Congress' Funding Cuts Will Hurt Community College Students and Stifle Innovation

Since the historic bipartisan CHIPS & Science Act was passed, community colleges’ role in the innovation economy has grown significantly. They have emerged as indispensable partners for businesses, research institutions, and government agencies, expanding access to good jobs across emerging and advanced technology industries promised by CHIPS that make up the future of work–ranging from artificial intelligence to biotechnology.

But Congress’s recent funding cuts to science agencies, including at the National Science Foundation (NSF), have jeopardized critical funding for community colleges and their ability to expand access to good-paying jobs catalyzed by CHIPS investments. 

Attending a community college pays off, and Americans know it. New America’s “Varying Degrees,” an annual survey about Americans’ perspectives on education after high school, finds that 85% of polled Americans believe community colleges are worth the cost. Around 41% of all undergraduate students attend a community college, and 65% come from families earning less than $50,000 a year. 

Many federal science agencies support community colleges. NSF supports community colleges through the Advanced Technological Education program and Community College Innovation Challenge. The U.S. Department of Energy supports energy efficiency training and paid internships at our national energy labs. The U.S. National Institutes of Standards and Technology supports semiconductor manufacturing and cybersecurity education at 2-year colleges.

However, under CHIPS, the NSF has emerged as the most critical supporter of community college job training for emerging technology fields. Unfortunately, Congress slashed over $800 million from the NSF budget in March. This was a step in the wrong direction, shifting well away from the budget targets it committed to in the CHIPS Act.  

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla), chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, has emphasized that the “science” portion of the CHIPS and Science Act will be “the engine of America’s economic development for decades to come.” He’s exactly right – but carrying out this vision means Congress must invest by appropriating funding for the authorizations set forth in the Act, including for NSF. Or else that “engine” will stall out.

New CHIPS-supported programs, such as the Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) program, are helping to build the capacity of two-year institutions like Harper College, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, and City Colleges of Chicago to meet employers’ emerging technology workforce needs in quantum computing.  

NSF’s Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) program expands work-based learning opportunities in emerging technology fields. Schools like MiraCosta College and Montgomery College have won these grants to expand internships and apprenticeships in the biomanufacturing and microelectronics sectors. 

NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines—a new initiative named in the CHIPS Act—is the broadest and most significant investment in regional science and technology in our nation’s history. The NSF Engines are carrying out Congress’ vision to create new innovation hubs in regions of the nation that missed out on the 20th-century boom—expanding opportunities beyond elite, coastal enclaves such as Silicon Valley and Boston, Massachusetts. They’re especially key to unlocking community college education pathways to the innovation economy. 

That’s why First Lady Jill Biden, a community college professor herself, joined NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan to announce the first Engines not at elite and exclusive Ivy League institutions—but at Forsyth Tech Community College. Through Engines NSF is keeping its promise to expand support for community colleges. All ten inaugural Engines include community colleges as named partners. 

Budget cuts to science agencies like NSF threaten these programs and the success of CHIPS overall. They also put the American innovation economy at risk at a time when China doubled down on investments by committing to a guaranteed 10 percent increase in science and technology spending. 

Fortunately, Congress now has the opportunity to correct course. A starting point could be to agree to the baseline funding set in the recently introduced American Innovation Act, which seeks to achieve steady and sustainable increases for science programs like NSF over the next decade.

Congress must follow through on its bipartisan commitments as promised to the American people in the CHIPS and Science Act so community colleges can continue their critical work of unlocking pathways to the jobs of the future.