Lauren Kent Math and Science Major Travels to Africa See her story on page 4

A Message from the President
“Everyone is entitled <strong>to</strong> his own opinion, but not his own
facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former U.S. Sena<strong>to</strong>r
I recently attended the Association of Community College Trustees National
Legislative Summit in Washing<strong>to</strong>n D.C. The purpose of the conference was
<strong>to</strong> educate community college leaders on proposed federal policy items <strong>and</strong>
encourage leaders <strong>to</strong> engage in advocacy activities with our elected officials.
My doc<strong>to</strong>ral degree is in public administration <strong>and</strong> so you can just imagine how
intrigued I was with all of the policy discussion regarding America’s Promise (free
community college), revisions <strong>to</strong> the Pell program (student grants), <strong>and</strong> revisions
<strong>to</strong> the federal loan program <strong>to</strong> name just a few.
We spent a lot of time on one simple fact: student debt is growing larger <strong>and</strong> more
burdensome every year. More college students are borrowing money <strong>to</strong> attend
college <strong>and</strong> significant numbers of those students are not paying back those loans
on time. Community colleges are more affordable than ot<strong>her</strong> sec<strong>to</strong>rs of hig<strong>her</strong>
education <strong>and</strong> yet our students are not leaving debt free. At Jefferson Community
College, 46.9% of our students have debt when they leave the college <strong>and</strong> the
average debt amount is $8,872. Our latest default rate, which measures how many
students are in default three years after finishing at Jefferson, is 15.5%.
The facts are clear, however, the opinions about what <strong>to</strong> do are varied <strong>and</strong> the
proposed solutions are complex. Some proposals, such as America’s Promise, will
reduce the need for students <strong>to</strong> take out loans in the first place. Ot<strong>her</strong> proposals
increase Pell by eit<strong>her</strong> making more students eligible or increasing the dollar
amount of an annual Pell award which should also reduce student borrowing. On
the opposite end of the spectrum are proposals under an umbrella called ‘risk
sharing’ which would have colleges responsible (or at least partially responsible)
for amounts that students borrow but don’t pay back. Perhaps it would help if
t<strong>her</strong>e were fewer repayment programs. The ideas are many <strong>and</strong> the differences
between hig<strong>her</strong> education institutions are also many. T<strong>her</strong>e is no one answer that
will fit all. I think we can all agree that we would like students <strong>to</strong> graduate with less
debt <strong>and</strong>, if they do have debt, we want <strong>to</strong> see it paid.
In Washing<strong>to</strong>n I had the opportunity <strong>to</strong> meet with Congresswoman Stefanik <strong>and</strong>
members of Sena<strong>to</strong>rs Gillibr<strong>and</strong>’s <strong>and</strong> Schumer’s staff. I thanked them for their
support of Jefferson <strong>and</strong> voiced my thoughts that helping students pay for college
on the front end was preferable <strong>to</strong> finding ways <strong>to</strong> better collect on the back end.
I know they listened <strong>and</strong> I know how committed they are <strong>to</strong> community colleges
<strong>and</strong> the success of our students. At the same time, I don’t envy the challenges they
face as our representatives with seemingly unending needs <strong>and</strong> limited resources.
While these are national issues, colleges need <strong>to</strong> do all that we can <strong>to</strong> help reduce
student borrowing by operating efficiently <strong>and</strong> keeping tuition increases <strong>to</strong> a
minimum. The scholarships made possible through your generous gifts <strong>to</strong> the
Jefferson Community College Foundation make a big difference <strong>to</strong> hundreds of
students every year. I’m particularly excited that the Community Schools Grant
we recently received includes a program <strong>to</strong> work directly with former students
who are at risk <strong>to</strong> pay back their loans. We will be watching the results from this
initiative closely.
Our students are counting on all of us.
Carole A. McCoy
President
Jefferson Insider - Volume 14 • 3