News Links | February 27, 2020
System News | Opinion
State of College sees seeds of progress
It’s been a tumultuous year for Clark College, and there were times during Interim President Sandra Fowler-Hill’s State of the
College address when she called out the challenges of the past by name. But in her
speech Wednesday, Fowler-Hill also looked toward the future of the Vancouver community
college and progress that she said the campus will experience in the coming years.
“This will be my only opportunity to share with you my thoughts about the state and
the future of the college,” Fowler-Hill said. “I was hired eight months ago as your
interim president to help lead during this year of transformational change. It has
been my honor.”
The Columbian, Feb. 26, 2020
Wenatchee Valley College participates in survey: Reveals how many students face housing/food insecurity
A study, #RealCollege survey, based on 13,550 students, including Wenatchee Valley College participation, revealed six out of ten community or technical Washington college
students face food and housing insecurity. For the survey, 41% of students had faced
food insecurity in the prior 30 days and 51% had faced housing insecurity in the last
30 days. “The study gave us a really good idea of the actual percentages that students
are facing here,” said Libby Siebens, community relations executive director.
560 KPQ, Feb. 26, 2020
LWTech students place fourth in national Codebreaker Challenge
Lake Washington Institute of Technology’s (LWTech) computer security and network technology (CSNT) program recently placed fourth out
of more than 530 colleges and universities at the National Security Agency’s (NSA)
Codebreaker Challenge online competition. LWTech students in the CSNT program gain
skills to build careers in the computer technical support industry. The hands-on 15-month
program covers a wide variety of information technology (IT) training, including troubleshooting
physical and virtual networks, operating systems and data security.
Kirkland Reporter, Feb. 26, 2020
GHC grad receives Transforming Lives Award
Kristi Maldonado of Aberdeen has received a Transforming Lives Award from the Washington
State Association of College Trustees. The awards recognize current and former students
whose lives were transformed by attending a Washington community or technical college.
Maldonado is the first recipient from Grays Harbor College in the program’s nine-year history. And, of the 34 honorees from all over the state,
they were among just six who were chosen to give a keynote speech at the Feb. 17 awards
event in Olympia. “It is crazy by far, being recognized from across the state,” they
told The Daily World. “Some of the others are doing amazing things. It was a room
full of overachievers!”
The Daily World, Feb. 26, 2020
About 1 in 5 Washington community-college students were homeless last year
More than half of Washington community-college students had trouble paying rent or
had to move in with friends or relatives in the past year, according to a new report
on food and housing insecurity among two-year college students. ... “We never had
a way to track or have data,” said Christina Castorena, vice president for student
services at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, where campus statistics mirrored the state’s averages. ... At Shoreline Community College, addressing food insecurity used to mean directing students to a “small cabinet”
stocked with soup in a student resources center, said Sundi Musnicki, director of
student leadership and residential life at the college. Now, through the college’s
partnership with United Way, an office in the student union has full-time staff who
offer students food and other goods.
The Seattle Times, Feb. 25, 2020
Congressman Rick Larsen meets with Edmonds CC student leaders
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen met with members of the Associated Students of Edmonds Community College Board Monday to discuss issues facing students. Congressman Larsen represents the
2nd District, which includes Mountlake Terrace. The board advocates for college, local,
state and national issues that directly affect students’ educational opportunities
and access to those opportunities. The board also works to implement programs and
services to increase student involvement on campus and initiatives to close the opportunity
gap and promote an equitable and inclusive college community.
MLT News, Feb. 25, 2020
Big Bend Community College students assemble and donate sack lunches to Serve Moses Lake
It’s difficult to fathom that food is hard to come by, but it’s a reality for many
in Grant County. That’s why students in Big Bend Community College’s TriO Upward Bound Program took the liberty of assembling 50 sack lunches for those
in need. The sack lunch project was an acknowledgment to National TRiO Day. TRiO Day
is celebrated across America each February to generate awareness about the importance
of educational opportunities for low-income and/or first-generation students.
iFiber One, Feb. 25, 2020
Elizabeth Bock to go from the Evergreen State to the Emerald Isle
Elizabeth Bock took her time as a Running Start student seriously. She truly got a
“running start” into her new career and will pursue higher education abroad. In the
fall, she will attend Griffith College in Dublin, Ireland, after she has finished
all her courses in the Clover Park Technical College Cosmetology program this summer. She plans to work in hair design while taking more
courses in fashion, starting with her Art and Design Certificate while on the Emerald
Isle.
