In a July 14th speech at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, President Obama discussed the broad outlines of the American Graduation Initiative, his administration’s plan to reinvigorate community colleges.
The main points:
- Challenge grants for community colleges
- Modernization of community college infrastructure
- Open online courses
- Funds for scholarships
- Funds to help community colleges teach more students
- An additional 5 million community college graduates by 2020
Here are important excerpts from President Obama’s speech:
But we know that in the coming years, jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience. We will not fill those jobs — or even keep those jobs here in America — without the training offered by community colleges.
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Many young people are saving money by spending two years at community college before heading to a four-year college. And more workers who have lost their jobs — or fear losing a job — are seeking an edge at schools like this one.
At the same time, community colleges are under increasing pressure to cap enrollments and scrap courses and cut costs as states and municipalities face budget shortfalls. And this is in addition to the challenges you face in the best of times, as these schools receive far less funding per student than typical four-year colleges and universities. So –community colleges are an undervalued asset in our country. Not only is that not right, it’s not smart.
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Let me describe for you the specifics of what we’re going to do. Number one, we will offer competitive grants, challenging community colleges to pursue innovative, results-oriented strategies in exchange for federal funding. We’ll fund programs that connect students looking for jobs with businesses that are looking to hire. We’ll challenge these schools to find new and better ways to help students catch up on the basics, like math and science, that are essential to our competitiveness. We’ll put colleges and employers together to create programs that match curricula in the classroom with the needs of the boardroom.
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In addition, we want to propose new funding for innovative strategies that promote not just enrollment in a community college program, but completion of that program. … So we’ll fund programs that track student progress inside and outside the classroom. Let’s figure out what’s keeping students from crossing that finish line, and then put in place reforms that will remove those barriers.
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We’re going to back $10 billion in loans to renovate and rebuild college classrooms and buildings all across the country.
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Even as we repair bricks and mortar, we have an opportunity to build a new virtual infrastructure to complement the education and training community colleges can offer. So we’re going to support the creation of a new online, open-source clearinghouse of courses so that community colleges across the country can offer more classes without building more classrooms. And this will make a big difference especially for rural campuses that a lot of times have struggled — attract — have to struggle to attract students and faculty.
Of course, this plan has to be turned into legislation that passes both the House and the Senate, so it’s not a done deal.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the American Graduation Initiative?
