striving to do to address the specific skill needs of industry, to help build the work force the country must have to stay ahead of global competition and to curb unemployment. The need for state-of-theart equipment has become a serious hardship to community colleges in their ability to respond most effectively to the skill gaps that are plaguing American productivity. Wherever you turn among the States, the community colleges universally list state-ofthe-art equipment for one or more technician courses at the top of the critical-needs list. Very often, the courses most acutely handicapped by this need are those in the rapidly developing technologies, such as electronic and computer sciences, and robotics, where the American economy is hard pressed to meet global competition. Senator, the speed of change is dizzying. Change is no quirk of this point in history; it will be a fact of our lives into the foreseeable future. To keep up with this change, to provide the opportunities to our work force to learn new skills or to upgrade their present ones, and to do it in state-of-the-art equipment, we must have the help of business and industry and the Congress needs to provide incentives to the private sector to give us the help. Let me be more specific about our own State. In Iowa, our community college equipment shortages are plaguing such vital programs as data processing, computer repair, health technologies, electronics, industrial technologies, just to name a few, all of which are part of the growing curriculum response to the high technology demand. These revolutionary changes are taking place in the office and in the factory as well. Laser beam technology in tool and die machinery, for example, is no longer the future, but clearly represents the present. And, of course, we are all well aware of the impact of robotics on the marketplace. Our corporations expect us to train their future employees in a way that will easily adapt them to this technology. Instead, we, for the most part, are still using the standard equipment of the past several decades, equipment which is far removed from the state of the art. At Kirkwood, for example-and I am sure you visited this program on your tour to the campus, Senator-in our machinist program, we still have some machinery which predates World War II. To replace this with just one or two laser beam machines would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, something clearly beyond our grasp and that of our State's as well. Without proper equipment to train the work force, Iowa's unique and responsive system will surely begin to lag seriously behind. With States such as our struggling to avoid massive insolvency, and with the Federal Treasury empty, the only direction left to turn is to the private sector. Yet with the current state of the economy, they need some incentive to be able to respond as they desire. S. 108 establishes such an incentive. Given the pressing state of productivity and employment in our country, and the urgency of the challenge to the American economy and American technology, the reasons for allowing tax incentives to firms that make state-of-the-art gifts to technical training programs in the community colleges, and other associate-degree granting institutions, are easily and strong and clearly as much in the national interest as providing such incentives for equipment given to university research. Both serve the ultimate need. Regardless of the volume of talent the country might pour into science and engineering, our eminence in these fields and our leadership in emerging technology will never be secure unless it has the solid foundation of an adequate supply of advanced highly trained technicians. Senator Grassley, thank you for the opportunity to share our ideas with you in this community today. I would be pleased to provide further information if you ask. The two organizations I am speaking for here-the Association of Community College Trustees, and the American Association of Community and Junior Collegesstrongly endorse S. 108 and urges its adoption. I would be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Senator GRASSLEY. Let me give credit to the two organizations you mentioned for their efforts in assisting me in working out some of the details of the legislation, and also for helping us advertise its introduction around the country so we could gain the considerable support that we have. Mr. NEWTON. Thank you. Senator GRASSLEY. Dr. Greenfield, would you proceed, please? [The prepared statement of Wayne Newton follows:] Testimony on S. 108 Wayne Newton Trustee Kirkwood Community College Second Vice President Association of Community College Trustees Joint Commission on Federal Relations and American Association of Community and Junior Colleges on behalf of the Association of Community College Trustees and the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges Subcommittee on Taxation and Debt Management U.S. SENATE August 1, 1983 Mr. Chairman, the largest phenomenon in postsecondary education in our country in the era since World War II, in terms of the numbers of learners being served, is the development and growth of the community colleges. In the last decade, they have strongly, effectively emerged as the largest arm of American higher education. Today, they serve ten million or more learners perhaps as many as the rest of higher education combined and serve them across a tremendous range of modes and needs. - This growth has given them a role which will have a substantial bearing on the ability of our country to sustain its general prosperity and to meet the global challenges in technology and productivity. Just how vital the role and the potential of community colleges is to the national interest can perhaps be best illustrated by three facts: First, well over half the citizens who now enroll in college for the first time are making their start in a two-year college. The community colleges now serve more than half the combined freshmen and sophomore enrollments of American higher education. This is not a population that Congress and the country can afford to ignore in our struggle to enlarge the professional ranks in science and engineering, and to turn out more and better teachers of math and science. Added to that is the fact that for every engineer we need four to five highly trained technicians in assisting positions. Like the Congress, the universities and professional schools should realize that the demand for technician courses in the community colleges has grown by leaps and bounds, and continues to grow. Many students in these programs are getting intensive instruction in applied math and applied science. Many of these students are enrolled to earn advancement in the jobs they hold, or because they need skills that will get them jobs to pay the bills so they can continue their education and improve the quality of their lives. They may be technicians now, but many have the talents that could make them the scientists or engineers of tomorrow. Second, of the more than five million learners who enrolled in the credit courses and the degree programs in the community colleges in the 1982-83 academic year, almost two-thirds have been taking occupational-technical courses. Outside American industry itself, the community colleges are the nation's largest trainer in the new technologies and other advanced skills. Which brings us to the third point: The community and technical colleges, in cooperation with local business and industry, have generated a tremendous number of what they commonly refer to as "employer specific" courses, programs that are tailored to meet a particular skill need, or set of related skill needs, for a specific employer. These course offerings have grown dramatically among the two-year colleges during the past decade. In fact, the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC), the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), and other higher education associations have identified hundreds of postsecondary institutions that offer literally thousands of such programs. The cooperative programming ranges all the way from basic communications skills to CAD-CAM programs and other high technology specialties. Clearly, there is a trend nationwide of more and more companies putting their skill training in community colleges, where the colleges are better equipped and staffed to handle it. Most of these programs are local, but there are a few that are national in scope. For example, the Ford Motor Company, in concert with the United Auto Workers, is providing a tuition assistance program for laid-off hourly employees under its National Vocational Retraining Plan. The company and union work with Henry Ford Community College. |