace of bills before Congress yesterday we voted on a PQ and a rule not even a bill a PQ and a rule because we are so unaware of the surroundings around uh Congress we have no continuing resolution after March 14th to fund the government but we're debating about whether or not someone's at the table
▶ 1:22:55uh or not instead uh we just finally got a Reconciliation bill this morning which is already within minutes Dead on Arrival because one of your members already said that it's not uh going to happen and you can't give up more than one vote so uh that process is for not uh we've got agencies being dismantled by an unelected billionaire and a guy named Big Balls um while we're sitting here having a hearing unrelated to everything that's happening around us the chairman of the Appropriations committee who I have great respect
▶ 1:23:25for was asked uh by a reporter uh about the freeze that's being put on by federal uh agencies Again by this unelected billionaire and a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds and uh he responded I'm not a lawyer I can't pontificate what's legal but I suspect what's happening is what most Republicans would be supportive of Appropriations is not a law it's the directive of Congress the Constitution Mr chairman the Constitution actually says no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in the consequence of Appropriations
▶ 1:23:56made by law we refer to the last year's minibus agreement uh as public law 11842 so we're ignoring reality on a regular basis here and I apologize to the panelists who came here because you're all talking about very important things but we're ignoring the complete reality of everything going on around us in addition uh to this um process and abating what Appropriations is even about uh we've got a
▶ 1:24:26constitutional crisis on the horizon we've got a court orders telling us that we uh have to allow usaid employees back and we're still turning them back at the door and we have no resolution to that this is what our everyday existence is in Congress and we're having a conversation about counting the Pebbles uh on a beach while there's a tsunami on horizon so no offense to the panelist because you are here on important issues I'm an employer I've
▶ 1:24:56been for 37 years but man talk about tonee right I mean we are ignoring the most important things impacting Congress and having hearings like this while we're basically saying the Appropriations Committee doesn't matter because there's an unelected billionaire that's going to do our job for us and by the way an unelected billionaire who has Federal contracts over2 billion of federal contracts which is nothing but leading to into corruption as members of Congress we can't have
▶ 1:25:26a federal contract as a federal employee you can't have one related to anything you do and this guy's right now sitting on $3 billion plus undisclosed contracts while he's turning on and off the levers of funding for federal agencies and we're talking about whether or not we've got enough people for the workforce and whether higher education is Affordable enough so please uh give me a little patience with this if you will but I want to make sure I'm utilizing your time can you answer this um will any of these things help
▶ 1:25:56lead us to lowering the cost of higher education or for that matter eggs or milk or help us get more people in the workforce so far here's what's happened uh We've cut funding to poor people across the world um we've got someone stealing our data uh who's an unelected bureaucrat right now uh we've changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America we've talked about Annex in Greenland we're going to take over Gaza we've banned girls from playing in sports and we blamed Dei for a
▶ 1:26:26plane crash at DCA so if you can just really quickly any of those things going to lower the cost of higher education or find more workers Mr Parker thank you next Miss McCarthy okay uh doctor I cannot pronounce your name I apologize it's Carla Wix and I couldn't speak to that sorry okay thank you Mr Cooper I'm afraid that's also outside my area of expertise all right well at least I got to use your time I yield back Mr
▶ 1:27:02chairman thank you Mr chairman and thank you to our Witnesses for being here today I appreciate the opportunity to participate in today's important discussion on Career Readiness and the role of community colleges and Technical institutions and private sector training programs in preparing Americans for the workforce for too long the conversation around education has focused almost exclusively on the idea that a four-year college degree is the only path to success but the reality is that for many Americans particularly those looking to enter high demand
▶ 1:27:32Fields Technical and vocational education provide a faster more affordable and more effective Pathway to a well-paying job community colleges and trade schools offer critical training in fields where skilled workers are in high demand and where wages often exceed those of many traditional bachelor degree holders these programs not only provide students with valuable skills but also strengthen our economy by addressing the growing skilled labor shortage federal spending in higher education has ballooned
▶ 1:28:02in recent decades yet we continue to see disappointing outcomes in both student preparedness and Workforce participation rather than throwing more money at a broken system I believe we should focus on ensuring that existing funds are used effectively supporting programs with proven outcomes fostering industry Partnerships and empowering students to choose the educational pathway that best suits their career goals additionally we must recognize the role of private sector training programs in filling Workforce gaps many businesses
▶ 1:28:33are stepping up to provide on the job training and certification programs often at no cost to workers these industry-driven models offer a market-based solution to Workforce shortages without burdening the taxpayers with unnecessary spending I believe we need an approach that prioritizes career Readiness eliminates wasteful government spending uh which I think uh is one of the things that um uh doge is doing and and I applaud them for that and Embraces both community colleges and private
▶ 1:29:03sector Innovation America's students deserve educational opport options that set them up for real success with a with a well-paying job not just a piece of paper so Mr Cooper first question for you community colleges and trade schools offer specialized training in Industries where skilled workers are desperately needed in fact in my own District uh I want to call out lineer Technical College which boasts a 100% job placement rate for its graduates 100% given the overwhelming
▶ 1:29:33success of Institutions like linear Tech how do you think that we should better shift the conversation toward making Technical and Community College education an end goal in itself so we can get our people more expeditiously into the workforce so they can become productive for America thank you thank you for the question Congress I uh 100% agree that you know a four-year college degree should not be the only pathway and that Comm community colleges technical schools vocational schools are absolutely a very promising
