Democrats have focused their concerns on increasing the Pell Grant funding of credit-bearing programs at community colleges and applaud its inclusion in Biden’s Build Back Better Act. This effort is misplaced for two reasons. First, the vast majority of those attending, particularly black and Latino students, already have substantial financial aid. Second, what the most vulnerable students need is not a pathway to four year college degrees – the dominant role of urban community colleges – but a pathway to occupational training that can be built upon; and funding short-term noncredit-bearing certificate programs can better serve vulnerable students.
The four year college-for-all goal was on full display in a recent Hechinger Report. It highlighted a black student who attends the Chicago campus of Northeastern Illinois University and is close to graduating. The student noted, “Of the 20 Black freshmen he remembers becoming friendly with at the start of that year, he said 17 didn’t make it past the first semester.”
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