Billions for Community Colleges

According to President Obama, “We believe it's time to reform our community colleges so that they provide Americans of all ages a chance to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to compete for the jobs of the future.” Meaning . . .

• $9 billion in competitive grants to community colleges and states over ten years
• $10 billion loan fund to expand community college facilities
• $50 million to expand online learning options

The President might announce his plan during his address to a community college audience in Michigan on July 14. The anticipated proposal follows today’s release of the President's Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) report, entitled: Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow, which highlights important attributes of a well-functioning education and training system that can provide U.S. workers with the skills needed for current jobs as well as those that will be created as a result of the Recovery Act and economic growth over the next decade. The report may be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/Jobs_of_the_Future.pdf?tr=y&auid=5067542.

The expected proposal is speculated to have largely been structured on a May 2009 report from the National Center on Education and the Economy, entitled TRANSFORMING AMERICA’S COMMUNITY COLLEGES -- A FEDERAL POLICY PROPOSAL TO EXPAND OPPORTUNITY AND PROMOTE ECONOMIC PROSPERITY, may be found at http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0507_community_college_goldrick_rab/0507_community_college_full_report.pdf.

The President’s op-ed may be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR2009071100647.html.

This is in The Chronicle of HE blog: http://chronicle.com/news/article/3980/obama-says-community-colleges-key-to-economy

And on MSNBC--
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31908274/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

BUT WILL HE PLAY IT COOL?

Oh my.

What's going on?

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