> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • Student Success Resource Center
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Government
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Obama Reaffirms Support for Community Colleges at Signing of Student-Loan Bill

By  Andrea Fuller
March 30, 2010
President Obama gives a thumbs-up signal during a ceremony at Northern Virginia Community College, where he signed the health-care and student-loan measure into law last week.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP Photo
President Obama gives a thumbs-up signal during a ceremony at Northern Virginia Community College, where he signed the health-care and student-loan measure into law last week.
Alexandria, Va.

President Obama signed legislation last week that ends the bank-based lending system for student loans and pours tens of billions of federal dollars into higher education.

At the signing ceremony, which was held here at Northern Virginia Community College, the president also announced that Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and an English instructor at the college, will lead a community-college summit at the White House this fall. The president thrust community colleges into the limelight last summer when he called on them to produce five million more graduates by 2020 and proposed a $12-billion plan to improve and expand the institutions. But the student-loan bill provides just a portion of the money Mr. Obama had sought.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

President Obama signed legislation last week that ends the bank-based lending system for student loans and pours tens of billions of federal dollars into higher education.

At the signing ceremony, which was held here at Northern Virginia Community College, the president also announced that Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and an English instructor at the college, will lead a community-college summit at the White House this fall. The president thrust community colleges into the limelight last summer when he called on them to produce five million more graduates by 2020 and proposed a $12-billion plan to improve and expand the institutions. But the student-loan bill provides just a portion of the money Mr. Obama had sought.

The legislation, which also overhauls the nation’s health-care system, uses the savings from ending subsidies to private student lenders to provide about $43-billion over 10 years for spending on education. Most of that money, about $36-billion, will go to the Pell Grant program for low-income students. Other beneficiaries, in addition to community colleges, include minority-serving institutions and a grant program to improve college access and completion.

President Obama called the student-lending overhaul “one of the most significant investments in higher education since the GI Bill.” He criticized the banked-based lending system, calling it a “sweetheart deal,” and condemned loan companies such as Sallie Mae that spent millions of dollars on “armies of lobbyists” to fight the bill.

“We need to invest that money in our students,” the president said. “We need to invest in our community colleges, we need to invest in the future of this country.”

ADVERTISEMENT

In announcing the White House meeting on community colleges, Mr. Obama called those institutions “one of the great undervalued assets in our education system.”

The measure signed last week provides $2-billion for job training at community colleges. A version of the bill that passed the House of Representatives in September had contained $10-billion for the institutions and would have financed a broader array of programs, including the colleges’ efforts to meet the president’s 2020 graduation goal.

Robert G. Templin Jr., president of Northern Virginia Community College, said he was disappointed by the drop in money devoted to community colleges in the final bill, but he still called the measure a “landmark piece of legislation.” He said the bill was important both financially and symbolically.

“I hope it draws attention to the fact that America’s community colleges represent one of our best resources for putting America’s working class back to work,” Mr. Templin said in an interview this week.

He said that the reduction in funds for community colleges could slow progress on some projects his college is involved in, which he had hoped the bigger pot of money in the earlier version of the bill might help finance. Those projects include a national work-force-training partnership between community colleges and Goodwill Industries International and a statewide effort in Virginia to increase rates of enrollment and completion for first-generation college students.

ADVERTISEMENT

But Mr. Templin said the college did operate programs that would be potential candidates for the aid in the newly signed bill, including programs to assist out-of-work adults who need retraining and to help people transition from dying industries to emerging ones.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Law & PolicyPolitical Influence & Activism
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
    Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
  • The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
    The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
    Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin