Testimony on "Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges"

Thank you, Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member DeLauro, and members of the Committee, for the privilege to speak with you about the vital role community colleges play in preparing for the future and expanding access to economic security, the American middle class, and the American Dream.

My name is Shalin Jyotishi, and I lead the Future of Work & Innovation Economy initiative at New America. Our mission is to ensure that technological innovation and tech-based economic development translate into economic security for American workers and their families. Community colleges are central to that mission.

Our nation’s more than 900 community colleges enroll about 40 percent of all undergraduate students. They disproportionately serve low-income students: Nearly 57 percent of their students come from households earning below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Through apprenticeships and work-based learning, career and technical education, and other workforce credentials, community colleges offer affordable, accessible, and industry-aligned pathways to the jobs that keep our communities running in healthcare, public safety, skilled trades, manufacturing, IT, and more.

But increasingly, rapid advances in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence have meant that community colleges must prepare students for a much more complex labor market. From coast to coast, colleges are expanding training programs focused on AI, biotechnology, microelectronics, energy innovation, and advanced manufacturing to promote economic development and meet industry needs.

More than half of America’s 36 million STEM workers belong to the "skilled technical workforce," meaning they need education beyond high school, but not necessarily a bachelor’s degree. Community colleges are critical to educating this population. These workers tend to outearn peers with similar levels of education in non-STEM sectors, and they represent a bedrock of America’s middle class and our key to continued and expanded economic prosperity and standard of living.

But community colleges are facing this responsibility while contending with long-standing underinvestment. Despite their focus on serving low-income students, they receive much less public funding per student compared to four-year institutions. If we expect our community colleges to deliver strong workforce outcomes in our most advanced industries and during this period of accelerated technological change, they will need targeted and strategic investments to position them for success.

In September 2024, New America partnered with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to launch the Accelerator for Community Colleges in the Innovation Economy. A first-of-its-kind effort to provide capacity-building technical assistance to community colleges located in regions where tech-based economic development is concentrated. It is funded by private philanthropy and supported by a national network representing governors, mayors, businesses, community college presidents and trustees, workforce development boards, and research universities. Drawing on our analysis and direct work with colleges, I offer the following recommendations for the committee to better leverage the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Labor (DOL) to build community colleges for advanced and emerging technology industries.

Read the full testimony here.