Obama and community colleges

President Obama will propose a $12 billion investment in the nation's community colleges today, arguing that the money will drive expansions and reforms in the system that are needed to help people get educated in the struggling economy.
Obama will unveil the reforms during a speech at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., this afternoon. Later, he will throw out the first pitch at baseball's All-Star Game in St. Louis before returning to the White House.
The college initiative is designed to drive growth in the number of community college graduates as fewer people are able to afford pricey four-year universities, senior administration officials told reporters Monday night. Obama will call for 5 million additional community college graduates by 2020.
"We're really educating many more Americans, [who have] experienced significant economic hardship over the last -- especially the last year and a half," said Martha Kanter, the under secretary for education. "We're very concerned about providing access and opportunity during this terrible fiscal climate."
To achieve that goal, officials said, Obama's new initiative includes $2.5 billion for construction and renovation at the nation's community colleges, $500 million to develop new online courses and $9 billion for "challenge grants" aimed at spurring innovation at the colleges.
The heart of the program, officials said, is the grants, which will require colleges to compete by designing innovative new programs or revamping their existing curriculum. The grants are similar to the "Race to the Top" funding that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has proposed for the K-12 school systems.
"We're going to take a careful look at how well these things work, and only the ones that demonstrate results will receive continued funding," said James Kvaal, a special assistant to the president for economic policy.