Statement by Dr. Isaura Santiago Santiago President Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College/CUNY Hearing on HRA's Education and Training Policies for Public Assistance Recipients New York City Council General Welfare Committee Wednesday, September 20, 1995 Good afternoon Chair DiBrienza, Council members and Council staff. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I am here on behalf of thousands of students in The City University of New York, whose hope for a quality education and dreams of economic self-sufficiency will be shattered. CUNY students, who receive Home Relief benefits, have been forced to leave school and report to HRA's Work Experience Program (WEP) to fulfill their work requirement, in order to maintain their eligibility for public assistance. They must complete an average of 26 hours of work per week, making it impossible for them to continue a full-time education program. As part-time students, they will no longer be eligible for financial aid programs. The potential of these policies also impacting on AFDC recipients is unconscionable. Hostos Community College is the threshold for so many of New York's citizens from diverse communities, who would otherwise never have the opportunity to higher education and the hope for an economically stable future. Of the students enrolled in the Spring 1995, 40% receive public assistance, or 2,169 out of 5,425. Seventy-five percent are female, 63% are single heads of household with children, and over 60% entered with very limited English language skills, placing into first level ESL courses. All of us, I am sure, agree that opportunities for permanent employment are more likely available to those with the necessary workforce skills and language abilities that a comprehensive educational experience can provide. Our students on public assistance struggle each day to overcome almost insurmountable obstacles to come to college, and to meet the rigorous demands of an intense academic schedule. Anyone that has the mistaken perception that these are lazy people that universities coddle each day --- I publicly invite to come with me and any of our students, and follow one of their academic schedules. On a daily basis they attend classes, do 6 - 8 hours work in laboratories, work with tutors in groups and individually, all in efforts to succeed in their academic programs. All must work hard to make up for past educational deficiencies or to learn a second language at ages when these skills and understanding are much more difficult and time consuming to acquire. Nothing is easy! Each day our students must negotiate conflicting demands in their environments that work against their efforts at school. Life is never easy for them. Let me give you a sense. An average full-time student who is at entry level, must take a 10 hour ESL course, for which they only receive 2.5 credits. In addition, they must attend laboratory and tutorial hours as prescribed by faculty. In Math, the same student would probably take a 6 hour math course, that requires a 3 hour lab as well, totaling 9 hours for one course. The student receives one credit for this course. To complete a full-time program, they must take from 1 to 3 other courses for over 21 - 25 hours of instructional work each week. Because many of our students have part-time jobs or responsibilities for children or other dependents, male and female students leave the college each day to meet these commitments, and then return to at least 4 to 6 hours of homework each day. No easy life! But you have the right to ask --- How do we know, or what assurance do we have that these students and the institutions that are serving them are being held accountable? These are good questions. With the cooperation and support of many City human service agencies, community based organizations and other partnerships, CUNY and Hostos have implemented several programs to address the specific and individual needs of these students, and equally important, have implemented systems to hold all parties accountable. Hostos Community College sought to establish collaborative efforts with HRA. After expressing concerns about the need for a close working relationship, Hostos agreed to develop a computerized program which could be used each semester at registration. The system would allow case management systems of both agencies to interface. After a year of joint efforts, we tested and implemented the system. Today, Hostos and HRA staff work together each semester on campus. Our systems allow us to - monitor student progress - ensure that they are in approved programs - ensure that they are in attendance Subsequent to registration, the system allows us to report to HRA on student attendance, student progress, and student grades each semester. In summary, accountability is very tight. Ultimately, all these efforts help to increase the rate of completion, so that students can eventually acquire meaningful employment. A look at a group of Hostos graduates who received public assistance can illustrate this fact. For the graduating class of 1994, 50.8% of the graduates were public assistance recipients. Of that 50.8%: 90% were female, 76% had two or more children, and the average age was 30 Of the 417 Associates degrees awarded that year, 212 were awarded to students who received public assistance. Of those 212 degrees, 114 were awarded in human service professions, Nursing, Radiologic Technology, Dental Hygiene, Early Childhood Education, and Public Administration. These students chose professions where they can "give back"; by educating the next generation and providing services to the community. In addition, 50 Liberal Arts degrees were awarded to students whose educational aspirations have developed beyond Hostos, and toward receiving a bachelor's degree. In fact, while reviewing a survey of those graduates who received public assistance, their education goals changed significantly. Upon entering, 51.5% were not seeking a degree but got one, and only 17.3% had a bachelor's degree as their goal. By comparison, 44% left Hostos upon graduation with the desire to receive a bachelor's degree in the future. Educational Goal - Graduating Class 1993-94 When they entered Hostos What do I | No degree | Associate | Bachelor's or want from | | degree | more Hostos | | | -----------+-----------+-----------+-------------- Students | 51.5% | 31.2% | 17.3% receiving public assistance At Graduation What do I | Associate | Bachelor's or want from | degree | more Hostos | | ------------+-----------+-------------- Students | 56% | 44% receiving public assistance These graduates have now entered the world of work, with competitive skills and language abilities. They are tax paying citizens, contributing to the economic development of this city, state and nation. The college degree enabled these public assistance recipients to get off welfare, develop a more positive self-esteem, provide a significantly better life for themselves and their children, and participate in the economic, social, recreational and cultural life of our community. Chair DiBrienza and Council members, I urge you to assist in resolving these education and training policy issues and listen carefully to the students as they speak to you today. I am confident that you will not allow the closing of doors that so many of us, together, worked so hard to open. Thank you. .