PROMOTING HIGHER COLLEGE GRADUATION RATES

WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) has established policy supporting increased funding for the Pell Grant Program through Resolution EDU-10-36;

WHEREAS, the NBCSL has long-standing policy regarding the disparity in education, which was recently expanded to include vocational education in Resolution EDU-07-20;

WHEREAS, the NBCSL has adopted policy calling for an end to the achievement gap in colleges and universities and the establishment of a National Office of Education Equity as passed in Resolution EDU-10-41;

WHEREAS, the NBCSL most recently added to its education policy dialogue with Resolution EDU-11-11, calling for equality in the taxation rates of public education;

WHEREAS, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce has concluded that between 1973 and 2018, the proportion of jobs in the United States economy that require postsecondary education will increase from 28 percent to 63 percent;

WHEREAS, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has concluded the United States world ranking for the proportion of college graduates in the age 25-34 population cohort has fallen from first to twelfth and fallen from first to last among industrialized nations;

WHEREAS, the Lumina Foundation reports 30 percent of Caucasians hold four-year degrees and only 18 percent of African Americans do, while Complete College America has concluded that fewer than 12 percent of full-time African American college students complete a bachelor’s degree within six years and fewer than 5 percent of full-time African American college students complete an associate’s degree within three years;

WHEREAS, Complete College America has concluded that fewer than four percent of part-time African Americans complete a bachelor’s degree within six years and fewer than two percent of part-time African Americans complete an associate’s degree within three years; and

WHEREAS, President Barack Obama has declared that, by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators supports the following:

1. stable and equitable funding for PELL Grants;
2. reestablishment of the student loan interest rate reduction program and the in-school interest subsidy on subsidized loans for graduate students program to make borrowing easier and less expensive for our most financially challenged students;
3. an increased focus on college preparedness programs for our most neglected populations;
4. increased support for America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving-Institutions (MSIs); and
5. equitable access and full opportunities to succeed in all higher education institutions for all degrees and in all fields of study; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and other federal and state government officials as appropriate.

SPONSOR: Representative Gregory W. Porter (IN)
Committee of Jurisdiction: Education Policy Committee
Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Gregory W. Porter (IN)
Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 9, 2011
Ratification is certified by: Representative Barbara W. Ballard (KS), President