Grand Rapids Community College Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting, where President Kathryn Rogalski shared administrative updates with the board, along with updates regarding Pell Grant funding for college students.
Trustee Kathleen Bruinsma provided updates from her board position on the Association of Community College Trustees. First, Bruinsma brought up the emphasis on wellness and mental health for leaders on campus. “The national average of time a president spends as the president of a community college has gone from 11-12 years down to 3-4 years. It’s a difficult environment,” Bruinsma said. “I would like us to be thinking about Dr. Rogalski, and thinking how we can support you in decisions, and just be supportive of you.”
Bruinsma and the board then focused on the Pell Grant shortfall that is approaching. A Pell Grant shortfall occurs when the total cost of awarding Federal Pell grants to eligible college students exceeds the funding allocated by Congress. The funding gap due to increased eligibility from FAFSA changes can lead to cuts for student aid, meaning reduced award amounts and stricter eligibility rules.
“Pell Grants are the cornerstone of all the aid GRCC gets, and the board is advocating for preserving Pell and filling the shortfall,” Bruinsma said. “I know that much of Michigan’s delegation, Republican and Democrat, really want to keep the Pell Grant. They understand that it’s basically forged our middle class, and have played such a huge role. We don’t want the shortfall because we want our students to stay eligible for Pell Grants, that’s what we’re advocating for.”
Current projections indicate a $5.4 billion gap in fiscal year 2026 that could grow to over $11.5 billion by fiscal year 2027. This deficit runs the risk of affecting student aid, potentially causing Congress to consider reducing eligibility or award amounts.
Recently, the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal sought to increase funding for the federal grant program. It is now up to Congress to approve the increase in funding.
Moving on, President Rogalski shared a wide range of information and concerns that she gathered from staff and faculty members on campus. Beginning with staff from the GRCC police department and The Center for Counseling and Well-Being, reporting that they’re seeing a rise in students with mental health challenges. An issue that Rogalski says both departments are collaborating to help manage.
“Both departments are working to better serve that population of students,” Rogalski said.
Among the other concerns provided to Rogalski from staff and faculty were outdated HR systems, the long wait period before new hires receive their first paycheck, and the long hiring process to get a job at GRCC. Rogalski acknowledged the concerns and has begun conversations on how to make those challenges more efficient for the staff and faculty on campus.
Additionally, Rogalski notified the board of a compensation study that was done by “Lockton Inc.” which is a consulting firm that provides comprehensive compensation and benefits consulting for higher education institutions. Rogalski revealed that there was some disagreement with the outcome of the study and the way it was conducted.
These studies are performed so the college can ensure competitive wages for recruiting and retaining staff and faculty, maintaining internal equity, aligning salaries with market trends, and ensuring budgetary sustainability. Rogalski shared that the Human Resources department wants to conduct an equity review, so that the college has a better understanding of the salary range, and if it makes sense compared to how long they’ve worked at the college, and their proficiency levels are in their current positions.
Rogalski has concerns about performing an equity review. “I’m concerned that we’re doing this equity review and making recommendations on data we don’t believe is fully accurate from the compensation study,” Rogalski said. “So I’ve asked them (HR) to take a step back and see if we need to do another compensation study. I don’t want to make decisions that have to do with salary increases, or where people should fall within their range based on data that we don’t fully believe is accurate.”
The expectation was that staff such as deans, associate deans, directors, and vice presidents of departments were going to be notified of where they would fall on the new equity study based on information from the consultant by July. However, the college will not be moving forward with increases of wages for those roles at this time. No date or estimated time period was provided.
“We just want to make sure that we have the right information and that we’re putting people on the right pay scales,” Rogalski said.
In other news, Rogalski shared that herself and other trustee members attended the Michigan Community College Association “Capitol Day” event back on April 17. Capitol Day is an event in Lansing, Michigan, where students, faculty, and leaders from Michigan’s 31 community colleges meet with legislators to advocate for key educational priorities. For GRCC, the program they focused on was the continued support of the Michigan Reconnect program, along with reducing the age limit to 21 years old, rather than 25, so more students can benefit.
GRCC also asked for the continued support of the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, more promotion of dual enrollment for high school students, and spent time thanking the legislative leaders for their support of the capital outlay project for the new library commons renovations taking place at GRCC.
The next board meeting will be held on Monday, May 4 at 4:30 p.m. on the fifth floor of the RJF building.
