They also agree that higher education proponents and activists must define and drive their agendas while the subject enjoys popularity. The public has made education an issue that cannot be ignored, but a new administration and new actors in Congress lend an air of uncertainty to the political environment. At issue is the president's proposed tax cut. Republicans support the tax cut, and Democrats are now resigned to having one. How much of a cut and how it is implemented is up for argument and is a central issue for higher education, Williams said.
Community colleges can help direct the impact on higher education.
As a political force, higher education is not terribly sophisticated. However, we do have 3,600 colleges and universities across the country, their presidents and their trustees, and we do not need to tell policymakers how important we are to economic and social health. Williams maintained that community colleges have an imperative to become involved in the tax cut discussion. Forty percent of the tax cut will benefit the top 1 percent of Americans. In the last 12 years, that 1 percent has seen its income skyrocket while the bottom one-fifth have seen a decrease in its earned income, he said.