▶ 1:30:04pathway uh for students uh not only because they deliver a direct pathway into the labor force a direct pathway into higher paying jobs but they also get people into the workforce faster with a shorter duration programs and so I've always said that I don't want to see the federal government putting its thumb on the scales in favor of one option over the other that we should have you know regardless of which pathway students choose as long as that's a high quality pathway that's going to lead to to economic success uh we should uh make the uh the programs that are supporting education uh you know not discriminate between
▶ 1:30:34Pathways across the board all right well thank you Mr Parker Toyota and other manufacturers have demonstrated that they can successfully design and Implement Workforce training programs tailored to Industry needs in fact Toyota Industries compressor parts America has a significant presence in Georgia's 9th District as you've not in your testimony Toyota has created a pipeline for Workforce training through the Federation for advanced manufacturing education program which ensures students gain hands-on
▶ 1:31:04experience while Sim simultaneously earning a paycheck programs like these show that the private sector is often better equipped than the federal government to provide targeted effective Workforce training so given the success of employer-driven models like what Toyota is doing how can we make this stronger and more more
▶ 1:31:43effective yes I agree
▶ 1:32:17through your work and all of us work well thank you and I applaud Toyota for working in that environment and helping make that a reality thank you and I back thank you chairman
▶ 1:32:48aderholt thank you ranking member deloro and I especially thank you our Witnesses I I'm new to this subcommittee but you might imagine I'm pretty delighted to be on the subcommittee especially the focus today on education educating our young people our citizens I say that because for 10 years I taught at a university in Philadelphia I was a member of an English Department I taught writing and rhetoric and ethics and business writing uh it was joyful to see young people claiming their education
▶ 1:33:18but we also saw the stress we saw the retention problems we saw the cost problems uh but mostly it was a lot of fun I also am here as somebody who attended Community College in my undergrad years I wanted to make sure I stayed on Pace affordably uh and so I went to my local Community College shout out to Montgomery County Community College it's excellent uh and I also have reading Area Community College in my district so I know the Excellence that community colleges bring uh to our young people and not so young people to a
▶ 1:33:48diverse population so it's exciting for me to be here on this subcommittee but I do want to share uh representative Pan's um jarring disconnect between the greater conversation around how we appropriate and what we do around appropriating for our students young and old so that they have career Pathways there is a terribly jarring disconnect I see with such Grace the commitment
▶ 1:34:19you all have making sure folks have a chance at the middle class or beond beond have a chance at a technical career have a chance at a four-year College have a chance at something even beyond that so that everybody has a chance and yet look where we are right now in these last three weeks uh we see uh for example I read with dis may as an educator the first sentence of the chapter on education in Project 2025 it reads and it's the first sentence and I
▶ 1:34:49quote federal education policy should be limited and and ultimately the Federal Department of Education should be eliminated no hiding there that's exactly right thank you ranking member it is Page 319 as I bet most of you know because this is important to you and to your work uh Dr McCarthy you said something like bewildered by attempts to Halt funding it's deeply self-defeating to
▶ 1:35:19cut into funding and connections between Private uh and career Pathways so I share Mr Pan's jarring disconnect with what this Administration just three weeks on the job is doing to eliminate the Department of Education among other things but let me go to something near and dear to my heart if you don't mind it's the humanities uh I'm somebody who was an English major major and as I told you I taught um uh
▶ 1:35:50all different kinds of writing courses uh but yeah we have to always recognize the importance of the humanities Employers in my district Express over and over again that they need people who can critically think who can communicate who can write well who can communicate across all different bands of communications these are emphasized in the humanity Pro Humanities programs so maybe I'll start with you Dr McCarthy what's your thought on that in terms of career Readiness let's make it match
▶ 1:36:26let me give her the other there you go um thank you very much for the question and and I share your passion for the Humanities and and I do think too often we sort of have these this pitting of you know Career Technical and sort of career oriented education with more academic oriented education and the truth is the humanities matter for everyone because it's through the humanities that we make meaning of what we're doing right and and there's nothing more important than making meaning in your vocation and in your work
▶ 1:36:57so I think when we look at really high quality Career and Technical education programs they often include a lot of background information or context of like what is this career what is what is it what is it contributing to the broader Society um to your other point um all students including Career and Technical education students need those communication skills they need to be able to write well and to be able to operate in our highly saturated and highly varied communication environment that we're in um so I'm a big fan of the humanities and there's a big
▶ 1:37:27place for the Humanities in Career and Technical education could you speak I have just limited time but could you speak to pel Grants I had Community College folks in Philadelphia Community College and my other area community colleges in talking about either flat funding or reducing funding to pel Grants what impact does that have again I can't think of anything more self-defeating for the country than for us to cut our pelg grant program this is the most important program to support low-income students to attend college uh in in reference to some of the early remarks to make sure that no every
▶ 1:37:57child no matter what economic circumstances they are born into have the opportunity to attend college whether it's Community College whether it's CTE programs or whether it's higher education the pelg grant program has been instrumental since 1965 and doing just that um we would just be injuring ourselves and undercutting our basic social contract which is that everybody in America should have an opportunity to be their best and and the pel grant is a critical building block of that social contract I thank you I thank all of you and Mr chairman
