Dr. David Longanecker, president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), joined Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today at a hearing on college affordability held by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). Bennet invited Dr. Longanecker to share his ideas for how to improve access to higher education and ensure student success.

“Our country is coming out of the worst recession in history, but the highest the unemployment rate ever reached for people with a college degree was 4.5 percent. We need to find a way to make higher education affordable for students who have worked hard and want to go to college,” Bennet said.  “Dr. Longanecker is leading efforts and working with schools throughout the West to ensure every kid has that opportunity.”

Dr. Longanecker participated on a panel with higher education leaders from across the country. The discussion focused on innovative practices being used at the state level to protect and enhance college affordability.

In his prepared remarks, Dr. Longanecker said, “The unique times we face, dubbed the new normal, have forced the states to become quite creative in fashioning ways to preserve financial access for their students, using a variety of new approaches. While the changes wrought by new approaches are uncomfortable for many because they break from traditional concepts of affordability, they are necessary if we’re to assure our students that they can afford to go to college.”

WICHE is a regional compact between 15 Western states created to assure access and excellence in higher education through collaboration and resource sharing among higher education systems across the West.