The Suburban Times, Feb. 25, 2020
Over half of Seattle high school seniors apply for tuition-free college
More than half of Seattle Public Schools' graduating seniors applied for a program
that offers free tuition for two years at community colleges in the city. Seattle
Promise gives students the chance to attend one of Seattle's colleges -- North Seattle College, Seattle Central College or South Seattle College -- tuition-free for two years, or 90 credits, as part of the Families, Education,
Preschool and Promise levy approved by Seattle voters in 2018.
KOMO News, Feb. 24, 2020
Trends | Horizons | Education
Opinion: Getting campuses ready for the coronavirus
Predicting the path and impact of the coronavirus on colleges in the U.S. is impossible
today. Nevertheless, the emergence of hot spots in South Korea, Iran and Italy has
moved the world closer to potential pandemic. The U.S. government is responding by
asking for $2.5 billion for prevention and response, and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention has just warned Americans that an outbreak is likely, without a prediction
of place or time. Although we are clearly not in an emergency state on U.S. college
campuses, it is time to recognize risk and to prepare.
Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 27, 2020
Drilling down into distance education data
Over 1.5 million students studied toward online degrees at institutions in their home
state last year, according to new distance education data released today. The National
Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) has been collecting
data on the number of out-of-state students studying online for the past four years. This
year for the first time the report includes in-state students studying online in addition
to out-of-state students studying online -- painting a much fuller picture of the
online learning landscape.
Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 27, 2020
Go east (or north), regional accreditor
And they're off. Four months after the Education Department issued new rules that
created the possibility of open competition among accrediting agencies -- and four
months before the regulations take effect -- the accrediting body for California,
Hawaii and the Pacific Islands announced Wednesday that it would consider approving
colleges around the country. Among other things, the new regulations eliminate the
historical restriction that regional accrediting agencies can accredit only colleges
and universities located in their geographic regions (with exceptions for branch campuses
of those institutions).
Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 27, 2020
Overlap in labor market returns for diplomas and degrees
The annual wages of American workers who hold only a high school credential and are
in the top half of earners within that group overlap with wages of the bottom half
of earners among college graduates, according to a new report from the Manhattan Institute.
In addition, the report found that the 75th percentile of earners among high school-only
workers have higher wages than the 25th percentile of earners among college graduates
-- meaning that every worker among the top 25 percent of high school graduates in
annual wages outperforms every worker in the bottom 25 percent of college graduates.
Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 27, 2020
Latinx success is American success
... Various academic, financial, and sociocultural hurdles stand in their way. While
these challenges begin with early inequities in education, some of the biggest issues
for Latinx students are successfully transitioning from high school to college, and
transferring from two-year to four-year colleges. For instance, almost half (44 percent)
of Latinx college students nationwide are the first in their family to attend college,
compared to 22 percent of white students—a significant disadvantage when it comes
to negotiating the potential pitfalls of higher education.
New America, Feb. 27, 2020
Politics | Local, State, National
CTE, Pell spared during contentious approps hearing
In a tension-filled House appropriations hearing Thursday about the president’s proposed
2021 budget for education, there was no political bickering around proposed funding
increases for career and technical education (CTE) and expanding eligibility for Pell
grants. Political bickering overshadowed a good part of the House education appropriations
hearing, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle asked U.S. Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos about the Trump administration’s proposal to boost funding for career and technical
education by about $900 million and its plan to extend Pell Grant eligibility to qualifying
inmates and for certain high-quality short-term programs.
Community College Daily, Feb. 27, 2020
Rising tensions between DeVos and democrats
Three weeks ago the U.S. House of Representatives' oversight committee threatened
it might subpoena U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos if she didn’t confirm she
would appear before the body on March 3 to answer an array of questions. It doesn’t
sound like DeVos is going to go. Instead of an RSVP, the acting general counsel for
the Education Department sent the committee a scathing letter pushing back at what
he considers to be overreach by the committee -- and saying the subpoena threat “signals
an unhealthy appetite for the abuse of congressional power.”
Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 26, 2020
Bill aims to grow apprenticeships for college students
A bipartisan House bill introduced this week would create a new grant program to foster
more registered apprenticeship opportunities for college students. The Student Apprenticeship
Act, introduced by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania),
would create a grant program that, in part, would allow students to earn college credit
and an industry credential through apprenticeships. Participating employers would
pay at least 25 percent of the student’s college tuition and fees.
Community College Daily, Feb. 26, 2020
