Rebuilding America’s Middle Class (RAMC), A coalition of community colleges, today issued the following statement on the newly-introduced HEROES 2.0 legislation, which includes additional COVID relief for postsecondary institutions:

As leaders of community colleges and systems around the country, RAMC applauds congressional leaders for introducing legislation that would provide additional financial support to higher education institutions and students at a time when relief is critically needed. Most importantly, we are very pleased the proposed funding would be allocated based on a revised formula that considers head count instead full-time enrollment status – an vital adjustment that helps ensure parity for the nation’s community colleges that serve roughly half of the nation’s postsecondary students. We strongly urge policymakers to incorporate this funding formula into any final legislation approved by Congress.

In August, RAMC submitted a letter to Congress requesting lawmakers reconsider how federal COVID relief aid is distributed to postsecondary institutions, noting that the current process of calculating funding allocations based on full-time equivalency puts community colleges at a distinct disadvantage. Read the letter here.