ABSTRACT
President Barack Obama showcased the community college as integral not only to sustained recovery from the recession but also to future American competitiveness in the world economy. This chapter endeavors to situate the current economic climate for community colleges in fostering a completion agenda as called for by the Obama administration’s American Graduation Initiative (AGI). If graduation rates are established as the measure of accountability, community colleges, especially in the face of budget crises, will be challenged to resist reducing access or lowering curriculum standards as a means of meeting that measure. The AGI, announced by President Obama in 2009, showcased community colleges as potential engines to drive the recovery from the Great Recession and a return of American dominance by increasing the proportion of the population with a college education. In the state arena, community colleges receive funding through a number of mechanisms and processes.
