States have an opportunity in 2024 to establish a single, unifying vision for how funding for multiple federal education and workforce development programs can be brought together to promote economic mobility and strengthen their state's economy. State plans authorized by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, as amended…

In the 21st century, education has become America's most significant marker of class privilege. People with bachelor's and advanced degrees have mostly prospered, while wages for those with less education have fallen. This divergence in economic fortunes lies at the heart of our country's present economic and political discontents. Federal and…

States are coordinating with two-year institutions on workforce programming for unemployed or underemployed residents. Reskilling residents is especially vital for states that endured historic unemployment rates as a result of COVID-19-related layoffs. Nationally, the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) is making…

This chapter describes and documents anticipated areas of federal community college advocacy. Changes in Congressional behavior are described with specific illustrations of federal legislation, specifically the Higher Education Act. Discussion on the role of the college president and CEO in advocacy focuses on the role of the president and the…

The Federal Student Aid (FSA)'s Five-Year Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2023-27 presents tangible goals and objectives to help ensure that Americans can have broad access to higher education, without regard to any perceived limitations of socioeconomic status. The plan incorporates the Next Gen FSA initiative, which is designed to deliver…

State and local education agencies have been provided $176.3 billion of funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER II and ESSER III), which is a one-time funding opportunity to strengthen and support the educator workforce so that educator shortages do not continue to plague our nation's schools. In a recent…

This toolkit is intended to help states create career pathways systems that integrate and expand partnerships between state human service agencies and postsecondary systems and institutions so that more people who want to train for a quality career can do so. Career pathways partnerships can help community colleges and human services work better…

The higher education system does not work well for taxpayers, students, or higher education institutions. Student loans were expected to be such a good deal for taxpayers that their projected revenues were used to offset costs associated with the Affordable Care Act and increasing the size of Pell Grants. Less than a decade ago, the federal…

The American education system and labor market are heavily biased toward college graduates. However, for many Americans--perhaps even the majority, who do not earn even a community-college degree--and for many career paths, positions that combine immediate on-the-job experience with employer-sponsored training offer the best opportunity to enter…

The pandemic hit the already vulnerable early childhood education (ECE) workforce especially hard, causing almost 40 percent of child care providers to shut their doors and many teachers to lose their jobs. In 2021, enrollment in state-funded preschool also dropped for the first time in 20 years--a nearly 20 percent decline that erased a decade of…

For 35 years, the mission of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) has been to Champion Hispanic Success in Higher Education. HACU fulfills its mission by: promoting the development of member colleges and universities; improving access to and the quality of postsecondary educational opportunities for Hispanic students; and…

Achieving prosperity for all Americans could not be more urgent. Although the United States remains the most prosperous nation on earth, millions of citizens are losing faith in the American dream of upward mobility, and in American-style capitalism itself. This crisis of confidence has widened the divide afflicting American politics and cries out…

In today's globally competitive economy, low-income students, students of color, opportunity youth, and adult learners need a postsecondary education and work-based learning opportunities to secure family-sustaining jobs and careers. Since the Great Recession, the economy has added 11.6 million jobs. Ninety-nine percent of them have gone to…

Many have called for greater alignment between education systems and the workforce, more equitable access to career-oriented experiences, and new policy approaches that will enable all individuals to successfully enter and thrive in the evolving labor market. Overall, education leaders at all levels must commit to new policy solutions that offer…

Achieving prosperity for all Americans could not be more urgent. Although the United States remains the most prosperous nation on earth, millions of citizens are losing faith in the American dream of upward mobility, and in American-style capitalism itself. This crisis of confidence has widened the divide afflicting American politics and cries out…