Technical education faces federal funding cuts

The New York Times reports that federal funding for technical education is on the chopping block as the Obama administration focuses education policy on increasing the number of four-year college graduates.

This is a disturbing development because:

• 70% of all new jobs will require some post-secondary education, but not a four-year degree;
• four year colleges and universities are increasingly becoming too expensive for low and moderate income students;
• many students find technical colleges' hands-on education better suited to their learning styles;
• as baby boomer retire there will be a shortage of middle skills workers, the very skilled and technical workers that technical colleges produce and business and industry needs;
• as public technical colleges reduce programs in response to budget cuts, students will gravitate to the highly exploitative for-profit college sector.

The New York Times article is linked here.