OCCC Responds to Federal Initiative

Oklahoma City – Following the announcement by President Barack Obama of a $12 billion effort to help Community Colleges reach, teach and train more people for “the jobs of the future”, Oklahoma City Community College’s President, Dr. Paul Sechrist says he is pleased with the proposal.
“This is the first initiative of this magnitude from the federal government to assist America’s community colleges,” Sechrist said. “OCCC has grown by almost 50 percent in the last decade and has accounted for over 20 percent of the growth of the entire higher education system in the state of Oklahoma.  Unfortunately, state resources have not been able to adequately fund this growth, so the prospect of some additional funding from the Federal government is welcome news and sorely needed.”
Under the four-part initiative unveiled by Mr. Obama, schools could qualify for “challenge grants” so they’ll have money to try new programs, or expand training and counseling and dropout rates would be addressed by designing programs to help students who want to earn an associate’s degree or transfer to a four-year institution do so. Money would also be spent to renovate outdated facilities or build new ones, and to develop online courses and make them freely available to students and others who want to use them. The total investment is $12 billion over the next decade.
“In an economy where jobs requiring at least an associate’s degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience, it’s never been more essential to continue education and training after high school,” said President Obama.
 
Sechrist agrees and adds, “Community colleges serve not only as the first two years of a four-year degree program, they also provide a large number of technical professional programs that allow a student to enter a profession after two years of college.  These “workforce development” programs include registered nursing and other allied health professions, computer technicians, media specialists, alternative and/or clean energy technicians, and some highly specialized programs such as biotechnology/bioinformatics research assistants—just to name a few.”
Obama hopes to make some of the money available by the 2010 budget year that begins Oct. 1. About 6 million students currently attend community college and account for 46% of the total undergraduate student population, administration officials said. Obama is setting a new goal of 5 million additional college graduates by 2020.
“This significant investment in community colleges is one of the best ways our nation can survive and thrive in an increasingly global and highly competitive job market.  I applaud President Obama for recognizing the significant role community colleges can play in rebuilding the American economy.  This investment in America’s people will pay large dividends for years to come,” Sechrist said.