After Biden administration stint, Eloy Oakley returns as Community College chancellor

After serving as a higher education adviser for the Biden administration for four months, Eloy Oakley is returning as chancellor of California’s system of 116 community colleges.

In a Twitter announcement Tuesday morning, Oakley said the time is right to transition back to his role as chancellor now that he has finished advising the Biden administration on the Build Back Better Act agenda. The $1.75 trillion domestic spending bill is expected to be passed this week by the House of Representatives.

“As I transition back, I’m happy to work with community college leaders and our amazing students to continue to work for America’s college promise, and continue to make California community colleges the greatest system of higher education in the country and the backbone of the California economy,” Oakley said in the announcement.

Biden’s initial plan called for $45.5 billion to offer two years of free community college to every student in America for the next five years, but that was scrapped after the safety net bill was cut down from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion, according to Vox. The current plan increases the Pell Grant by $550 per person, expands access to financial aid for Dreamers and invests in historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions.