The White House is pledging $100 million to expand workforce training programs at community colleges, building on President Obama’s goal of making tuition at community colleges free.
Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, will announce the grant program Monday at the Community College of Philadelphia, a school that adopted the tuition-free model championed by the administration last year. Biden and his wife, a professor at Northern Virginia Community College, have advocated for the model, visiting schools and hosting roundtable discussions with elected officials as well as college and business leaders.
In the administration’s latest initiative, grants will be awarded through the Labor Department to partnerships between employers, training programs, and community and technical colleges aimed at readying students for skilled occupations. Award recipients must extend tuition-free education to unemployed, underemployed and low-income workers to enter industries that require skilled labor. The employers with which they partner will help students attain apprenticeships or paid internship experience.
Read more at The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/04/25/white-house-launches-100m-competition-to-expand-tuition-free-community-college/