Getting the Education and Workforce Training Our Nation Needs

In fall 2021, colleges and universities in the U.S. enrolled a million fewer undergraduates than in fall 2019, the year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Community colleges experienced the greatest decline, with 700,000 fewer students enrolled in fall 2021 than fall 2019.  Anyone who cares about higher education—and the well-being of our cities and nation—should be troubled by these declines. 

In a knowledge-based economy, employers need workers who have completed more than high school. At least some postsecondary education is now required for a “good job.” Individuals with higher education average higher salaries and rates of employment, lower rates of unemployment and poverty, and better working conditions. They have longer lives and better health and their children have better educational outcomes. Cities and communities benefit from a higher tax base, less reliance on social welfare programs, and greater civic and community engagement, among other things.

Even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, people from lower-income families, racial/ethnic minoritized groups, and other historically underserved groups were less likely to realize the benefits of higher education. Differences in educational attainment across groups do not reflect deficiencies among the people in these groups. Rather, these differences are the result of structures, systems, and practices that disproportionately provide opportunity for some people, and disproportionately exclude and limit opportunity for others. The disproportionate negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for Black and Brown people and communities threaten to further exacerbate these differences.

With their open-access mission, community colleges enable people from groups that have not been well-served by other sectors to get needed postsecondary education. In what is both an advantage and a challenge, community colleges serve diverse educational needs. They enable high school students to earn college credit through dual enrollment programs. They allow high school graduates to complete general education courses while living at home and before transferring to a four-year college or university. They make it possible for individuals who are working full-time jobs to build their skills and engage in re-training. Located in communities throughout the nation, community colleges are ideally situated to offer courses and programs that equip students with the skills and knowledge that are needed by local employers. In fall 2021, about a third of the nation’s undergraduates were attending community colleges.

With their orientation toward meeting local workforce needs and the pandemic-related threats to educational opportunity and access, now is the time to ensure that community colleges have the resources required to offer needed programs and support the diverse students they strive to serve. The online series Education and Workforce Solutions for an Equitable Future, which I am directing for Penn IUR, tackled this topic in a December 2021 event entitled “Federal Support for Workforce Solutions.” Panelists in this discussion described how community colleges provide the training and education required for jobs that require some postsecondary education but not a bachelor’s degree, good jobs that provide opportunity for economic well-being. Drawing on their perspectives as Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University (Harry J. Holzer), Senior Vice President and Community Affairs Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (Theresa Y. Singleton), and President of the Community College of Philadelphia (Donald Guy Generals), several of the panelists also noted that, to scale programs and ensure access to these programs, community colleges need resources. Another panelist, U.S. Under Secretary of Education (James Kvaal), discussed how the federal government can also advance education and workforce training through initiatives included in the American Rescue Plan and the Biden administration’s proposed Build Back Better bill.

To design and deliver programs that effectively meet workforce needs, community colleges need to acquire and maintain relevant equipment, hire trained instructors, and provide the assistance students require to succeed. On average, community colleges have fewer resources per student than institutions in other sectors. While funding for community colleges varies across states, on average, appropriations from state and local governments are a much larger source of revenues than the federal government. Funds from the federal government are typically receipts from Federal Pell Grants—financial assistance awarded to students not appropriations awarded to institutions.

Now is also the time to rethink how to improve college affordability. One important step would be to increase the purchasing power of the Pell Grant. Labeled “the cornerstone of financial aid for low-income students,” Pell Grants are targeted to students from low-income families and, unlike loans, do not need to be repaid. Research demonstrates the positive effects of grants on college student enrollment, credit accumulation, persistence, and degree completion, and suggests that the positive effects increase with the magnitude of the grant award. But, over time the maximum Pell Grant has gone from covering 75 percent of the average cost of attendance at a four-year public college or university in 1975-76, to less than 30 percent today.

Making community college tuition-free would also move us toward our goal of enabling all people to get needed postsecondary education. Also known as college promise programs, free tuition programs have been established by states (e.g., Tennessee, Oregon) and other organizations across the nation. While these programs take many forms, a common approach is to offer free tuition to attend a community college. In an October 2021 panel conversation entitled “Community College: Who Should Pay ” (the first event in the Education and Workforce Solutions for an Equitable Future series) the panelists Martha Kanter, Zakiya Smith Ellis, Mike Flores, and Edward Smith shared insights from free tuition programs that have been created across the nation. Martha Kanter, CEO of College Promise, discussed lessons from her efforts to compile and disseminate resources about emerging programs. Zakiya Smith Ellis, Chief Policy Advisor, Governor Phil D. Murphy, shared insights from efforts to make New Jersey’s 18 community colleges tuition free. Mike Flores, Chancellor of the Alamo Colleges District, discussed the ALAMO Promise, an initiative that makes the Alamo Colleges tuition-free for students who graduate from particular high schools. Edward Smith, Education Program Office at The Kresge Foundation, considered the role of philanthropy in advancing the implementation and evaluation of free community college programs. President Biden’s original Build Back Better proposal included a federal-state partnership to make community colleges tuition free which would assure that at least some of the costs of attendance are covered. Increasing access to community colleges and other forms of postsecondary education would benefit our cities and our nation while providing citizens opportunities to participate in the 21st century skills-based economy. It would send a clear message that we as a country value the talents of all.

Now is the time for a new approach. The stakes—for equity and economic well-being—are too high for inaction.

Videos of panel discussions in the series Education and Workforce Solutions for an Equitable Future are available to stream on the Penn IUR website.

Laura W. Perna is Vice Provost for Faculty at Penn; GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education, Penn Graduate School of Education; Executive Director, Penn Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD); and Penn IUR Faculty Fellow.