Louisiana in Position to Provide Free Community College

Starting on July 1, 2022, Louisiana adults enrolling in high-demand career programs at community colleges may have their tuition paid for, according to this article from the Daily Advertiser.  Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year that begins July 1st was presented to the Joint Legislative Branch Committee in late January. While Louisiana lawmakers have been discussing and debating how exactly they should spend over $2 billion in surpluses and increased future revenue, one of Edwards’ proposed budget increases is poised to survive the debating: The M.J. Foster Promise Program.

Named after the late former Gov. Mike Foster, who is colloquially known as the father of Louisiana’s community college system, the M.J. Foster Promise Program aims to serve as a unique, valuable resource to Louisiana citizens 21 and older who are enrolled in community college programs that support one of five growing industry sectors in the state. Applicants could receive their community college paid for via a grant if their enrolled program supports a career in construction, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, and transportation and logistics.

Monty Sullivan, President of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, described the M.J. Foster Promise Program as “TOPS for grown folks,” but unlike the immensely popular university tuition scholarship programthat’s funded by the state with more than $300,000 annually, there are no academic requirements for applicants wanting to secure their community college grants.

Sullivan went on to explain that the maximum $6,400 award will cover all of the eligible training and degree programsfor those high-demand career sectors “without having to come out of their pocket.” He went on to refer to the program as a transformational opportunity poised to benefit 1.1 million Louisiana adults who don’t have training beyond high school.

Under the grant, the types of eligible training that can be covered for approved applicants can range from a two-year associate nursing degree to a 10-week commercial driving course. Sullivan, who plans to begin marketing the program and how to access it this spring, said: “This will not only transform the lives of these adults and their families but the communities in which they live. Imagine having more nurses during a pandemic and having a workforce to attract new business and industry.”

The idea for the M.J. Foster Promise Program, now Act 457, started as Republican Senate President Page Cortez’s Senate Bill 148, and while the bill was passed last year, it still must be funded in order to officially start on July 1. Republican Senate President Page Cortez said of the program, “the Legislature has been very supportive of this new program for those who have been caught in an education and career gap, and I’m confident my colleagues will continue to support it when it comes to funding the program,” Cortez told the USA Today Network, “The MJ Foster Promise Program is the first of its kind in our state’s history and will provide opportunity and access to jobs for thousands of Louisianans. Employers across the state are seeking skilled workers who often lack the resources they need for training.”

In addition to the proposal for $10.5 million in free community college tuition, Governor Edwards’ budget proposal also announced: a $1,500 pay increase for K-12 teachers and $750 raises for school support staff at a cost of $148.4 million; a $31.7 million pay raise for higher education faculty, $97.2 million in other higher education funding increases such as Go Grants and Title IX, and $43 million to expand early childhood education in the state.

For more education-related information, click here.

“Reboot Your Career” Project at Louisiana Community Colleges

Community and technical colleges in Louisiana have started the “Reboot Your Career” project in which 5,000 Louisiana workers who are out of a job due to the coronavirus pandemic are being retrained for high-demand positions that earn around $50,000 a year. This program’s launch was outlined in an Advocate article, and it details that this immense effort is meeting a large demand.

The president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, Monty Sullivan, reported that the state of Louisiana has recently already received hundreds of inquiries since the project began on September 14th, emphasizing how large the demand for such a project is in his area.

The “Reboot Your Career” project aims to retrain its workers in eight to twelve weeks at reduced tuition rates, so that those completing the program can enter either jobs or a career path where additional certification and education can pave the way for advancement in their field. This hope that the education continues certainly sets these workers up for upward mobility and a launching pad in general- as opposed to the stagnant state that many faced with the lay-offs and closed businesses left in the wake of the pandemic.

The program trains applicants for high-demand jobs from a list that was compiled after consulting with regional development leaders in Baton Rouge, including the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and GNO Inc, as well as the New Orleans area.

Jobs posted after hearing input from development leaders included positions in the health field, including nursing and medical assistants; the transportation field, including crane operators, car, and truck repair workers; the construction field, including carpenters, electricians, and plumbers;  and the fields of technology, manufacturing, and power-line installation. The complete list as well as other information on applying to the project is available at lectcs.edu/reboot.

An effort similar to the “Reboot Your Career” project came to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina struck the state in 2005. The disaster resulted in the training of 16,000 new construction workers, who were much-needed and heralded.

Senior Vice President for economic competitiveness at BRAC, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Liz Smith praised the effort, stating that both community and technical colleges had stepped up in 2016 when the state needed construction workers. “”I think they have a proven track record to be able to do this,” Smith stated, “”You see across the country short-term training is a very helpful answer for a large number of unemployed workers.”

In the Advocate’s article, Smith said that the group she works with shares its job board, BR Works, with state officials to help the project. BR Works’ job board includes more than 1,000 job postings from employers, with the highest demand being in the technology, health care, business, construction trade, law, and digital art design fields.

Louisiana’s Commissioner for Higher Education, Kim Hunter Reed, told the Advocate that she believes the most critical need for the restarting of the economy is education, saying that it “is a centerpiece of the work. The community colleges were made for this moment.”

The “Reboot Your Career” project initially made itself known with a 15-second ad played during the September 13th New Orleans Saints game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and there are more ads to come throughout the season, as ads will be playing in a Saturday slot of CBS college football games.

The project is funded partially from the state’s education share from the $2.2 trillion stimulus package that was approved earlier this year by Congress called the CARES Act. Governor John Bel Edwards allocated $15.5 million for colleges and universities with $10 million financing the project’s integral retraining of workers.

For more Louisiana related articles, click here.