Obama's free
community college plan watched closely here
Spokane's two community colleges [Spokane
Community College and Spokane Falls Community College],
along with North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene, are closely watching
President Obama's plan to provide two free years of higher education
nationwide. The White House proposal was rolled out late
last week and is largely modeled after a Tennessee program
that provides students with tuition-free community college enrollment
in that state.
The Spokesman-Review, Jan. 13, 2015
Editorial: Free
2-year college: Great deal for students, public
President Obama has a good idea: free community college. But Washington’s
Legislature has largely beat him to it. In most respects, this state’s
lawmakers haven’t covered themselves in glory funding higher education.
After the Great Recession hit, they relentlessly shifted the cost of
college to students, ratcheting up tuition while squeezing the schools
themselves. But the Legislature did try to compensate by raising
financial aid. Roughly 70,000 students are getting state need grants, which
are among the nation’s most generous financial aid deals. Washington
also offers the innovative College Bound Scholarship, which promises full
tuition – for both two-year and four-year schools – to low-income students
who sign up in the seventh and eighth grades. Half the state’s students are
eligible. That promise is conditional, though: Participants have to
maintain a C average, graduate from high school and stay out of trouble
with the law.
The News Tribune, Jan. 12, 2015
Boeing supplier
to employ 75 at Sumner winglet plant
GKN Aerospace will set up a winglet assembly plant in Sumner, near Tacoma,
after winning a contract to build the new advanced winglets for Boeing’s
forthcoming 737 MAX. The 57,000-square-foot facility will open in late
2015 and employ approximately 75 people at full production. This is
new work for Washington state. The winglets for the current model of the
737 are built in Austria by carbon-fiber component manufacturer FACC.
... The incentives package granted to GKN includes $400,000 from the
Governor’s Economic Development Strategic Reserve Fund, as well as a
$100,000 Job Skills Program training grant through the State Board of Community &
Technical Colleges.
The Seattle Times, Jan. 12, 2015
Bates student
honored with ‘Transforming Lives’ award
Bates Technical
College student Raymond Power will receive a $500
Transforming Lives award from the Trustees
Association of Community and Technical Colleges at an event
in Olympia on Wednesday, Jan. 28. The annual award honors and recognizes
five students and alumni from the state’s 34 community and technical
colleges who have overcome significant barriers to achieve their higher
education goals . The award demonstrates how Washington community and technical
colleges help transform lives through support and education.
The Suburban Times, Jan. 12, 2015
Super Kid
Jessica Miller’s got a running start on life
Jessica Miller, 18, is a senior at Everett High School and this week's
Super Kid. I hear you're involved with Running Start at Everett Community College.
When did you start that program? I started last year as a junior and
did it my whole junior year and am finishing my senior year. A couple of my
friends were thinking about it and we decided to do it all together.
... What's it like to be on a college campus? I really enjoy it.
I get my AA this year as I graduate from high school. I like the freedom.
It's an awesome program.
Everett Herald, Jan. 12, 2015
Bates Technical
College instructor receives award
Bates Technical
College instructor Ed Young received the 2015 Exceptional
Faculty Award in a surprise announcement this week. The annual award
recognizes a faculty member who infuses their teaching with innovation and
provides an exemplary level of work performance that fosters and supports
student learning.
The Suburban Times, Jan. 11, 2015
Electric car chargers
spark little interest from Cowlitz County drivers
Electric car drivers needing a charge in Cowlitz County are in luck. Too
much luck, probably. There are four charging stations in the county,
and only Castle Rock’s Cascade Select Market station gets used on a daily
basis. The others, all in Longview, have been used sparingly — or not
at all — since being installed. ... And the spots reserved for
charging at Lower
Columbia College’s new parking lot, open since this fall?
No charges yet. “I don’t think we have started really promoting it
yet,” college spokeswoman Wendy Hall said. “I would say we need to let
people know about it.”
Longview Daily News, Jan. 11, 2015
YVCC president:
Free college would boost economy
Yakima Valley
Community College President Linda Kaminski was just as
stunned as others across the country Thursday when President Barack Obama
detailed a proposal that would allow students to attend community college
tuition-free their first two years. “It’s not a surprise he supports
us,” Kaminski said in a telephone interview Friday. “It is surprising the
proposal came out the way it did.” The YVCC president said she
welcomed the ambitious idea, as the prospect of more highly educated
students in the Yakima area could boost the Valley’s economy and culture.
Yakima Herald, Jan. 10, 2015
Obama wants to
make community college free for everyone
President Obama on Friday outlined a new plan that would make
community college free for all students, regardless of income, as long as
they make good progress toward earning a degree and maintain a 2.5 grade
point average. ... In Washington state, the proposal was met with
enthusiasm. “We fully support President Obama’s vision,” said Marty
Brown, executive director of the State
Board for Community and Technical Colleges, in an email.