▶ 1:38:27thank you for giving me the time I am certain that by cutting the Department of Education eliminating the Department of Education it's not just about eliminating dollars and resources it is about an educated electorate or an uneducated electorate that you can control now y back thank you Mr chairman and thank you all for being here uh in my district district 6 just south of Dallas a little bit of Dallas a little bit of Taran County we have we have many outstanding community colleges and trade schools that provide Hands-On specialized training
▶ 1:38:58directly relevant to the job market we have 200,000 students between these four institutions Texas State Technical College NAA College which has a fantastic nursing program tarant County College and Dallas College all of whom partner with local businesses state of Texas is growing in an enormous rate we have data coming to our state we have folks moving here from high tax states um we have an incredible job market because we're a right to work state and we
▶ 1:39:28have businesses that that partner with our community colleges and so U the debate about Department of Education not withstanding I'm so proud that business has come to the state of Texas Toyota's got a huge uh presence in north Texas um uh carbon which used to be triumph which used to be vot which used to be another aircraft they they're building all the wings for the t7 uh trainer that the Air Force and and probably the Navy are going to use and they partner with Texas State Technical College on welding
▶ 1:39:58and so many other things and so I'm just really proud of everything that our community colleges do in our in our district uh had five students from Dallas College in my office just two days ago since they're all up here right now and there were they came from a a lot of different backgrounds one student was from Nepal here on a student visa and he went to a big private school in Dallas it was extremely expensive about $200,000 for a 4-year degree and he said enough
▶ 1:40:29of that I'm going to start at Community College where I can actually afford it and the return on investment is so much better for my money uh we had a single mom whose daughter turned 18 and she said I'm going to go back and get my degree I took care of her now I'm going to go take care of me and then we had a couple other students who just their their paths varied but community college offers so many opportunities from them for them and and and we just got so many great so I just wanted to call out folks in district 6 for that Mr Parker before I ask your question
▶ 1:40:59I see a pen on your lapel can you tell me about that are you are you a Bubblehead for those wondering this is not a pejorative it is a Navy term for a Submariner can you tell me which boat you were on boats and the subcommittee yes I'm a Submariner I was on USS ssn3 submarine war Navy V well thanks for doing can you tell us any of those stories you
▶ 1:41:29can't can you Army yeah see look it's bringing us all together uh can you tell us any of those stories you can't can you you're I will I'm sure I'm sure that's true you guys are
▶ 1:41:59unbelievable uh so let's talk about Toyota real real quick in your industry what are you looking for what what is the biggest need for your industry in the United States today that that community colleges can bridge the gap on it is absolutely support Workforce we understand at Toyota that our company is no more and no less than our work people and tent people that's
▶ 1:42:35all the community colleges have a crucial role and I will say again if we narrow this program that we primarily use for our teal other workforces community Coles car the that is who we partner with
▶ 1:43:05work thank you very much Dr Cooper real quick uh I got 40 seconds left so quick answer do you think that the return on the investment for the money spent on community colleges and Associate degrees and even Advanced degrees is greater than that of fouryear Institutions specifically private ones uh for the most part yes there uh I do want to emphasize that there is a range of outcomes within every degree category and uh we should be doing our utmost to support the good Pathways over the bad well I'll just thank you very much well I'll just close with this that not everybody
▶ 1:43:36wants to go to a four-year degree I probably could have used a little seasoning at a community college before I went to the Naval Academy and got my rear ended handed to me by Advanced uh classes but thank you all very much for being here you provide a a substantial service to the United States and our Workforce thank you thank you Mr chairman and ranking member let me just say that I'm feeling a little bit encouraged by this committee this subcommittee meeting it's one of the
▶ 1:44:06uh few positive things we've been able to discuss and to agree that uh community colleges are so important to our well-being our Workforce are lifting up people and I so I therefore look forward to all of my members and friends on this committee voting appropriately when the time comes for the funding because as it stands right now we're in trouble and so I'm going to ask you all very quickly if this is up or a down
▶ 1:44:36these are some of the cuts that are being proposed by Elon Musk I maybe may maybe president Trump if Elon allows him Workforce Development 1.3 billion uh for wioa state grants a decrease of 1.7 billion or 57% below 2024 the bill eliminates the funding for wioa youth job training a cut of 948 million below 2024
▶ 1:45:07level the bill includes 174 million for adult job training a cut of 712 million below 2024 150 million for registered apprenticeships doctor uh PR Madam president a cut of 135 million student aid 40455 million for the federal Supplemental education Opportunity Grant Program a cut of 455 million 650 million for the federal work study program a cut
▶ 1:45:37of 16 615 million elimination of the child care access means parents in school a cut of 75 million below the 2024 level that was something that you raised how important that was to be able to um allow women with children or just anybody with children to go to school these are some of the cuts that are proposed by this out of touch I don't care about anybody Administration will those
▶ 1:46:07cuts negatively impact those issues and those areas that you uh suggest are so important to the development of our Workforce start with you Mr Cooper doct dror and Mr and yes or no is a is a simple answer thank you Congressman I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the proposal you're referencing so I can't speak well are you familiar with the amount of cuts uh I proposed which uh which Bill are you referencing I'm I'm not sure I'm familiar
▶ 1:46:37with it more than one I just talked about hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts the Appropriations bills Appropriations BS to deal before March 14th take a look at the cuts on WEA and some and federal work study and some of these other are and and and think about how it impacts what you think is important to this country so I'll just have a yes or no from from the rest of the panel if you might
