The following essay penned by Dr. Jill Biden will be featured in the April 23 issue of The
Chronicle of Higher Education, and can be found online HERE.

Community Colleges: Our Work Has Just Begun
Jill Biden

I have been a teacher for almost three decades and a community-college instructor for the past
16 years. Last spring, President Obama asked me to increase awareness about one of the
best-kept secrets of higher education: the very sizable and valuable contribution of community
colleges. Since then I have been visiting colleges around the country and reporting back to the
president about their challenges, innovations, and ideas. This issue is a priority for the
Obama-Biden administration. We are committed to making community colleges better and more
accessible to students across this nation.

The passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 was a substantial
victory for community colleges. The final legislation does not contain everything our
administration had proposed, but it does include one of the most significant new federal
investments in higher education, and in community colleges, since the GI Bill was introduced,
over 60 years ago.

Pell Grants had been threatened with a 60-percent funding decrease, but we stabilized the Pell
program and ensured that such grants would increase with inflation. The Pell Grant victory will
put money in the pockets of millions of full- and part-time community-college students, helping
them pay for tuition, books, supplies, and living expenses. This increase in financial aid is
coupled with the recently expanded Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides students a tax credit
of up to $2,500 per year for up to four years to offset higher-education expenses, including a
partial credit for those who owe no taxes. It also sets up income-based repayment of student
loans, capping loan repayments at rates based on income and family size. As a lifelong teacher,
I am particularly pleased that income-based repayment helps those who choose public-service
careers. Graduates who work as teachers, nurses, or in other public-service professions—and
those who serve in the military—can have their loans forgiven after 10 years.

The reconciliation bill also sets aside $2-billion ($500-million per year over four years) to
develop and improve educational and training programs at community colleges. Throughout the
nation, community colleges will receive funds to help them serve students more effectively, and
to help form partnerships with regional industry clusters so that graduates will be prepared to
excel in the local work force.

This administration's commitment to community colleges is a long-term one. The president has
asked me to convene a national summit on community colleges in the fall. We will bring college
presidents, instructors, and advocates together with business leaders and other stakeholders to
share best practices and successful models for helping students gain the knowledge, training,
certificates, and degrees needed to succeed. This will be a working summit, a setting where we
can shine a spotlight on community colleges, highlight their utility to families and
communities across the nation, nurture more collaboration, and generate additional policy ideas
and goals for student success. As a community-college instructor, I am thrilled to be leading
this summit and truly pleased to have the support of the administration.

Over the past 16 years, I have seen firsthand the power of community colleges to change lives.
And that is, in large part, why I never really considered the possibility of not teaching at a
community college after we moved to Washington last year. Since then I have been privileged to
teach students from more than 22 countries.

As an English teacher, I frequently use journals and exercises in our school's learning lab as
a tool for my students to develop their writing and composition skills. One exercise that is
always productive is to encourage my students to write about their core beliefs as inspired by
National Public Radio's This I Believe program. In these sessions, students listen to radio
segments as examples—and then I encourage them to write about their own core beliefs. I am
constantly moved and humbled by the experiences my students share in this exercise and in their
journals about their dreams, challenges, and values.

Each one of them has a story to tell—stories about dedication and sacrifice.

Every day, I see my students work hard to overcome obstacles just to be in the classroom. Many
of them work full time, have aging parents in need of care and attention, or are parents
themselves. Often they contend with difficult economic realities. They are eager to learn, and
many of them are the first members of their families to attend college. They persevere because
they understand that getting an education will change their lives for the better. It will
improve their job prospects and enrich their understanding of the world around them.

Community colleges can also serve as a gateway from a high-school diploma to a baccalaureate
degree. They offer an affordable option for middle-class high-school students who want to
attend a four-year college but cannot afford the tuition. The numbers tell the story: The
average cost of tuition at a private four-year university is over $26,000 for the current
academic year. At public four-year universities, the average is $7,000. Community-college
tuition averages $2,500, presenting a far more affordable way to complete the first two years
of a college education, especially when the credits earned on a community-college campus can
often be transferred directly into four-year programs. It is not a coincidence that community
colleges educate over 40 percent of all postsecondary students nationally.

For laid-off workers, community colleges offer job-certification programs that teach new
skills and professions. Most people would be surprised to look at the catalog of an average
community college today—they would find course work in a range of emerging health-care
industries, training in cutting-edge technologies, offerings in architecture and green-building
techniques, and classes in highly marketable job fields. For an immigrant or first-generation
American, community college is often the place to begin a postsecondary education.

All of us have the opportunity to match the dedication of community-college students with a
renewed commitment to ensuring their success. By working together, we can maximize the return
on the new federal investment in students through Pell Grants, and in community colleges
themselves, by modernizing the way classes are offered, ensuring easy transfer to four-year
schools, and supporting other strategies for student success.

We know that education is the key to unlocking human potential. And we know that today, on
community-college campuses across this country, millions of students are eager to build a more
secure future for themselves, their families, and our country. We cannot—and we will
not—let them down. As a member of the education community, I ask for your continued
partnership in the months and years ahead as we continue to build support for community
colleges and work to improve their offerings and outcomes. This is the moment for community
colleges. Our work has just begun.

Jill Biden, a lifelong educator with a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware,
teaches English at Northern Virginia Community College.