Obama: Community colleges can help boost ailing economy

By Dan Lothian
CNN White House Correspondent
(CNN) - Community colleges are only two-year institutions, but the Obama administration says they could play a key role in helping to boost the ailing economy for years to come.

To underscore that contention, the president headed to Warren, Michigan, on Tuesday to unveil a plan that will invest $12 billion over the next decade in community colleges across the country.

In comments released by the White House before the Michigan event, Obama noted that the economic recession and a changing U.S. economy are reducing the number of automotive industry jobs, a mainstay in Michigan.

The "hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won't be coming back. They are casualties of a changing economy," Obama said, adding that "even before this recession hit, we were faced with an economy that was simply not creating or sustaining enough new, well-paying jobs."

Obama called the investment in community colleges crucial because "jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience" in coming years.