President Bush Proposes Funding Boost for Community Colleges, Select Pell-Grant Recipients

President Bush has proposed initiatives that could increase funding for community colleges and Pell grants to certain students. The president announced the initiatives in his State of the Union address on Jan. 20 and provided additional details during a presidential visit to an Ohio community college. As part of a "Jobs for the 21st Century" program the president has proposed:

• Establishing a $33-million program that would provide additional Pell-grant awards of $1,000 per year to select students in their first two years of college. To qualify, students would have to complete the rigorous State Scholars curriculum in high school and enroll in college full time. The White House estimates that 36,000 low-income graduating high-school seniors would be eligible for the enhanced Pell grants next year.
• Providing $250 million in competitive grants to community colleges to strengthen their role in preparing students for the workforce. The proposed Community-based Job Training grants would be used for training in community and technical colleges that are linked with local employers seeking more skilled workers.

Additional details of these and other potential higher-education initiatives are expected when the president submits his proposed 2005 budget to Congress next month.