Santa Fe College participated in a White House summit on community colleges Tuesday by submitting a video-recorded discussion.
The summit was held to emphasize the role community colleges play in developing the country’s workforce and reaching America’s educational goals.
Community colleges are America’s “best-kept secret,” said Jill Biden, the vice president’s wife, who chaired the summit.
The full-day event brought together representatives of the 1,200 community colleges in the U.S., businesses, philanthropies, political leaders and students.
The White House set up various ways for community colleges and their students to participate in the discussion of ways to improve community colleges in the future. They could submit a video, participate in the online dialogue or plan an event. Santa Fe College submitted a video that showed former and current students discussing how SFC has furthered their knowledge and training for their desired fields.
The video describes how community colleges are an alternative path for non-traditional students to achieve their goals in a way that is more comfortable for them.
They discussed how smaller classes provided more one-on-one time, how the atmosphere is similar to a family-like relationship between students and teachers and proposed changes that would better their learning institution.
Marilyn Tubb, associate vice president of college relations for SFC, said it was very interesting to see what the White House had to say about the roles of community colleges in today’s economy and the role they will play in the future.
SFC offers bachelor degrees in early childhood education, clinical lab management and health science administration.
“Our goal is not to become a university, but to be a very good community college,” Tubb said.
SFC proposed ideas that included providing federal funding to install high-speed wireless to all community colleges; granting forgiveness for students with financial aid debt who agree to teach at a community college for three years and increasing Perkins grants, which promote the careers and technical training of students who elect to enroll in vocational technical programs.
Melinda Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that they will be putting $35 million into new grants, according to Tubb.
This summit was to ensure the American people that the United States will have the most educated and well-trained workforce in the world, and this will start with community colleges.
