President Obama hosted the first ever White House Summit on Community Colleges in early October,
The White House described the summit as "an opportunity to bring together community colleges, business, philanthropy, federal and state policy leaders, and students to discuss how community colleges can help meet the job training and education needs of the nation’s evolving workforce, as well as the critical role these institutions play in achieving the President’s goal to lead the world with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020"
Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill Biden, a longtime community college instructor, is playing a key role in bringing attention to the critical role of community colleges.
According to
the Washington Post, "At a time when the administration is concentrating on a dubious mix of K-12 reform initiatives, Biden has worked hard to train public attention on these institutions, which educate some 40 percent of the undergraduates in the country. The country’s 1,200 community colleges are the largest and fastest growing segment of America’s higher education system. And they face a range of problems, including state funding cuts at a time of record enrollment and high dropout rates."
The Post says the Obama administration has proposed spending $12 billion into community colleges to boost the graduation rate. He recently signed legislation to provide $2 billion to over the next four years.