YAKIMA — Flor Fernandez drives her three kids from Mattawa to her mother’s house in Wapato every morning before heading to classes at Yakima Valley Community College. After school, she picks them up and drives home to cook dinner, care for the kids, then focus on her own studies.
Tiffany Stewart has worked at least two jobs at the same time since she was 16 and is paying for YVCC entirely out-of-pocket. At the coffee shop where she works part time, her boss lets her spend any downtime on homework, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the job.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., listened to these and other students’ stories at a roundtable meeting at YVCC on Wednesday morning, taking notes and asking questions about their biggest challenges in accessing higher education.
“I am impressed by all of you and your determination and being able to balance a whole lot,” she said toward the end of the 30-minute conversation.
“As a nation, we need you to succeed.”
Murray was in town this week to hear from students about changes they’d like to see at the national level to make it easier to get their degrees.
She visited Central Washington University on Tuesday and stopped for a fundraiser in Yakima at Cowiche Canyon Kitchen. She was heading back to D.C. on Wednesday, where she said she wanted to share the students’ testimonials with her congressional colleagues.
Students at YVCC repeatedly cited their main struggle as working enough to pay for school, but simultaneously reserving enough time to do well in their classes, and still get through college in a timely fashion.
Many at YVCC also have children, which puts more demands on both their time and money.
“I don’t sleep a lot,” Stewart replied when Murray asked how she manages to be a full-time student with two jobs.
Murray is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. She and the committee chairman, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., announced this week a bipartisan proposal for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, aiming to fix the problematic No Child Left Behind.
Senators have just started looking at the Higher Education Act and haven’t begun any negotiations, Murray said, but she wanted to hear from students as preparation for those discussions.
President Barack Obama’s proposal for two years of free community college for anyone who is earnestly working toward a degree is also part of the conversation, she said.
In the end, Murray said, the budget will be a reflection of the nation’s priorities, and investment in higher education should be high on that list.
Murray also wants to simplify the FAFSA, the federal student aid application, to make it less confusing for students, especially those who are the first in their family to attend college and can’t get help filling out the forms.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of battles over the years for things I believe in, and nothing comes easy,” Murray said of working to pass legislation as the minority party.
“But you don’t win anything by being silent.”