▶ 1:47:07because I do have a couple more questions I want to ask quickly does it negatively impact you Mr Madame President and your at work I would need time to study the specifics in order to answer that thank you Dr thank you Mr Parker thank you very much on your to Toyota program how many students are enrolled I
▶ 1:47:46no to your knowledge what percentage are black and brown students and women I no Madame President in your school what are the what is the percentage of black and brown students in your school about 20% what percentage of your students in your school are on some sort of Federal Aid more than 50% Dr McCarthy in your testimony you pressed on the importance of building Pathways
▶ 1:48:17to the middle class Career and Technical education programs which prepare students for a variety of uh jobs can you please explain to the committee how the president's absurd efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and gut some of the Department of Labor will have on these programs
▶ 1:49:20you thank you for mentioning New Jersey New Jersey has 21 counties and 21 uh County colleges and I have four in my district I even attended one I love my County colleges I'm so glad we figured out how we could use them to educate workforces um in the future that make this economy the best in the world thank you Mr chairman I yield back thank you Mr chairman and thank you to our panelists for being with
▶ 1:49:50us today I first want to correct the record uh it was mentioned earlier uh by one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that this President banned girls from playing in sports that is wholly inaccurate he banned biological men from playing in women's sports and that was the accurate decision I applaud that I also want to make a comment about the discussion of banning I'm sorry dismantling the US Department of Education uh there are concerns about
▶ 1:50:20the effectiveness of the dollars that are being distributed uh by the US Department of Ed uh you have 4,400 employees uh with a budget of $238 billion and while I recognize that many of those dollars are going to Grant programs P grants and others uh I think that there are uh there's an argument to be made that giving those dollars to the states and letting the states actually uh determine some of the best uses uh for those dollars may be
▶ 1:50:50a better alternative now uh focusing on the discussion at hand I want to say thank you for the focus uh Mr chairman on this meeting today I come from the great state of Oklahoma we have a phenomenal Career Tech program as a matter of fact uh Canadian Valley in my district partnered did a public private partnership with halberton to create a wind farm management program that would train uh young people graduating from high school
▶ 1:51:20in nine months to be a WI Farm uh manager and make a very good livable wage in Oklahoma so I believe in the programs that are being put forward uh with these public private Partnerships um Mr Cooper if I could start with you Oklahoma has focused on Workforce ready training in Industries like Aerospace energy and Manufacturing based on your research what are the most costeffective ways to
▶ 1:51:51expand technical educ a programs without burdening students with debt and getting them immediately into the workforce upon graduation well I would say community community and technical colleges vocational schools have an absolutely critical role here that we know that at community colleges the percentage of students who take out student loans is far lower than it is at four-year institutions and so if we want to get students into the workforce quickly uh with a with the minimal amount of debt I would say shorter term programs that are often offered by Community and Technical colleges
▶ 1:52:21uh which lead directly to a pathway into the labor force or the best way to do it perfect um to follow up on that your research focuses on the return on investment in higher education I have a bill the workforce and education Partnership Act of 2023 that I filed that strengthens employer education Partnerships to improve Workforce outcomes in your view What datadriven policies would be best to ensure these programs lead to high Roi job placement well I would say that there needs
▶ 1:52:51to be some sort of test for outcomes in the programs that are federally funded we need to make sure that when a program is getting Federal pel Grant or federal student loan funding that is leading to a good job at the at the other end of of things that we can't have programs which are federally funded which have 10 20% graduation rates which are leaving students with poverty level wages which unfortunately there are too many programs that are federally funded that that fit that category thank you for that um moving on um to Dr carox uh can you discuss how
▶ 1:53:22serving rural community colleges I'm sorry can you discuss how rural serving community colleges like Wallace State use stackable credentials to improve student completion rates and job placements and how can federal policy uh better support the scalable Workforce thank you congresswoman BCE um as I mentioned in in the earlier remarks we use latest credentials that build upon each other that have value in the workforce I gave you an example
▶ 1:53:52of like a practical nursing we've done that starting at the non-credit level with a nursing support technician to a medication uh assistant who works in a nursing home to a FLOTUS all of this is non-credit right and so then we move into the credit Arena where a student who is pursuing a degree in nursing to become a registered nurse has a stop out at the third semester so that if life happens as it often does with
▶ 1:54:22community college students who have families who have jobs who have lives that get in the way then they can still enter the labor market and make a living wage as a practical nurse and then come back and finish their Registered Nursing degree when they have the opportunity to do so we have built that in all of our Workforce programs which is about 60% of our college with our liberal arts and transfer program those students don't have um a a degree that has as much
▶ 1:54:52Workforce value until it is paired with the Balor degree um thank you for that answer my time has expired but I just want to say quickly H thank you sir for your service we appreciate um you Mr Parker and thank you all for being here today with that Mr chairman I yield back thank you very much first thank you to the panel I I've actually think this has been a very important Hearing in our what I call a bubble of friend friendliness to
▶ 1:55:23with some exception but mostly it's been obvious that uh folks on both sides of the aisle understand the importance of our community colleges and I have uh my community college in Palm Beach County which actually is the home of our president it's it's called the state college but it is phenomenal it has graduated thousands and thousands of thousands of students who go into the community and work in law enforcement and health care and all and auto mechanics
