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(EMAILWIRE.COM, December 08, 2009 ) Fort Lauderdale, FL The Obama administration says that community colleges, which are only two-year institutions, can play a vital role in healing the ailing economy now and for a long time coming.
President Obama, in a bid to demystify the contentious issue unveiled The American Graduate Initiative. It is a 10- year, $12 billion full-proof plan to invest in community colleges. He made this announcement at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan. He noted that the economic crunch and dwindling US economy have significantly reduced the number of auto industry careers which gave Michigan its economic backbone.
The "hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won't be coming back. They are casualties of a changing economy," Obama said, going on to add that "even before this recession hit, we were faced with an economy that was simply not creating or sustaining enough new, well-paying jobs."
According to Sheila Danzig, founder of Degree.com, http://www.degree.com, the premier internet portal for online study, the heavy investment in community colleges is a well calculated move since the number of jobs requiring at least an associate degree; will in years to come, be more than those which require no college experience.
Obama said that the jobs that will be created will not be filled without the invaluable training provided by community colleges allowing them to earn a graduate degree albeit associate.
Martha Kanter, the Education Undersecretary admitted that it was an opportune time to implement the American Graduate Initiative as community colleges in the past have not, “done enough to get students through, to move them into the work force and to get them through the higher-education transfer programs." She was careful to add that their key concern is to provide opportunity and access in such a time as this of global economic recession.
Kanter and senior officials say that the initiatives lay their focus primarily in four areas aimed at assisting students that cannot fully sponsor themselves as well as providing resources needed to modernize the community colleges.
The initiatives include:
• Community college challenge grants, to help underfunded colleges that are dealing with limited capacity and to build partnerships with schools and businesses.
• Using $2.5 billion to modernize the facilities in community colleges and renovate them. Obama said the renovations will create employment for the locals.
• Open online degree courses, to create options online as a tool that some think can be more effective than classroom instruction alone.
• The Access and Completion Fund, to provide performance-based scholarships and give colleges the tools to design more programs around work schedules.
Currently, there are 6 million Americans enrolled in community colleges. The above initiatives are set to increase the number of Americans in those colleges as well as graduation rates.
There are 6 million Americans in community colleges. The administration's initiatives are seen as the foundation to help boost enrollment and graduation rates.
Critics and skeptics are bound to claim that in a time of fiscal inadequacy as this, setting aside such a great sum to invest in community colleges may not seem realistic but, “Instead of lining the pockets of special interests, it's time this money went toward the interest of higher education in America," Obama said.
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