Austin Community College Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart made history this week as the only Texas voice, and the only community college leader, to testify at a U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on the future of higher education. Invited by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Lowery-Hart spotlighted ACC’s bold free tuition program, approved in April 2024, for in-district high school graduates and called on lawmakers to center community colleges in national policy discussions.
ACC’s tuition-free program has already boosted enrollment by 40% and increased student retention. Lowery-Hart called the model “transformative” and urged Congress to consider its potential for reshaping higher education equity. He also sounded the alarm on proposed cuts to Pell Grants for part-time students, warning that 5,000 ACC students could lose the aid they rely on to finish workforce programs that bolster the economy and provide upward social mobility for many students.
Lowery-Hart reminded lawmakers that the average ACC student isn’t a full-time teen with family support, but a 27-year-old working two jobs, raising a child, and on the verge of crisis. Programs like ACC’s tuition promise and emergency aid can be the difference between breaking the cycle of poverty or being stuck in it for another generation.
Lowery-Hart and ACC are showcasing what it looks like when public institutions commit to students first. His testimony comes at a pivotal moment – while state leaders push private school vouchers, underfund public schools, and attack academic freedom in higher education, ACC’s model shows that investing in students pays off.
Federal bills like Sanders’ College for All Act of 2025, which would eliminate tuition for low- and moderate-income students, could help scale this model nationwide. But so could state action if Texas lawmakers chose to fund our public colleges with the same urgency they’ve shown for private school giveaways.
The fight for free, fully funded public education doesn’t stop at students’ high school graduation, it continues into their 13th year as they start their higher education journey.