▶ 1:55:53and almost every job you can think of ready to go and raise and take care of their families and you all thank you for your passion and for each of you uh I really have been very impressed with what you've said today uh uh what you didn't say is also important no one said freeze Federal funding no one said cut the education budget no one said get rid of diversity
▶ 1:56:23no one said eliminate child care for students no one said get rid of pelg Grants and that's why I'm worried I think some of us are worried because there's some folks in the new Administration who are taking it seems like a different path and that's why I think it's so important we're losing colleagues here today uh on the other side of the aisle but this is why it's so important for members of Congress to speak up and support support
▶ 1:56:53uh what what you're doing in our in our community colleges and I wanted to ask let me start with you Dr McCarthy because uh everyone seems to be for investing in our community colleges but it's not just about how we help an individual correct I would like you to talk about how our public investment in education helps the community helps all of us uh in terms of proc Prosperity people paying taxes
▶ 1:57:24going into their communities being role models and why it's important not only for the investment but also to make sure that a diverse population is getting the opportunity was that not working okay okay um thank you for that question as I was saying uh community colleges are Community institutions
▶ 1:57:54and they um they have tremendously positive impacts on the communities where they operate um vibrant communities have vibrant community colleges um community colleges too are you know even more than institutions of higher education which sometimes can be kind of like little islands where they are not always but sometimes they can be um community colleges have extensive partnership through throughout the the community those are the kind those Partnerships are the sorts of things that they actually do need funding for the institution to be able to de velop and so it's another reason why it's so important
▶ 1:58:24as we're thinking about how we support our community colleges that yes things like pel grants are very important but so is direct funding to the institution itself through things like the strengthening Community College training grants or through the Carl de Perkin care and Technical education program just an example of just how how community colleges enrich their whole communities is in a neighboring uh community of yours is Broward Broward College and their program Broward up this is a program where the the then president of Broward Community College they they did a study they figured
▶ 1:58:54out where they were where students in their District area were not coming from and why they weren't and they went and into these poorest districts of this area of Florida pardon me for not knowing the name of the county Brower County I guess and uh and and and established the college there they didn't wait for the students to come to the college they brought the college to the students right these kinds of you know this ability to sort of serve the community is something that is is very special to community colleges it requires resources
▶ 1:59:25and it requires flexible resources for them to be able to do that I hope that answers your question well just as a followup yeah uh the importance of Public Funding versus the uh the private institutions and what is the the difference if anyone knows between how much it costs these days to go to the public Community College versus a a private institution oh I mean it's absolutely enormous it's absolutely enormous and and there's no better deal in post-secondary education than than community colleges
▶ 1:59:55um there's also less risk frankly um again and to uh uh Mr Cooper's Point Community college students are less likely to end up with large amounts of debt um they do have Pathways their credits are more likely to transfer to other institutions um it's it's just a much better deal for Community for for students but again that depends a lot on how well resourced and funded the community college is itself how strong it is as an institution uh its ability to deliver
▶ 2:00:25on that promise thank you all very much and I really I look forward to our committee working together to really make sure that we uplifting our our educational institutions especially these community colleges that we work with our new Administration to make sure we send that message to them and I yield back thank you Mr chairman and thank you to the W Witnesses for being here this is uh certainly a hearing
▶ 2:00:56that's important to me and my great state of West Virginia um I wanted to start off by pointing out a program that we did in Virginia and um also like to note that I am somebody who went to trade school I used to be a welder um actually started off in a mining operation and uh somehow got here but uh in in any event uh um a program that we set up and I used to be the state treasur of West Virginia was called the jump
▶ 2:01:26start Savings Program and what this program allowed in and I found this in my own career is that it wasn't so difficult perhaps paying for the education itself but it was after graduation the incurred expense getting into the workforce now this might not necessarily be the fact certainly for Mr Parker and Toyota and the program they have but I'll give you an example in that field would be an auto mechanic so when an autome mechanic comes out of school they're paying for all their own tools
▶ 2:01:57right and those can be thousands tens of thousands of dollars it's very expensive to get going and we started this program called the jumpstart savings program that allowed individuals even before college or pardon me before trade school to put money away to save for tools equipment licenses certifications and new business startup costs so licenses you could think of CDLs and things like that and this program uh I started it it really made a great impact and
▶ 2:02:27it was actually endorsed uh by our trade unions and then also endorsed by our Chamber of Commerce in West Virginia which is not common uh to have that happen because certainly there are requirements and needs not only with the trade unions but also with our folks who are nonunion in West Virginia and so this allows them to save money we got hundreds of participants in this program already but there are inherent barriers for a lot of folks to get going in the workforce if you're from a rural State like mine and even though
▶ 2:02:57perhaps the unions might Supply a lot of the tools and equipment that you might need you don't have a vehicle right and that becomes difficult to be able to get around we don't have public transportation uh in West Virginia right that's uh if you don't have a vehicle you're not going to work and so we allow for them to be able to buy that now part of the and I will be introducing legislation to this effect we had a lot of tax savings in terms of their income tax they could write off as they put the money in and deduct the money out
