Some Federal Funds Restored to CCRC

The Community College Research Center, an independent organization based at Columbia University’s Teachers College, announced last week that some of its federal funding has been restored after the Trump administration canceled four of its grants as part of cuts to the university last year. Columbia reached an agreement with the federal government to restore funding, but not all federal grants were returned at the time, including CCRC’s.

The research center received notice this spring that three of its projects were reinstated, including an evaluation of the Federal Work-Study program, a research network on pandemic recovery strategies and an evaluation of Virginia’s Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead (G3) program, which provides financial assistance to low-income students in short-term training programs for high-demand fields.

“At a time when the value of higher education is increasingly called into question, these projects will spotlight efforts to help students earn credentials and succeed in the labor market,” Thomas Brock, director of the Community College Research Center, wrote in a blog post announcing the restored funds. “We are grateful for the opportunity to resume this work and are committed to producing findings that inform federal and state policy and improve local practice.”