For Dr. Martha Kanter, the Education Department’s chief point person for higher education, the priorities are many: more Pell Grant funding, an ambitious plan to raise college-graduation rates and a bill in Congress with major student loan reforms.
But a conversation with the Education Department’s under secretary invariably turns to her experiences as a community college administrator working with low-income students – the target audience for many of the Obama administration’s proposed initiatives.
At the Foothill-De Anza Community College District near San Jose, Calif., she recalled efforts to keep one low-income student working toward a degree. The student was struggling – but succeeding – to balance work and school before dropping out of a required summer composition course. Weeks went by, and, when Kanter finally made contact, the student said the book for the course was too expensive.
“But our college had an emergency loan program,” she told Diverse. Similar to many low-income youth, the student needed more support and information. “It was just a matter of knowing that help was available.”
In an interview with Diverse, the department’s third-highest-ranking official outlined the Obama administration’s plans to help more low-income youth succeed in higher education. But she also included anecdotes from her career in community colleges, serving on the front lines of efforts to increase postsecondary access and success.
After the formal interview, she invited this reporter to stay for a roundtable discussion with a university president and senior aides. The focus of this discussion was access and success strategies already underway at colleges and universities and best practices that the department might support or help replicate in other locations.
Such talks also are part of the under secretary’s agenda. Kanter says she actively seeks input from higher education leaders and stresses the need for transparency. The role of the department, she says, is to serve as “a catalyst for change.”
