We Need to Super-Size Perkins V

With a new Congress, now is the time to think big about community colleges as engines of economic opportunity. One place to start: build on a program that already works. The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (often called Perkins V because the law is in its fifth iteration) is the only federal funding community colleges can count on every year to invest in their own capacity, rather than funding that passes through students as financial aid. Yet many people, even some of its champions, think of Perkins V as a high school program. That blind spot has consequences: for two years running, the administration’s budget has proposed limiting Perkins V to school districts, which would end federal support for postsecondary career and technical education.

Every year, colleges receive a Perkins V allocation for their career and technical programs, which tend to be the most expensive to run and often lead to good jobs. Unlike financial aid, which works like a voucher and follows students, Perkins V invests directly in the institution: the equipment, staff, and supports that make those programs work. And because the money arrives by formula every year, colleges can build lasting capacity around it.  

That foundation also positions colleges to win competitive grants that take more capacity to apply for and manage, such as NSF’s Advanced Technological Education program and DOL’s Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants. The latest SCC round shows how the pieces fit together: it focuses on helping colleges build programs eligible for the new Workforce Pell Grants. Workforce Pell pays tuition, but colleges still need equipment, instructors and support services to stand those programs up. That round awarded $65 million to consortia in seven states. Competitive grants reach a handful of colleges; Perkins V reaches colleges in every state, every year.

Because Perkins V flows through states, there’s no national picture of how colleges spend it. But colleges report using it for the things that make expensive programs work and that tuition aid doesn’t cover:

• Navigation and support: navigators, student-parent supports, and other success services for students in demanding programs such as healthcare.
• Certification exams: Broward College has used Perkins to reimburse students’ costs and provide vouchers for industry certification exams built into its programs, filling gaps when state incentives fall short.
• Direct student support: Temple College and Hill College use part of their allocations to help students with childcare, textbooks, transportation, and specialized CTE equipment.

Better data would show policymakers what this money buys. Pairing new funding with publicly available college-level reporting on spending and outcomes would allow Perkins V to prove its value as a foundational investment. 

The program can be invisible at colleges because it is relatively small, at about $1.4 billion a year, compared to $36 billion for Pell Grants or $3 billion for WIOA Title 1. That money is distributed across all states, and each state has discretion over how much it allocates between high schools and community colleges (ranging from 10 percent in Rhode Island to 60 percent in Colorado). College-level awards range from $50,000 (the minimum allowable grant amount) to around $4 million per year. And it has been shrinking.

Adjusted for inflation, Perkins V funding is about half what it was in 1980, a point bipartisan CTE leaders in Congress have made in their annual funding requests. We can do better. At today’s state splits, doubling Perkins would double what colleges receive, without taking a dollar from high schools. That’s enough to make Perkins the anchor investment that expands college capacity and strengthens programs that lead to good jobs. 

The last significant investment we made in building capacity at community colleges was the $1.9 billion Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCT) program, which awarded competitive grants to community colleges to expand CTE programs during the 2009 recession. Rigorous research on the impact of the early TAACCT grants found that they increased CTE enrollment and completions, particularly certificates. That was a one-time competitive investment that mostly went to the colleges with the most capacity. Just imagine the impact of making an enduring, super-sized investment in formula funding for every community college through Perkins V.   

Perkins V is a program with rare bipartisan support, and no wonder. With the coming disruption of increased automation in the labor market, we need better hands-on training programs at community colleges. Now is the time to super-size Perkins and to make sure we can see what it builds at community colleges.