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Tuskegee University President Dr. Mark A. Brown joined other educational thought leaders during a Senate hearing panel discussion on Wednesday on Capitol Hill. His testimony, as a representative of all 101 HBCUs, was done at the request of the Chairman of Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).
During his opening remarks, Dr. Brown outlined the importance of financial support for students like those at Tuskegee as he introduced two Student Ambassadors who sat behind him on the hearing floor.
Senators questioned Dr. Brown about a few topics, including 1890 Scholars Program and he weighed in on the need for job market transparency as students select majors and if student loans should be eligible for bankruptcy.
Dr. Brown, through written and verbal testimony, urged the Senators to take three specific actions related to the ongoing budget and Education Bill deliberations:
- Continue reforming and modernizing the PELL Grant and Federal Work Study programs to reduce reliance on Federal Student Loans. Do not end or reduce PELL Grants and Cap limits on Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS loans without providing an alternative. To do so would end access to those students who need education the most.
- Incentivize the use of evidence-based Gainful Employment metrics rather than imposing Risk-Sharing models that fail to recognize the challenges of educating underserved populations. He emphasized that HBCUs educate a broader swath of society than similar prestigious Universities but that also means HBCUs, by virtue of their mission, take on more risk.
- Incentivize industry partnerships with HBCUs to bridge the gap between classroom learning and workplace demands. He provided the example of Tuskegee University moving to policies that require Internships, Certifications, as well all other degree requirements for graduation.
In addition to the hearing, Dr. Brown introduced two Tuskegee Ambassadors, Tyler Smith, a Biology major from Atlanta, and Aryial O'Neal, a Political Science major from Los Angeles, to the Committee as examples of the talent on all HBCU campuses.
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