[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1913-E1914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE IMPORTANCE OF FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM (BILL) CLAY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 3, 1996

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, in light of the $3.5 billion increase just 
given to education in the omnibus spending bill, I rise today to 
underscore yet again the crucial role that our Federal education 
programs play. This apparent sudden concern on the part of my 
Republican colleagues for protecting education is gladly received, 
because millions of young Americans will benefit from these resources.
  During the 104th Congress, the Democratic members of the Economic and 
Educational Opportunities Committee, however, were distressed by the 
repeated attempts by the majority to slash funds for education. In 
fact, earlier this year, we held a hearing to demonstrate the impact 
that Federal education programs have on preparing America's children 
for a bright future. At this hearing, we heard many witnesses testify 
in trenchant detail about the pain that defenseless children, students, 
and families were suffering from the cuts Congress had imposed on 
Federal education programs. The higher education student community was 
represented at this hearing by two outstanding students, Rob Sewell and 
Willie Brown, then the president and vice-president, respectively, of 
the American Student Association of Community Colleges. I would like to 
insert their testimony into the Record at this time, because it 
perfectly illustrates from a student's point of view why Democrats will 
always fight for education. After all, education is the true path to 
opportunity, and our role as legislators should be to increase access 
to lifelong learning for all Americans. This is the only way that our 
country will become stronger and more productive into the 21st century.

    Testimony by Mr. Rob Sewell, President of the American Student 
Association of Community Colleges and Mr. Willie Brown, Vice President 
       of the American Student Association of Community Colleges

       We appreciate this opportunity to speak to our elected 
     Representatives about federal programs that promote college 
     access and lifelong learning.
       My name is Rob Sewell, a student at Northern Virginia 
     Community College Annandale Campus, and President of the 
     American Student Association of Community colleges. I am 
     accompanied by Willie Brown,

[[Page E1914]]

     ASACC's Vice President for the southeast Region, and a 
     student at Thomas Nelson Community College at Hampton, 
     Virginia, who is now a member of AmeriCorps.
       In my years at Northern Virginia Community College, I have 
     held several student leadership positions, including 
     President of our Student Government Association, and 
     President of our campus chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the 
     International Honor Society of two-year colleges. These 
     activities have made me very conscious of how important and 
     indispensable the federal student aid programs, and 
     especially Pell Grants, are to our students in their pursuits 
     of marketable skills and worthwhile careers
       As popular as Pell Grants are, I believe they are under-
     appreciated as an engine of American competitiveness. Higher 
     education as a community should bear the blame for not doing 
     more research to document the economic significance of Pell 
     Grants: but the general evidence is very plain to see.
       As you already know, community colleges have become the 
     nation's largest source, outside industry itself, of the 
     advanced technical training (and retraining) that American 
     workers must have to keep themselves globally competitive in 
     the 21st Century, and to maintain the standard of living that 
     most of us enjoy.
       Approximately 11 million students of all ages are now 
     taking credit and non-credit courses annually in the two-year 
     colleges, most of them pursuing better job skills. In some 
     states, the community colleges are tempted to boast that they 
     are the largest graduate school, because they now serve more 
     students with bachelor's or higher degrees than the senior 
     institutions of their state.
       Roughly one-third of the full-time equivalency of all this 
     enrollment is identified with students receiving Pell Grants, 
     according to estimates we've heard from various campuses.
       Spot surveys of former Pell Grant recipients, made by three 
     colleges at ASACC's request, are giving us a dramatic picture 
     of how the grants have enriched the recipients' lives and 
     work paths.
       The latest returns, from Pell grant alumni of North Central 
     Technical College in the district of Rep. David Obey of 
     Wisconsin, typically show a very substantial economic return 
     on the federal investment.
       With such positive findings among community colleges, which 
     serve the greater numbers of high-risk students, we have to 
     believe that the same survey done by four-year colleges, 
     public and private, would show equally impressive if not more 
     striking correlations between Pell Grants and post-college 
     success. We believe higher education owes the Congress 
     broader and deeper data in this vein. Pell Grants have helped 
     about three times as many Americans pursue their American 
     Dream, as the four separate GI Bills have. We regard Pell 
     Grants as the best competitiveness policy Congress has yet 
     devised, and colleges essentially have been taking the 
     program for granted.
       Summing up our concerns, we emphasize the importance of 
     smaller Pell Grants in community colleges. Our commuter and 
     part-time enrollments are significantly higher than those of 
     four-year colleges. Willie wants to elaborate on this point. 
     Congress will undercut both national competitiveness and the 
     American Dream if it caps either Pell Grant funding or the 
     total awards. The threshold grant should remain $400, and the 
     grant maximum should be increased again.
       Funding should also be increased for Work-Study. The 
     benefits could be spread to greater numbers of needy 
     students, if the local matching requirement were increased by 
     5 percent. Innumerable low-income students taste their first 
     real employment through campus work-study.
       I cannot close without expressing deep concern over the 
     expiration of tax code Section 127. The very modest federal 
     contribution to Employee Education Assistance--modest in 
     relative terms--has proven to be another powerful engine of 
     competitiveness. We are actively supporting H.R. 127, which 
     would restore EEA permanently. Because of their low cost, 
     community colleges are the most frequent choices among 
     workers using this incentive to upgrade their job skills. It 
     will be a sad step backward for both the American Dream and 
     workforce productivity if this Congress fails to reinstate 
     Section 127 retroactively.
       This policy should never be mistaken for federal give-
     away--employers are not about to waste tuition payments on 
     workers who can't benefit from the courses they want. I wish 
     I could recall the source of data a decade or so ago that 
     showed that workers who have either two-year or four-year 
     degrees have careers several years longer than those with 
     only a high school diploma or equivalency. Ignoring any 
     promotions, the added federal taxes from those longer careers 
     would alone repay the ``revenue foregone'' a hundred-fold or 
     more.
       As students, we will do our best to answer your questions. 
     We respectfully ask that the record of this hearing include 
     the ASACC statement of priorities for this session of 
     Congress.
       Again, we thank you for investing our testimony.

                          ____________________