Community College Student Calls Out President Obama

On May 8th, 2015, during my valedictorian address, I called out President Obama to renew his commitment to supporting community colleges, not because I necessarily believe he can do anything to change the status quo currently (or that anyone remotely close to him will ever see this), but because I believe that this is a discussion our country desperately needs to return to.

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Every day, the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence receives nearly 20,000 letters and e-mails addressed to President Obama and his administration. Which seems like a significant number, until it's compared to the $35,000 in student debt the average Class of 2015 graduate is graduating with: a figure only predicted to grow in the coming years. In light of growing educational costs, students are increasingly turning to community colleges to begin their undergraduate education. These students, however, only make up a percentage of the diverse student population of community colleges.

According to the American Association of Community Colleges, in the 2012-2013 school year, about 12.8 million students – nearly half of all U.S. undergraduates, were enrolled in the over 1,132 community colleges in the United States. If the goal of this country is to create a land of equal opportunity, then community colleges are a perfect representation of this principle: over a third of the student population are first generation college students, almost two-thirds of students can be classified as low-income, and a significant portion of students are also working adults, with the average age of community college students being 29.

Community colleges also provide an important role of serving those who serve, with over 44,000 veterans enrolled in a community college in California alone between 2010-2011. Community colleges offer students from all backgrounds the opportunity to attain an education, no matter their goals, through the variety of courses offered in fields that are traditionally absent at four-year institutions, such as vocational classes in automotive technology and dental assisting. Most importantly, much like the name implies, community colleges serve the local community, and increasingly partner with local businesses to provide students hands-on experience in growing job fields.

Keeping that in mind, I was excited earlier this year when community colleges became the spotlight of national attention when President Obama announced his community college initiative. Despite policy disagreements, it was great to see that community colleges were for once taking the forefront in the discussion regarding providing affordable education for all, in light of recent budget cuts to public institutions, when community colleges have taken the most significant brunt of these cuts. While understandable considering the fast-paced news cycle, it was discouraging to see how quickly this discussion faded in the midst of a gridlocked political system.

That's why last month, when given the opportunity to deliver the valedictorian address at my community college graduation, I dedicated a portion of it to calling on President Obama to refocus his agenda on emphasizing affordable education and supporting community colleges once more. However, it was more than just calling out the administration, because when it comes down to it, they'll have little impact in actually helping community colleges and the students these institutions support in the long run.

The support to enact long-term meaningful change has to come from the state and local level. States – such as California, Florida, and Tennessee with their "Tennessee Promise" of "free community college" that's strongly supported by their Republican Governor Bill Haslam (the same plan that the administration consequently modeled their national proposal on), have taken the forefront in supporting and innovating their community college systems. However, there is a role for the national government, and that's incentivizing states to innovate. Above all, there simply needs to be a return to this discussion. That's why I not only called out the administration, but also added a letter to the 20,000 sent each day to the White House, asking them to refocus the national discussion back on community colleges, with the hope that one intern or staffer will read it.

President Obama transferred from Occidental College, a liberal arts college in Southern California, 34 years ago to Columbia University. Now, I'm prepared to take a similar journey from a small Southern California school to an Ivy League institution. However, instead of transferring from Occidental, I'm transferring from a school about 20 minutes away – Pasadena City College. In the fall, when I'll be attending Yale University, I'll have in mind what made this opportunity to get an education possible for me and for so many other students: community colleges. I hope that we can find the political will to continue supporting these wonderful institutions that pride themselves not in selectively, but in accessibility for all.