Barack outlines plan to strengthen America's community colleges

[bicentennial_baby]

Barack held a community meeting at Northcentral Technical College this morning, talking with two students from the college about his plan to strengthen America’s community colleges and prepare students for 21st century jobs.

Here's Barack with Andrew Straub, a 21-year-old Electronics student. Having earned a degree in Electromechanical Technology, Andrew returned to NTC to continue his education because of the valuable training opportunities the school provides.

“Wisconsin families are finding it harder and harder to get ahead,” Senator Obama said. “Workers need new skills to compete, and everything – especially education – costs more. That’s why it’s time to call upon our community colleges once again, and put a little wind at the backs of the American people.”

Obama’s comprehensive agenda to strengthen America’s community colleges includes:

* Create The American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama will make tuition at community college completely free for most Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is free. The credit will be available to families at the time of enrollment by using the prior year’s tax data to deliver the credit at the time the tuition is due. Recipients of this credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of public service a year, either during the school year or over the summer months.

* Create A New Community College Partnership Program: Obama will create a Community College Partnership to strengthen community colleges by providing grants to (a) conduct thorough analysis of the types of skills and technical education that are in high demand from students and local industry; (b) implement new associate of arts degree programs that cater to emerging industry and technical career demands; and (c) reward those institutions that graduate more students and increase their numbers of transfer students to four-year institutions.

* Support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Programs. Obama will support the authorization of the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program at $100 million, a critical program that that has helped support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs in community colleges.

* Make it Easier to Apply for Financial Aid: Obama will simplify the financial aid process by eliminating the FAFSA and its complicated calculations altogether. Instead, aid would be based on a much simpler yet equally accurate formula, so that students can predict their eligibility well in advance. The aid process will be streamlined by enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used and eliminating the need for a separate application.

* Expand Pell Grants For Low Income Students: Obama will work to ensure that the maximum Pell Grant award is increased for low income students by ensuring that the award keeps pace with the rising cost of inflation.

* Reauthorize The Workforce Investment Act: Obama supports reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act with a focus on providing high-quality education and training services and creating pathways to skills and credentials that have value in the labor market. There must be a shift in focus from adult education to postsecondary education, which could include remediation, GED preparation and English-language training. Obama believes we must make clear that WIA supports this transition training

* Increase Workforce Development Funding: Obama will ensure that the Perkins Vocational Program is adequately funded. Community colleges depend on workforce development funding from these grants that are used for innovative occupational education curricula; helping students meet challenging academic, vocational, and technical standards; training first responders and public safety officers; purchasing equipment; supporting professional development; and strengthening important links between the institutions and businesses.

* Promote Life-Long Learning In Partnership With Organized Labor: Obama will direct his Department of Labor to expand its support for and partnership with organized labor on its programs for life-long learning, including successful programs that seek to reach untapped pools of talent among women, people of color, older workers, individuals with disabilities and disadvantaged communities.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGgjpc

[mopinko]

1. what? this sounds like specifics. does the campaign know you

are posting things like this?? lol
community colleges are such a great part of american education. i have 3 kids in the chicago system. it is real world education and training, and very affordable. leave it to barack to make this an issue. he's that one.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. Heehee, I know! And notice how it's not getting much response...

Much like my post about him indexing the min. wage to inflation. Sigh...

Yes, I'm a CC product, now at University, soon to graduate with a degree in Economics, and then onto Grad school! Couldn't have done it w/out my CC. While there, they even sent me to France for a month to study French! It was a fantastic experience. :)

[murielm99]

2. I didn't know that our community colleges

needed fixing. It seems to be one area where we are doing well.

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Actually, they do

Funding is a major issue, as well as improving the overall quality of the curricula, so that they can be more responsive to the needs to low income students who want to advance either in the workforce or academically. :)

[murielm99]

6. I am not buying this as an issue.

It looks like a photo-op to me.

[bicentennial_baby]

7. Well that is your choice, but you don't seem very informed

on this particular issue. Have a nice day :)

[murielm99]

8. You have a nice day too, sweetie.

I work at a community college.

[NC_Nurse]

9. There was a special on PBS about how

underfunded and stressed our community colleges are in this country. It may not be the case at your particular college. but it definitely
is a problem. I don't remember the name of the show, but I'm sure you could find it in the archives at PBS.org.

[sniffa]

11. Um, sweetie

That DUer works in a CC. :eyes:

Our state has some that are good, but many if not most, are struggling.

[NC_Nurse]

15. Respect my AUTHORITAY!

I caught that. ;-)

[bicentennial_baby]

12. Yes indeed...

The rising costs of University education are driving many, many young people to CCs. Not to mention people who have lost their jobs and need training for a new career.

:)

[NC_Nurse]

14. There is a 2-4 YEAR wait at some CC nursing programs...

and this with a nursing shortage.

They lack enough staff to run many required courses for popular degrees more than once a year, so it takes a long time
to get all the requirements. Especially for those who have children and/or work.

[bicentennial_baby]

16. Oh, don't I know it! Esp. re: nursing programs

My former CC has an excellent nursing program, and something like 99% of the students transfer into the esteemed Bachelor's of Nursing program at UMASS Amherst. BUT, the wait list is incredibly long, and it's very frustrating for the students.

And YES! on the point about working parents. I was continually blown away at the dedication of my classmates in such situations. It was really admirable. :)

[NC_Nurse]

17. CC's provide one of the few affordable ways out of poverty for many folks.

It's about time people started supporting them instead of taking potshots at people
who may not have made it into regular college for WHATEVER reason. Should a person's
opportunities be forever limited because of an unexpected teenage pregnancy or having a rough
adolescence that caused their schoolwork to take a backseat, or even having drug/alcohol problems
as a young adult? Or simply having no way to afford a 4 year college tuition?

