Almost half of all community college courses are taught by part-time instructors, and a new labor agreement means adjunct faculty at community colleges in Los Angeles will get affordable health care.

The deal, announced Friday, will give part-time faculty the same contribution - about $1,300 a month - as full-timers get.

Corrie Osuna is a single mom with an autistic son. She is an adjunct instructor of fashion design at LA Trade Tech and said she hasn't had a health plan for 15 years.

A few trips to the Emergency Room have left her $200,000 in debt.

"This is life-changing," said Osuna. "I can finally have a chance to get health insurance so I can get strong enough now to work and pay down some of my debt but also just to be able to live and thrive and be there for my students to my fullest capacity."

About 1,500 faculty who work at least one-third time will benefit from this agreement, which the union hopes will be a model for other community college districts.

The most recent California budget set aside $200 million of new, ongoing funding to make this agreement possible.

James McKeever, PhD. - president of the American Federation of Teachers 1521 Faculty Guild - said the agreement is historic because it is the largest health-care settlement for adjunct faculty among all California's community colleges.

"Before, our part-time faculty were only getting reimbursed for maybe about $500 of their health-care plans a month," said McKeever. "And that's not going to pay for much so many of them were paying anywhere between $400 to over $1,000 for their own health care, which basically took up their whole entire check."

Student activist Logan Fisher studies political science at Pierce College and Cal State Northridge. He said we need to attract and retain the best teachers.

"If we really want students to get the best education they can get, we have to take care of our educators," said Fisher. "And no one can give their best at work when they're preoccupied with medical care."

The Los Angeles Community College District serves more than 108,000 students, many of whom are students of color from low-income backgrounds.






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The nonprofit group Alabama Possible has received a U.S. Department of Education grant to help increase FAFSA completion rates among students in the state.

Currently, fewer than half of Alabama's graduating seniors have filled out the Free Application for Financial Student Aid. Delays and glitches in the government's rollout of a new FAFSA system are largely to blame.

Chandra Scott, executive director of Alabama Possible, said the state has experienced one of the largest year-over-year declines in FAFSA completion, which makes summer support urgent.

"Who's going to stand in the gap in answering the calls of these students? They have gone through enough," Scott asserted. "The last thing they need to be faced with is, 'I don't know who to call. I don't know who can help guide me through this process.' And we want to remove that."

The most recent data from the National College Attainment Network show only about 47% of high school seniors nationwide have completed the FAFSA form.

Scott pointed out the grant has enabled her organization to enhance its call center and add more staff to assist families. She emphasized the assistance will be available via phone, chat and on Zoom, to help ensure support reaches every corner of the state.

"And they really, literally, will walk alongside with them on those applications, question by question, to make sure that they get it done and they are confident about the process," Scott explained. "They even follow up to make sure that, you know, those emails they were supposed to receive, to make sure they receive them."

As some colleges in Pennsylvania and nationwide close their doors, one school in Erie has taken a big step toward making higher education more accessible and affordable.

Erie County Community College meets a need by serving an underserved county.

Chris Gray, president of the college, said the challenges of poverty and economic decline in the local area are being tackled in part, by creating a foundation to provide help to students with short-term, unexpected expenses, so they can stay in school and work toward their degrees and certificates.

"We call it an emergency fund," Gray explained. "It gives us a pot of money that allows us to step in and say, 'Hey, you've got this medical bill, you had to have a tooth pulled or whatever, it's 150 bucks.' Whether it's $50, $500 or $5,000, it's so out of reach for so many people that live in poverty. This allows us, through the generosity of our donors, to one time step in with that student and say, 'We're going to help you.'"

According to the school's website, the college offers affordable associate's degrees and technical certificate programs for jobs in fields with no requirement of a bachelor's degree.

Unlike many colleges, where enrollment is down, Gray noted their numbers have skyrocketed since opening in 2021. He pointed out they have had almost 600 students and are projecting enrollment of 700 to 800 this fall. He added some community funding has allowed some students to go to school at no cost.

"Through the generosity of the county government, we were able to waive tuition for the first two years," Gray noted. "And then, through the generosity of a private donor, the Susan B. Hagen Fund, we've been able to waive tuition for students. And it has had unbelievable results."

Gray pointed out along with the emergency fund, the college also offers scholarships, both recurring and one-time. He added in memory of his mother, they recently created an academic scholarship.

"That's a larger donation," Gray emphasized. "What we'll do off that is we'll basically use the interest, and every year with that donation, we'll be able to give out $1,000 to a student, for every year, for eternity."

Gray added the school is getting ready to do a major health care renovation, through a partnership between the county government and three hospital systems, which have committed more than $5 million to support the initiative.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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With just over a month before Indiana university students return, a new law affecting college professor tenures is in full effect.

The law targets public universities, mandating diversity committees to review faculty, administration, and policies on "cultural and intellectual diversity."

Professors must undergo reviews every five years. Trustees are required to accept complaints if professors fail to meet criteria related to free inquiry, expression, and intellectual diversity, though specifics are not detailed.

Ball State University student Michaela Ayeh said the law promotes bigotry.

"This is a prime example of Board of Trustee and government overreach, restriction of academic freedom and censorship," said Ayeh. "This bill is exemplary of the racism, homophobia, sexism, classes of ableism and other bigoted ideologies that bigots harbor."

Proponents say the law gives the board the ability to determine whether faculty are eligible for tenure or promotion depending on their performance in promoting intellectual diversity every five years.

State Sen. Spencer Deery - R-West Lafayette - helped author the bill. He argued it addresses concerns of ideological bias in universities.

"Pew Research Foundation actually researched this of why do you lack trust in our institutions of higher education," said Deery. "The number one issue for Republican respondents was professors pushing political views irrelevant to the classroom."

Some scholars are concerned with how their speech will be restricted because their positions are now on the line.

Some of the pushback claims the law encourages conformity, and may discourage professors from engaging in topics that run the risk of violating what they deem is vague criteria.




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