▶ 2:03:27but uh we were trying to mirror it after the 529 College Savings Program which you know the ma the Magic in that one is the capital gains tax not being there now they didn't pay capital gains tax in the state but they still had to pay it federally which is why we had the tax incentives in any event this is a piece of legislation that I'm going to introduce that I think could really be beneficial to everybody across the country but what are your thoughts thoughts and what are your thinking about those types of barriers of getting into the workforce particularly people that are
▶ 2:03:58trying to go out on their own and work like me I thought at one point I was going to start my own kind of mobile welding business and go but it was really expensive and you need to have that incurred cost there and I didn't have credit because I was so young um what are your thoughts about that and we could just take it in kind of sequential order here and is just sound like a program like the jump start savings prog program that I'm speaking about right here something that you'd be interested in looking more into and perhaps being supportive
▶ 2:04:32of uh thank you Congressman for the question uh I absolutely do believe that we need to be thinking about those barriers that students face after college in terms of getting into the workforce and uh I don't I often think there's not enough attention paid to the what are those those next steps those next expenses that uh that you need to undertake particularly around uh licensing you what fees do you need to pay for the license you know how long can do you have to spend before you if you have your education before you can actually work independently in that field and uh I think that sounds like a very interesting proposal I'd very much
▶ 2:05:02be interested in learning more I would also note that uh one of the benefits of the 529 program is to provide a ready-made savings vehicle to get people thinking about you know these expenses that are come going to come down the road so that they're not necessarily surprised with a huge bill that they're not able to pay so I would absolutely uh be willing to to chat more with your office about that proposal now you reminded me of something that was really interesting because I ran the 529 College Savings Program for the state and we found all this stagnant money where people just stopped going to college and we created a free a taxfree rollover
▶ 2:05:33where they could roll their 529 money into a jump start account and then go to trade school instead where they've stopped going to college because they for whatever reason they didn't see the utility in it but in any event well please Madam president Congressman Moore I could see uh the the tremendous benefits of having an investment such as that I can I can think of one example uh from our College in particular um cosmetology is often held up as a low-wage
▶ 2:06:03job and it might be if you go to work for Super Cuts that's inside of Walmart but most of our students are going to become entrepreneurs uh they're not reflected in the wage data because they are business owners so having a fund available to help them with startup cost as minimal as they are makes a huge difference I have another example of a a rapid training program that we have in Alabama called skills for Success we also have a a foundation called paths for Success Foundation which does
▶ 2:06:34just exactly those kinds of things uh we had five men go through our heavy equipment class uh uh who were in a recovery program so the paths for Success Foundation was able to buy some tools and safety shoes and things like that for them which made a difference to them because they could not have done that on their own so that sounds like an idea that's really worth pursuing yeah and to be clear cosmetology any of these I mean you could be a chef you could be it's all eligible in the state where
▶ 2:07:04we it uh Congress more thank you for the question and I again I I completely agree this sounds like a very well-targeted proposal we would love to explore it with you more this question of how to help people with that transition into the work you know into their um into into their career um which sometimes does require extensive equipment um is is definitely one that uh that is a problem and I'm glad to hear that you are um addressing it so would love to explore Moree
▶ 2:07:52we actually Cooper uh there we go infame is an example in our employer Le collaboratives we actually cooperate with all the parties that are playing to understand what those barriers are and how we can work together whether that's through a formal process or an informal process to help students get beyond that in principle I think we uh would support uh any action or act that would help to further remove those barriers well well thank you all for that
▶ 2:08:22thank you for the answers of the questions and uh unfortunately you can't co-sponsor things but maybe some of my colleagues if they're interested uh might want to think about it so uh with that I yield back thank you Mr chairman fantastic thank you so much Mr uh chair for for holding this important hearing I think uh almost all members of this panel are in veh agreement that this is a really important topic so thank you for your leadership on this and thank you everybody for attending it really frustrates and breaks my heart when I spend a lot of time meeting with young
▶ 2:08:53high school students community college students in my district and ask them what they're going to do after they graduate and they look around and say we're not sure we can find a job that really uh employs us at the wage we need across our district and then right after that I'll spend time with our business leaders and ask them what's going on and what's stopping them from expanding across our region and they'll tell me we can't find the employees and that's really frustrating because essentially what we're saying is that the skills we're teaching in our high
▶ 2:09:23schools and community colleges are not necessarily the ones that our business Community often needs that matching program is is really broken and I think Career Technical education is a really important part to make sure that we can fix it and make sure that the same things that people are learning in school are what folks are actually needing to get a route to the middle class afterwards um we have a number of really successful programs already in our district as uh many of the members here have already highlighted theirs as well sanen A+
▶ 2:09:53is a leading educational organization they surveyed employees across the sanen valley recently and 100% of the employers that they surveyed uh said that Career Education needed to be a higher priority uh for schools uh they've also talked uh to many of those employers about what's actually holding a Mac because the reality is many of our employers are not participating in these programs because of the some some of the barriers either because it's too expensive and the cost burdens
▶ 2:10:23are too high or because of the the red tape my office is exploring a number of ways to see what we can do to reduce those cost burdens be them tax incentives for employers that are actually participating in Career Education but I'd love to hear from the panel um I think a lot of schools want to do this and are moving towards this but oftentimes it feels like the bottleneck towards progress is employers especially employers a little smaller than toy uh actually having the resources to to
