The nation’s two-year higher education institutions had a rare moment in the spotlight on Tuesday at the first White House Summit on Community Colleges, during which President Barack Obama called them the “unsung heroes” of America’s education system.
“They may not get the credit they deserve. They may not get the same resources as other schools,” Obama said. “But they provide a gateway to millions of Americans to good jobs and a better life.”
Community colleges, said Obama, enable young people to get an education without accumulating a lot of debt and people who are already in the workforce can use them to gain new skills to advance or change careers. More importantly, the president said he believes that they also are key to the country’s future as it fights to stay in a global competition to be a leader in growth industries.
The summit, led by Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden who has taught at community colleges for 17 years, focused on strategies to achieve Obama’s goal of an additional 5 million community college graduates by 2020 and the critical role that two-year institutions will play in developing the U.S. work force of the future, when most jobs will require a postsecondary credential.
“But reaching the 2020 goal that I’ve set is not just going to depend on government. It also depends on educators and students doing their part. And it depends on business and not-for-profits working with colleges to connect students with jobs,” Obama said.
The president also announced private funding initiatives that will help boost community colleges’ efforts.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund a competitive grant program called Completion by Design that aims to improve community college graduation rates. The $35 million, five-year investment will go to three to five multicampus groups of community colleges in nine states serving the largest populations of low-income students.
