President Obama is expected to announce a $12 billion proposal today that will put the nation's community colleges front and center in his economic recovery plan.
Among his goals: to modernize community college facilities, to increase the quality of online courses and to ensure that more students complete their programs.
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Obama, who in February urged every American to obtain at least one year of training past high school, is scheduled to speak this afternoon at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., which has been hit hard by the collapse of the automobile industry.
In Sunday's Washington Post, he offered a brief overview of his plan, which he said aims to "ultimately meet the goal of graduating 5 million more Americans from community colleges by 2020." About 6 million students are enrolled in community college associate-degree programs today. That doesn't count students enrolled in certificate programs.
In a briefing Monday, James Kvaal, special assistant to the president for economic policy, put the federal price tag at $12 billion over 10 years.
The bulk of the money, $9 billion, would be spent on competitive challenge grants to community colleges and states aimed at encouraging two-year colleges to experiment with strategies to create and improve programs that prepare students for good jobs and improve program completion rates.
The idea is to "let colleges try some new things. Those that work get new funding," Kvaal said.
Other key proposals include $2.5 billion in federal seed money for renovating community college facilities, with a goal to spark $10 billion in spending, and $500 million to develop online courses that would be available free to the public through community colleges.
White House officials said the plan could be funded at least in part with the $4 billion a year it estimates it could save by ending a long-standing government-subsidized college loan program. Congress is expected to take up legislation based on that proposal soon. The community college proposals could be included in a bill that Congress is expected to consider over the next few months, said Bob Shireman, deputy undersecretary of education.
A report released Monday by the president's Council of Economic Advisers identified a number of areas related to job training that could be strengthened, including more flexibility for class schedules, better alignment between high school and college coursework, and stronger collaboration between educators and employers. Council chair Christina Romer said much of the focus will be on nontraditional students, including displaced workers or working adults.
"A big part (of it is) figuring out how we are going to make community colleges more responsive, to make sure the curriculum keeps up with the skill needs, what employers are looking for," Romer said Monday in a live-stream video via Facebook.
Andy Van Kleunen, executive director of The Workforce Alliance, a Washington-based coalition of employers, unions, education and training providers and workforce leaders, has not seen the president's proposal but said he welcomes efforts to expand the capacity of community colleges to respond to rising demand for job training..
"With near double-digit unemployment and a lull in business activity, now is the time to get workers re-skilled so they are ready to hit the ground running once the recovery is underway, particularly in industries targeted by the President's stimulus investments," Van Kleunen said. "Most of these jobs will require some kind of technical training past high school, but not necessarily a four-year degree. Community colleges are a logical place to begin to address that middle-skill workforce demand. They are a tremendously undervalued resource."
Monday's economic report also offered an overview of employment trends over the next few years. The report noted, for example, that "analytical" and "interactive" skills that typically are not addressed at length at the high school level will become increasingly important to employers. It also said occupations that require only an associate's degree or some sort of vocational training not only are growing faster than jobs that require no training beyond high school, but also are projected to grow slightly faster than occupations requiring a bachelor's degree or more.
Among the workplace trends it forecasts:
•Health care will remain a large source of job growth.
•The decline in manufacturing is expected to moderate. The aerospace and pharmaceutical industries are projected to create many jobs.
•The construction industry is expected to recover, generating a demand for skilled workers such as electricians and plumbers.
•Employment growth will be strong in industries devoted to the production and distribution of clean energy.
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