On Thad Cochran: A going away gift from the 'Quiet Persuader'
Steve Katsinas
On Sunday, Thad Cochran retires from the United States Senate after six terms and some 45 years of service to Mississippi and our nation.
Thanks to the steadfast leadership of this son of school teachers, thousands of students in Mississippi and millions across our nation have access to Pell Grants. This helps them access academic training and creates our future workforce.
That 52 percent of community college students enrolled in Career and Technical Education curricula across Mississippi and Alabama last year were on Pell Grants speaks to the importance of Pell as an economic driver in workforce training. This is just one reason why we should all take a moment to reflect on his record.
Sen. Richard Shelby R-Ala., said "His issues have been Defense, Education, Agriculture, and Rural Issues…His long record of leadership has had an extraordinary impact, and is seen in Mississippi and all over America…We worked on many of the same priorities. He never forgot where he's from, as his work to rebuild the Gulf Coast shows."
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Minority Leader Chuck Shumer D-N.Y. talked about being persuaded by Cochran to vote to bring $30 billion of Katrina relief to the gulf coast, and how, when Sandy hit New York, he could count on being reciprocated. With more than 13,000 votes cast, he retires as the tenth longest-serving senator in the nation's history.
Senator Patrick Leahy D-Vt. noted that Cochran's Farms to Schools Program he helped create "has brought nutritious local food to local schools across 40,000 school districts in our country."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky. cited the more than 17,000 Cochran Agriculture Fellows who have served in 184 countries, "a program that broadened the horizon of millions." Sen. Leahy said, "This program has strengthened agriculture and understanding across the countries of the world."
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Shelby spoke of his "tireless dedication to public service." Shelby said ""He has been an excellent colleague. He is quiet and patient, and hero to us here, and back home. He is a master at the lost art of being nice. He teaches us that it's easier to be thoughtful than thoughtless."
Leahy called him "the quiet persuader." McConnell called him "A practitioner of servant leadership," who "put other's needs ahead of his own. He tried to do the right thing every step of the way," adding "Because Senator Cochran believed Mississippians deserved a senator who would work full-time for them, he did not care about appearing on the Sunday news shows."
Leahy called him "A man of substance, not sound bites" adding, when you say Thad Cochran is "old school," you mean "the best school."
Here at the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama, we are especially saddened by Senator Cochran's retirement, because he is and always has been an unwavering ally of education.
Cochran's support for the Pell Grant program is personal. Six of our undergraduate interns are on Pell Grants, as are 6,500 other Alabama students.
Julie Vence, a graduate assistant at EPC, began her academic career at Mississippi State University thanks to this program. She says, "Without Pell, I am not sure it would have been possible for me to further my education." Julie's story is one of thousands.
Fortunately, the "Quiet Persuader" left a "going away gift" for all Americans. In 2016 and again in 2017, Cochran played a decisive leadership role to enlarge the Pell Grant program through the reinstituting of Year-Round (Summer) Pell.
The one-time summer Pell in 2010-11 produced an all-time record of 187,494 students enrolled at Mississippi's public community colleges, regional universities, and flagship universities. These students received more than $379 million in aid. Pell is Mississippi's de facto state need-based student aid program, because of the state's low state investment in student aid. At Mississippi State University, for example, over a third of all in-state undergraduate students are on Pell Grants.
Sadly, the number of enrolled students at Mississippi's public institutions fell back to figure fell back to 173,812 students in 2015-16, as the funding declined to $281 million. This is the wrong scenario when our businesses need highly-trained workers in an increasingly tight labor economy.
America's colleges and universities have long been on a continuous year-round enrollment system. With advanced placement, and with dual enrollment constituting nearly 10 percent of community college enrollments, our students enroll year-round.
But our nation's financial aid system was built around enrollment in just nine months. No students enrolled beyond the sophomore year takes out a nine-month lease.
Enter Thad Cochran. In a display of bipartisanship all too rare these days, in June 2016, the Senate Committee on Appropriations voted 29-1 to reinstate year-round Pell, which could benefit the approximately 90,000 students in Mississippi who rely on federal Pell Grants to finance their undergraduate education. An estimated one million students nationwide will benefit.
"Access to year-round Pell Grant funds can help thousands of students in Mississippi complete undergraduate studies," said Senator Cochran. "I'm pleased that the Committee has embraced the expansion of Pell Grant eligibility, which can help create a more skilled workforce."
Cochran again supported year-round (Summer) Pell in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017. In the summer of 2018, Mississippi's students will have access of up to $2,920 in additional summer Pell aid. This will increase college enrollments, graduations, and build our region's workforce.
Senator Thad Cochran's going away gift will help millions nationwide. It will create a legacy that will last decades beyond the end of his service in the Senate, and for that a grateful nation extends its thanks and approbation.
Steve Katsinas is the director and professor of Higher Education and Political Science at the Education Policy Center of The University of Alabama.