NEWS

Trustees seek to extend Pell grants at summit in D.C.

The WCC Board of Trustees meet to discuss current business in the Morris Lawrence building. Sara Faraj | Washtenaw Community College

By Nicholas Ketchum
Deputy Editor

The Board of Trustees held its monthly public meeting at the Morris Lawrence building on Tuesday, Feb. 25 to discuss business for both January and February. The January meeting had been cancelled due to inclement weather.

Trustee David DeVarti reported on his February visit to the 2019 National Legislative Summit, which was held by the Association of Community College Trustees in Washington, D.C. Trustee Christina Fleming also joined DeVarti at the conference.

DeVarti said he and Fleming met with other community college trustees, attended various seminars, and got a feel of the overall educational legislative agenda set by lawmakers in the capital.

They also met with members of Congress representing Michigan to speak about issues affecting higher education.

In his report, DeVarti recognized some of Michigan’s new congresspeople, some of which occupy seats on education committees on Capitol Hill. He characterized Michigan’s national educational representation as “very good.”

DeVarti said he and Fleming focused on advocating for expansion of Pell grant opportunities at the conference.

“One of the top things we were advocating was to make Pell grants available to students who were in short term programs; less than 15 or 16 hours,” DeVarti said. “For students that are taking programs that result in a certificate or some sort of recognition—less than 15 or 16 hours—they cannot qualify at this point for Pell grants. That’s high on the agenda for the national association to get that changed.”

DeVarti noted that several new proposed short-term academic programs on Tuesday’s agenda would benefit from such an expansion of grants.

“Last year we lobbied to get Pell grants available to students that were taking classes over the summer, and that actually changed,” DeVarti said. “Last year Congress passed an expansion of those Pell grant opportunities and over 800 of our students were able to make use of that. . . . I’m hopeful short term Pell grants will become a reality.”