By Preston R. Michelson
Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president, spoke Wednesday to a group of higher education leaders. “This is the moment for community colleges to shine,” she said (Photo by Preston R. Michelson/MNS).
WASHINGTON — Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president, urged higher education leaders Wednesday to get behind President Barack Obama’s proposal to make two years of community college free.
“We need you,” she said at the Community College National Legislative Summit. “President Obama has big plans for community colleges and this administration needs you to keep making your voices heard, and to bring others into the fold.”
Biden, a full-time English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, is an outspoken advocate for community colleges.
“In my classes, I find single parents who come to school in the evening, weary from a long day, yet eager to create a brighter future for their children,” she said. “I have taught veterans who return to the classroom to complete their higher education as they look to transition to civilian careers.”
In 2010, she hosted the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges, which debated ways for community colleges to ensure that the U.S. has the most educated workforce in the world.
“Community colleges are uniquely positioned to fulfill this responsibility — to meet the needs of the actual community where they live,” Biden said, “whether that means partnering with local employers on credentialing, working to make sure classes are flexible for working families or supporting a seamless transition to a four-year degree.”
When Obama was elected in 2008, Biden said she told her husband, Joe Biden, that she would use her position as second lady to highlight the critical role of community colleges.
“So, one week after inauguration, I was back in the classroom,” she said. “Because, teaching is not what I do; it is who I am.”
She also talked about what the White House has done to promote community colleges: raising the dollar amount of Pell Grants, increasing tuition tax credits and the limiting of federal student loan payments at 10 percent of income.
“This administration recognizes the value of community colleges, and in investing in them,” she said. “We believe they are vital to the future of our country.”