Or having been laid off later in life, can't one expect their to be a good place to go acquire new skills at
an affordable rate with a class schedule that's doable for parents and working students?

A lot of people think that CC's are just for fuck-ups. Not so. They are a great resource for communities to educate
those who for whatever reason need a non-traditional path to success.

The waits and class inavailability are simply unacceptable in many areas of the country. States tend to give way more funds to their four
year universities and the CC's get the short end of the stick. That needs to change.

Sorry, I'll get off the soapbox now. :-)

[bicentennial_baby]

18. Bill Cosby called my CC the best CC in the world

:D He's a huge supporter of my former school.

I was a non-Trad student, started around age 25-6. Graduated with an Associates in Int'l Studies, transferred to UMASS, and am soon to graduate Summa Cum Laude (fingers crossed) with a Bachelor's in Economics. Never could have gotten to this point without my CC. Thank gawd Romney failed when he tried to merge my school with another CC 40 miles away, it would have killed my school, completely.

No, I completely agree!! Rant on! I'm SO glad that Obama is addressing this issue. :bounce:

[NC_Nurse]

22. Wow, that's so cool!

Congrats! I have a daughter that finished an adult high school (at a CC) after having problems at the regular public high school.
She went on to another CC, then transferred to Meredith College and got a degree in Music. :) She was on the Dean's list almost every semester!

She now lives in Brooklyn, she's in a band and waitressing for $. She's thinking about grad school, getting tired of waitressing...who
can blame her? She has to support her music somehow. She's a wonderful young woman and I support whatever she tries. :D

I'm glad to hear your dreams are coming true too! :hug:

edited for terrible typing

[mopinko]

24. how do they keep doing it, tho?

i went a long time ago, but they had a great dedicated revenue stream. seems like since then anything that could be sliced has been sliced. yet they continue to offer an affordable education. iirc, when they were created in illinois, tuition was fixed at 1/3 of the cost, with local prperty taxes (i think), making up a third, and state finding the remaining third.
have they been able to keep it that way?
mine was great, btw-http://www.wcc.cc.il.us/

[blogslut]

3. Yummy

There's a most excellent community college in my hometown. They will love this stuff. GoBama!

[TalkAgain]

10. I really like this plan

[sloppyjoe25s]

13. Nice Substantive Post!

His energy policy is equally impressive.

5th Vote! On to the greatest with ya!

[TheDonkey]

19. eliminating FASFA! I like that idea.

[bicentennial_baby]

20. Same here, I have to do mine this week...

Ugh.

:hi:

[davidinalameda]

21. this is wonderful!

I know in California the community colleges are treated like poor relatives and have to go begging

the voters here just defeated a ballot measure that would have guaranteed funding for the community colleges

[bicentennial_baby]

23. That sucks...Education funding shouldn't be left up to the

whims of the electorate. Ugh. x(

Yeah, I think it's a great plan. :thumbsup:

[davidinalameda]

27. the measure was to guarantee funding levels every year

right now they have some funky funding method which is woefully outdated and doesn't reflect the job that community colleges do in educating workers who have lost their jobs, etc

[LeftyMom]

31. It's based on k-12 enrollment.

The problem right now is that k-12 enrollment is flat, and community college enrollment is at all-time highs because of the shitty economy, demographic stuff and the low cost proportionate to the CSU and UC systems. So per-pupil spending has dipped substantially. Which means that the community colleges have to cut corners to keep costs down, that there aren't as many sections of a lot of classes as there should be, that class sizes are up, and above all that there are too many (overstretched, overworked, sometimes not that great, but much cheaper) adjunct staff and not enough full timers. This poses a huge problem for students as the part time instructors often cobble together a living wage by teaching at several schools, and understandably tend to have few to no office hours, to be less organized and to tend not to return graded work in a reasonable period. Also, the lack of seats in needed classes means it's harder to get the prerequisites to transfer on time, and the small selection of class times is very difficult for students who work, which would be almost all of them.

[davidinalameda]

33. thanks!

you are 1000% correct

[UALRBSofL]

25. Obama needs to concentrate on NCLB and trash it, start over from the bottom up

And then focus on community colleges. Actually he would do best to increase GRANTS for folks to go to college because BUSH43 has pretty much cut most funding for them. I suppose he thinks the average american can afford to send there kids to college knowing the expense has increased over 100% during Bush43's time in office.

[bicentennial_baby]

26. Did you not notice the part about Pell Grants?

It's in the OP. :)

[Barack_America]

28. These are some wonderful ideas...

And I agree wholeheartedly that America begins to fill its deficit of skilled American workers in large part by strengthening community colleges.

I particularly love that students will be able to attend for free (or essentially free) by fulfilling a community service requirement. This plan will give back to the community on multiple levels.

An excellent plan, IMO.

[Nedsdag]

29. WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I teach at three community colleges and I completely concur with this plan.

GOBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Barack_America]

30. This plan is going to make a HUGE impact in my community.

I live in Philly and this is going to help so many people get ahead here, and hopefully restore some pride in our community with the community service aspect.

I am in love with this plan.

[UALRBSofL]

32. The cost of community colleges

are so much cheaper then going to a University. I'd like to see costs offset at university's as well with grants. Also, change the rules on getting grants. As it is now, if your a full time employee and want to get a grant typically you don't qualify bcause your working. It's sort of a lose-lose situation as it is now. Why work if you can get grants but if you work to pay your bills you don't qualify for gramts.

[HeraldSquare212]

34. I started at a CC.

It was cheap when I went - I could pay for it by working 20 or so hours a week and living at home. Increasing the Pell Grants is great. it should not be indexed to CPI though but to some college-based CPI - college costs are increasing at greater than the rate of inflation.