August 19, 2026
I wish you all the best over the next couple of weeks as you welcome new, talented students to your colleges. I hope the inspiration they bring overcomes the many tasks that always accompany the start of a busy semester.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) last week released a new Electronic Announcement with information for colleges on reporting requirements under the current Gainful Employment/Financial Value Transparency (GE/FVT) framework and the forthcoming Student Tuition and Transparency (STATS) and Earnings Accountability framework. Several upcoming deadlines can be found here, which AACC will discuss during its August 26 webinar. ED will also host an office hours session on September 10 on these reporting requirements. I encourage all institutions to prepare to meet these deadlines, and to attend these webinars if they have questions.
I was pleased to have been quoted in U.S. News and World Report online on AACC’s response to the Department of Education’s “Call to Action.” Our shared statement with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) affirmed that many of the issues ED claims are challenges to higher education are intrinsic to the missions of community colleges and regional public universities: community trust, affordability, and connections to workforce pipelines.
AACC is closely following developments around the “Call to Action” and will keep members to up to date. AACC’s new Headline News section on our website tracks this story and others, and I encourage you to take a look at this new resource. Timely national news about community colleges, curated, and organized for easier engagement will be posted there regularly. Stories that are informing the decision-makers and dialogues that shape our sector will keep us all attuned to national trends and questions.
I was fortunate to be invited to speak at the College of Southern Maryland last week, where I learned about their strategic plan, Built for Success, and a new agribusiness workforce training certificate. I also spoke virtually at Bay de Noc Community College in Michigan, where I learned that Bay College is a model on which the state built its Michigan College Credit for Apprenticeships program.
AACC is continuing to track Workforce Pell activity using a variety of sources. For a snapshot of progress, Opportunity Data has one of the more comprehensive, nationwide snapshots.
Resilience is a primary topic of this year’s special edition of AACC’s two leadership training events. September 4 is the deadline to register for the Future Leaders and Future Presidents Institutes—both powerful, experiential programs designed to model resilience, agility, and emotional intelligence, while solidifying leadership competencies.
Apprenticeships for America has a new report on how staffing agencies can be valuable partners in expanding apprenticeships. As well-placed intermediaries, such agencies can catalyze the relationships on which successful apprenticeships rely, helping to establish the structures needed to facilitate these earn-and-learn opportunities.