▶ 2:10:54move forward so um what's stopping us on the employer side from from more progress here anybody the panel have an idea uh thank you Congressman um one of the big constraints is also on the supply side of of colleges there was a study done actually on the California uh community college system which looked at uh changes in labor market demand for various occupations and they found that students were very sensitive to changes in demand
▶ 2:11:24when there's more need for healthcare workers more students want to enroll in the healthcare programs unfortunately there's not necessarily A Supply response on the part of the colleges that there's not more course sections being created there are not more uh more faculty being hired in these fields to to meet that student demand and so that's why I would argue that we also need to be looking at the uh at at the supply side of um what community colleges are doing perhaps creating more direct incentives direct Financial incentives for schools to expand these high high demand programs and also have the capacity available
▶ 2:11:54to to expand when necessary thank you Dr Carl any any ideas of what we can do to support our community colleges expanding on that supply side I think I probably don't have more to add than Mr Cooper I think he addressed that very well okay thank you a former Community College uh instructor I have a real heart for our community colleges so thank you for the tremendous work that that that you do Dr really good at this okay thank you Congressman harder um and it is
▶ 2:12:24it is such a great question and and such an enduring Challenge and again this relationship between the programs at the community college and what employers need is is it is an ongoing Dynamic uh you know situation that needs constant conversation which is again this is why it's so important that we be able to fund the kind of industry Partnerships uh in sectoral Partnerships at community colleges that are so important for maintaining those lines of communication I will say two things in response too I I think one of the things that in in some of
▶ 2:12:54the really high demand fields that are sort of in demand um and where employers have a hard time retaining their employers sometimes what the the work that needs to be done is on addressing the quality of the jobs for which they're having a hard time retaining their employers so I do know that California has done some really interesting work around High Road training Partnerships and just again this question of if if the issue is that you're bringing people in and they're leaving really quickly how do we is that a skill problem or is that a job quality problem so that is something that we need to look at
▶ 2:13:25I also think again practices like apprenticeship and on the job learning they take they ask a lot of employers in terms of being able to develop those internal systems and provide the mentorship and register the programs and again having a lot of resources available to support uh employers as they're doing that it's also can be hard for community colleges to stand up to go through those processes so again it is a you know right sizing what's happening at the community college on the supply side with what employers need is just it needs
▶ 2:13:55to be supported through constant Dialogue on both sides and uh um and I think our Perkin and our uh Workforce Development systems are are are well suited to doing that thank you I think speaking from the I've got one that works I think uh speaking from the employer side uh first just if I recall correctly to answer one aspect of your question water some of the forces that may cause employers to be less participative and and you actually already recognize
▶ 2:14:25those I can tell you that in the The Wider employer dialogue there's concern about red tape there is concern about cost we always think about we always think about cost there's concern about what kind of resources uh that it may take to support a program uh that is done in collaboration with that that being said I'm going to come back to something I've already noted several times uh and I noted it as such in my testimony too and it's one of the transformative elements is employers and coming coming
▶ 2:14:56together and working together it's that employer collaborative so among other things that occur when you have that smaller employers that perhaps didn't have the resources or the scope or the experience to know how to work with this or to have to know how to approach it or to to create something that could be sustained at the college when you come together and you combine all of your resources then we have a critical mass that the college can address
▶ 2:15:26and work and then everyone benefits everyone all the employ including all the employers is engaged students are educated and they fill those gaps dropout rate is lower and so you see you see a number of dynamics that that this collaborative effort comes together to do I might give one quick example just at a very high level uh the fame chapter in California is relatively new they just announced a few months ago uh part of the dynamic that had occurred there
▶ 2:15:56uh some of the employers that are now there and education kind of Grown Apart I don't know if they were in opposition but employers certainly were not seeing a connection with it and were not working on their own to some some degree the manufacturing Institute came in initiated a dialogue BR those employers together and that became the start of that new chapter in California and now you're going to have this engagement that we've already noted from all parties
▶ 2:16:26that's going to actually produce something that's tangible with results car um I it is my understanding that research has found that uh students that are do dual enrollment are likely to finish sooner or at least finish within six years
▶ 2:16:56um I know y'all do a dual rooll program and just briefly like I said very briefly since we're short on time U has there been specific ways where you have seen this been beneficial to to the students and how they end their completion of their degree absolutely uh Congressman at hold um probably 15 years ago we were able to secure a National tech prep demonstration project Grant we also have been the recipient of dual enrollment
▶ 2:17:27experimental pale but I'll speak to the tech prep demonstration Grant we built what's called a FastTrack Academy which is an early college program where Juniors and seniors finish their high school diploma and their associate degree on our campus as full-time students their graduation rate is about 20 points higher than our native students in addition there are no gaps s between ethnic groups or racial groups or male female or Majors or
▶ 2:17:57you know that sort of thing so dual enrollment is a good investment because not only does it improve their opportunity to graduate on time but it also puts them in the workforce about two years earlier so that increases their earnings potential substantially thank you you're welcome oh R member uh Garo would you like thanks so much Mr chair well I I can't guarantee that but I
