President Obama seeks $8 billion for job training partnerships involving community colleges. He would like to double the amount of work study jobs and reward colleges that slow their tuition growth. Also in this plan he wants to make $2,500 tax credit for college tuition and fees.

In this plan his goal is to increase the amount of workers in our work force to help the economy. With the money, if granted, he would provide scholarship money for teacher candidates under the Presidential Teaching Fellows Grant.

Recently in Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett purposed a huge budget cut for higher education. With this new bill from President Obama hopefully for college students this will offset that budget cut. Dr. Linksz stated, “Mr. Obama’s recognition of the community college’s unique ability to quickly gear up for new programs indicates he appreciates the work we have done to date as well as our history of cost effective programming.”

However, it is unlikely that Obama will get all the money that he is asking for. In 2009 he asked congress for a $12 billion to help community colleges but was only allotted $2 billion in the final bill.

Obama plans to use this money to also train workers for unfilled jobs by apprenticeships, on the job training, and internships. Dr. Linksz also explained that, “In our own case, we have a long history of working well with business partners to identify areas where training is needed and to gear up for that training.” The colleges that are most successful in placing workers straight into the job field will be eligible for “pay-for-performance,” which will be some extra funding.

If this plan goes through it can make a huge positive impact. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, “work force training programs are costly, and given sustained cuts from state and local sources, these proposals could greatly benefit local economies.”

This could be very helpful for community colleges, since they are typically the institutions that get students out into the work force fairly quickly. Lastly Dr. Linksz shared, “Bucks is well positioned to do even more than it traditionally has in this important area. We will certainly look out for opportunities as the final regulations and appropriations are more clearly outlined.”

Some students and professors at Bucks gave their thoughts on the president sticking up for them against congress.

Anthony DiMattia, a communications major and beneficiary of the work study program said, “It’s good, because it helps the future of those who have lost their job and are trying to learn a new skill in college.”

Denise May, the professor of Academic Success Coordinator said, “I think it’s great, especially with the recent tuition increases. This gives students an outlet to make some of that money back.”

Tasneem Bacchus, a physical therapy major from Bensalem said, “I think the work study program is a good idea, because it creates jobs and opportunities and any additional funding would be helpful.