LANSING – Michigan officials, noting the impact the long economic slump is having on the state, welcomed President Barack Obama’s proposals Tuesday to boost support for community colleges over the next decade. The president said the American Graduation Initiative is a way to provide higher training to workers whose jobs have been permanently lost in a changing economy.
Obama, in his first appearance as president in the state with the nation’s worst unemployment rate, outlined the plan on a day when he also said he expects the national unemployment rate, already at 9.5 percent, to continue to worsen over the next several months despite the infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars in the stimulus package and efforts to restructure General Motors and Chrysler through accelerated bankruptcy.
“The hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back. They are casualties of a changing economy,” Obama said. “And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and industries to replace the ones we’ve lost, and of preparing our workers to fill the jobs they create. For even before this recession hit, we were faced with an economy that was simply not creating or sustaining enough new, well-paying jobs.”
The Obama proposal is to disburse $12 billion to community colleges nationwide over 10 years: $9 billion for grants to colleges and state government for things such as partnerships with private entities, upgrading counseling and remedial education to achieve goals of increasing graduation rates, ensuring job-ready skills and preparing students for completion of four-year degrees at universities; $2.5 billion for building improvements; and $500 million to assist in development of on-line curriculum including creation of a national online skills laboratory to provide open online courses. The plan includes $10 billion in low-interest loans for colleges.
Administration officials say they hope to boost the number of graduates at community colleges, which now enroll about 6.7 million students, by 5 million students by 2020.
Michigan’s 28 colleges enrolled 234,832 students last fall, an increase of more than 7,000 from the prior year; online enrollment exceeded 52,000. Enrollment at Macomb Community College, where Mr. Obama spoke, was 22,985, an increase of 3.93 percent. It is the state’s second-largest college by enrollment, trailing only Oakland Community College.
Mike Hansen, president of the Michigan Community Colleges Association, said the details are not yet known on how much is to be allocated to each state or how colleges will qualify. But he said the important thing about the president’s address was to highlight the importance of community colleges in helping the economy rebound.
“Clearly there will be pots of money for capacity which is a good thing,” Hansen said. He noted for many colleges, enrollment increases when the economy takes a tumble, putting a strain on the campuses as they deal with falling local revenue and less support from a constricted state budget. Most of the colleges are at record enrollment and finding room for on-campus students as well as on-line courses where curriculum development and other support services are needed is a challenge.
“We hope that this is a recognition of the role that the community colleges play and will provide real funding to deal with these issues,” Hansen said.
Governor Jennifer Granholm, who had pledged five years ago to double the number of college graduates but also cut funding for universities as state revenues have continued a free-fall drop, said the program is important to the hopes of the state to increase graduates in key skill areas and retrain workers stranded by plant closings. “Today, we have a partner in the White House who is helping to ensure that our plans for education and job training have the support they deserve,” she said.
The governor listed a number of programs the administration has developed to improve education and job training opportunities, including the Promise Scholarship which Senate Republicans voted to not support with funds in the 2009-10 fiscal year as part of a plan to slash $1.2 billion from the budget, and the No Worker Left Behind program which provide two years of tuition for retraining purposes.
She attended the 25-minute speech (WXYZ-TV Video) along with Lt. Governor John Cherry Jr., U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Township).
Iris Salters, president of the Michigan Education Association, said the federal support is critical to preparing students for jobs in a changing economy. “Michigan’s community colleges have long been centers of excellence in post-secondary education and job training for students of all ages,” Ms. Salters said. “That preparation takes many forms – from helping students transition from high school to a four-year institution, providing access to critical training so students can fulfill dreams of holding high-tech jobs, or opening new doors for job seekers looking to refine their skills or start new careers.”
Obama described the plan as the largest federal program to help community colleges since the passage of the GI Bill and the work of President Harry Truman’s Commission on Higher Education. He pledge the plan would not add to the ballooning federal deficit, as he called for recouping billions of dollars from current programs which subsidize banks and private lenders for student loans.
“We also 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 keep those jobs on our shores – without the training offered by community colleges,” Obama said.
In a statement issued in preparation for the Obama visit, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Holland), who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, said he was disappointed the president opted to give a speech rather than engage in a town-hall style discussion for the Michigan trip. “He really needs to hear from Michiganians, who are the hardest hit citizens in the country,” he said. “The people of Michigan are tough and resilient. There are a lot of ideas that would be beneficial for the President to hear.”
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