▶ 2:18:28but I we we'll get to it quickly uh I I just to like my my colleagues have mentioned this is an extraordinary commentary here um this morning and that I think we can uh get a sense of security about the um value of colleges and their value to our future the success of the uh participants in the program uh but to the success of our
▶ 2:18:58economy and where our economy is going and you're leading the way and the with the outcomes that you spoke about Mr Cooper that they may be better than the four-year colleges and what people are doing and the mission that each one of you has to make sure that uh you are providing every single opportunity for a youngster and for Community College is what I'm going to go into in a second you know
▶ 2:19:28they're not 18 year olds or 17 year olds it's it's a different population so I want to thank you for your commitment for the commitment of employers and the community college system to move forward and take the lead on what's happening in our educational system today um the goal and the mission is you know as you you so clearly stated pathways Pathways to employment and to a living wage to be able to deal with the cost of
▶ 2:19:58living which is the single biggest issue we Face In This Nation today it's about how do people C people live paycheck to paycheck and they're looking about how they're going to survive economically you build that ladder of opportunity to the middle class and thank you for that to vulnerable people to working people you make that possible you have testified community colleges that we turn to to work with employers to develop trusted Pathways as I said to deliver those outcomes this is who we are talking about
▶ 2:20:29the Americans who study at community colleges who are looking for an opportunity the student is older an average age of 27 8% are 40 years or older 57% of students are women more than 20% of the students are parents 133% are single parents yesterday I spoke with a young woman in my office about the importance of community colleges a veteran that suffered injuries
▶ 2:20:59while deployed and going back to school using p these are the people who are affected by the Department of Education and what she told me was defunding education this a quote would be an injustice to me and to many others like me the lifelines that your schools and the students count on understand you don't have to take my word for it and the word of my colleagues
▶ 2:21:29listen to the news as you do read the papers page 319 of project 2025 eliminate the Department of Education but that's not only where that goes that's one piece the programs that of the greatest value to you and the work that you do are really on The Chopping Block there it's a reality
▶ 2:22:00here that's why my colleague Mr poan said it's a little bit surreal we're talking about how successful you are and at the same time the backdrop is let's be done with the federal involvement in in in in these programs no one is suggesting that we determine your curriculum or we determine anything else the states will do that we are here to provide resources for the opportunities that you
▶ 2:22:30that you provide but House Republicans this is a fact look at the Appropriations bills don't take my word for it of what's being cut look at what presidents musk and Trump are talking about in their 2025 Appropriations bill this is what House Republicans are proposing 1.7 billion these are lifelines $1.7 billion cut to the weoa state grants $135 million
▶ 2:23:01to registered apprenticeships 1 billion cut to Campus based student aid $73 million elimination of Grants to support student parents with child care to allow them to be able to go to school to be able to go to work to be able to succeed and with the president musk's unlawful termination of $1 billion in appropriated education contracts and grants the wreckage has only
▶ 2:23:31begun they are they really are on a precipice of illegally dismantling the United States Department of Education gutting the Department of Labor Workforce programs where the Appropriations Comm we have been entrusted by the United States Constitution in article one
▶ 2:24:01that the Appropriations Committee has the power of the purse we come together through only one of the only areas in which to keep this government open Democrats and Republicans both the house and the Senate have to come together to agree on the bills pass them and then we send it to the president for a signature the law of the land
▶ 2:24:32we made decisions about where the money should go based on a lot of different factors including things that you're talking about here today that is what is being dismantled and as as a ranking member on the Appropriations Comm as a a former chair of the Appropriations Committee I'm not going to sit around and
▶ 2:25:02let that happen Appropriations Committee is the center of this government if we don't get it right this government shuts down and I don't want to do that that's the last thing I want to do I want to get us across the Finish Line if we need to this deal with programs and look at improving those programs there have been some suggestions and ideas let's look at that let's gather that data and
▶ 2:25:32figure out what works best you know the bipartisan resolution we passed in December originally included the reauthorization of the of weoa that would do exactly that it was the reauthor in the program unfortunately yeah and I'll continue to label him president musk tried to blow up that legislation and the weoa reauthorization
▶ 2:26:03was a senseless casualty of what happened that's that is the example going forward and I would just say um if we want to take a look at waste and Fraud and Abuse in in in in in these program I asked you to take a look at predatory for-profit colleges and for-profit charter schools that waste federal funds and the outcomes the outcomes are lower employment opportunities
▶ 2:26:34lower wages what you were talking about Mr Cooper let's look at all of these Avenues I am a strong supporter of colleges I believe in what you do I believe in the difference that you are making for young people older people that don't want to go to a four-year liberal arts college that's good if you can do it that's what I did but hell that's not the only way to help
▶ 2:27:04people realize their dreams and their aspirations you help people realize their dreams and aspirations and what this body needs to be doing is to assist you in doing that and not cutting the rug out from under you and what it is that you try to do for our students today thank you help us is what I'm saying and I think everyone on this panel supports community colleges here that's what the discussion has been about and you have made it real here today help us so that
▶ 2:27:34we don't cut off your opportunities thank you Mr chairman for indulging me thank you well with that uh I want to thank each of our uh guests today for your uh comments your your attentively questions and answers and we look forward to working with you and uh uh with that we send a jour