“It would be a huge boost to our students and Washington’s economy.
And, nationally, it would go a long way toward rebuilding
the American dream of opportunity and upward mobility.”
The Seattle Times, Jan. 9, 2015
Opinion: The
promise of universal community college
Virtually all Americans enroll in high school these days and have the
opportunity to attend public schools for free, but a century ago, that was
not the case. In 1910, fewer than one in five Americans attended high
school; by the start of World War II, three-quarters of high-school aged
Americans were enrolled. The result is clear: decades of innovation,
economic growth, and social mobility driven by a smarter, more skilled
American population. The timing of President Obama’s proposal today to
extend this idea to the first two years of college could not be better.
Partnering with states, the federal government would make community college
free for many students, promising to dramatically expand the number of
Americans who attain post-secondary skills. ... Graduates from
Washington state’s Walla
Walla Community College earn an average annual salary of
$42,000 immediately after graduating, growing to $57,000 five years later.
Time, Jan. 9, 2015
Free community
college? Local schools and students like the idea
President Obama is grabbing the attention of the younger generation with
his idea for two years of community college for free. "Put simply
what I’d like to do is to see the first two years of community college free
for everybody who’s willing to work for it" Did he say
free? "Free for everybody who’s willing to work for
it" The idea sounds great to Yakima Valley Community College
students. ... Better buses won’t turn the economy around — but well educated
people can — the folks at Columbia Basin College
believe this idea could be a win-win for everyone.
KAPP TV, Jan. 9, 2015
Bellevue
College leaders, students react to free college plan
Bellevue College
students, busy finishing up the first week of the new quarter on Friday,
learned about President Obama’s plan to pay for the first two years of
community college for roughly 9 million students nationwide each year.
KIRO TV, Jan. 9, 2015
LCC president,
local students react to Obama plan for free community college
If Congress grants President Obama his wish, community college students may
get two free years of education. Obama unveiled his proposal, called
“America’s College Promise,” Thursday evening. Lower Columbia College
president Chris Bailey expressed concerns over the program’s estimated $60
billion price tag. “The devil will be in the details,” he said by
phone Friday. Bailey estimated LCC’s budget has been reduced 20
percent since 2008 and said Obama’s plan may deepen the college’s woes if,
for example, it doesn’t add extra money into the system and simply
reallocates federal funding dollars. Bailey was also concerned that the
plan could affect funding for non-qualifying programs.
Longview Daily News, Jan. 9, 2015
Editorial:
Smoking ban is a big success
Once in a while, voters in all 39 counties of the state agree on something
clear-cut and specific, the law is implemented, and is effective. Crazy, we
know. But it's important to remember we can get things done, for the
greater good. Initiative 901 of 2005, which bans smoking in all public
buildings and workplaces has been such a success, accomplishing, for the
most part, what voters hoped it would. ... long with hospitals, some
college campuses have also banned smoking, including Everett Community College.
Again, laudable, but an unintended consequence is that three or four blocks
of public sidewalk behind the school have become a de facto smoking area,
which is unfair to neighbors, including the elementary school next door.
... In the big picture, smokers (and fewer of them) running out of
places to smoke is an excellent thing, quite intended.
Everett Herald, Jan. 9, 2015
CPTC: Surgical
Technology instructor granted tenure
Clover Park
Technical College is proud to announce Surgical Technology
Instructor Ronda Armstrong was awarded tenure by the Board of Trustees Dec.
10. Armstrong graduated from CPTC’s Surgical Technology Program in 2005,
and while she worked in the industry she also worked as a lab assistant and
substitute for the program. She became a full-time faculty member in 2010
and soon after started the tenure process, where she went through a
demanding review process and evaluation by a tenure committee.
The Suburban Times, Jan. 9, 2015
Breaking the
stereotype: Number of male nurses up at Centralia College
Centralia College
is is bucking national trends with its nursing program, a career field which
is typically dominated by women. The college has seen an increase in
male students in the past two years with 11 of the 48 being male,
accounting for almost 23 percent of its program. The national average is 5
percent.
Centralia Chronicle, Jan. 8, 2015
High school
drop outs getting a second chance
KEPR is checking back on a program that allows high school drop outs to go
get their diploma *without going back to their old high school, and without
settling for a GED. KEPR looked at the High School Academy [a partnership
with Columbia Basin
College] and how it can help many of our local dropouts.
... The program has already grown incredibly since it started a couple
of years ago but the director says there are still plenty of seats left to
be filled.
KEPR TV, Jan. 7, 2015
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