President Barack Obama promised to train 2 million Americans for high-demand careers at community colleges throughout the country during his visit to the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College on Monday morning.

While speaking to an audience of mostly students and some faculty members from the Northern Virginia Community College campuses, Obama revealed a plan that relies heavily on using community colleges to prepare students for jobs of the future in areas such as science and technology, health care and advanced manufacturing. Obama wants to give 2 million Americans the skills they need for jobs right now by turning community colleges into community career centers. The investment of $8 billion is part of Obama’s $13 trillion budget.

The Wage and Wealth Gap

In unveiling his proposed 2013 budget, Obama referenced his recent State of the Union address, where he discussed the importance of creating an American “built to last.” One way he proposes to do that is by cutting taxes for the middle class and potentially raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Such cuts, he said, should go to hard working Americans who are struggling to buy groceries and pay for other living expenses in a difficult economy.

“We can settle for a country where a few people do really, really well and everybody else struggles to get by or we can restore an economy where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody does their fair share, everybody plays by the same set of rules, “ said Obama.

During his speech, the president criticized Congress for delaying or blocking legislation that would help Americans such as passing an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance.

“The time for self-inflicted wounds to our economy has to be over. Now is the time for action. Now is the time for us to move forward,” Obama said.

Making Education Affordable

The audience reacted strongly to the parts of Obama’s message that centered on investing in education, making education affordable for everyone and creating jobs in the United States so businesses could find qualified workers at home instead of abroad. When he proposed making the tax break for tuition permanent, the audience burst into applause and triumphant shouts of “Yes!” from a NOVA professor. 

In addition to criticizing Congress, Obama also had some stern language for colleges and universities with growing inflated tuition rates, warning them that the money they receive from taxpayers will go down if tuition costs continues to rise.

“If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then funding you get from taxpayers will go down because education cannot be a luxury. It’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” Obama said.

Despite his confidence in the plan, Obama warned the audience that moving forward was not without consequence, saying there would be tough, but necessary cuts if the country has any hope of moving forward. The president told the audience that the country is still recovering, but he did offer some good news: Over the past 23 months, Obama said 3.7 million new jobs have been added to the U.S. economy.

The message of the speech overall resonated positively with students. Freshman political science major Kevan Hulligan said he found Obama’s speech interesting, particularly the part about creating jobs in technology. “It’s an ever-growing field that constantly requires new updates and information, so it’s definitely important to get more qualified workers in that field as soon as possible,” said Hulligan, a student at Northern Virginia Community College in Loudoun County.

Art history major and Loudon County NOVA campus student Rebecca Arm appreciated Obama’s emphasis on the community colleges which she said represents an all-ages group of people, not just younger students, but from all walks of life such as veterans, people on their second or third jobs and people who are single parents.

"I found it interesting that he talked about turning the community college system into more of a career-oriented system, but at the same time, I think he should cater to [other] fields as well," said liberal arts major Sasan Mousavi, also a student at Northern Virginia Community College in Loudoun County, who came to the Annandale event. "I would hope he wouldn't forget about that group of students."