Obama renews push for free community college

obama

Escamilla, Board of Regents chairman help shape strategy

 

President Barack Obama, along with Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, renewed his push for free community college during a speech at Macomb Community College in Michigan on Sept. 9.

In July, Del Mar College President Mark Escamilla and Board of Regents Chairman Trey McCampbell met with other community college officials in Washington, D.C., to strategize launching the College Promise plan.

The plan has been stalled in the Republican Congress, but the Obama administration has started “Heads Up America” to rally public support.

“Education is the secret sauce to success in our country,” Obama said. “Across the country people are going back to school. They are making an investment in their future, and an investment in the future of our country.”

On average, college graduates earn $1 million more over their lifetime than a high school graduate, Obama said. Associate degree holders earn $10,000 a year more than high school graduates.

“No kid should be priced out of a degree,” Obama said. “Where you start shouldn’t determine where in life you end up.”

Jill Biden also stressed the importance of college.

“Myself, my husband (Joe Biden), the first lady and the president would be nowhere without our education,” said Biden, chairwoman of the College Promise Advisory Board. “We want others to have that same opportunity.”

 

To support “Heads Up America” visit headsupamerica.us.

Look for the Sept. 21 issue of the Foghorn to learn more about Escamilla’s and McCampbell’s efforts.

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