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Recently, President Obama stressed on the importance of providing free community college education access to all Americans. He said that even as the Democrats and Republicans are locked in a showdown over the budget, this is an issue that could bring them together.

At a speech in Macomb Community College, he stressed on the importance of providing the youth of our country with access to trade schools, universities and community colleges in order to further our economic growth. Success in the next century is possible only if we take this measure now, he said.

Obama continues to encounter resistance at the Capitol Hill to his proposal put forth at the State of the Union address earlier this year. Recently, President also announced federal apprenticeship grants to the tune of $175 million that will benefit over thirty thousand students across the country.

These grants will be disbursed at over 45 organizations in various fields such as manufacturing, healthcare and so on. Obama pointed out that his intention is to provide free college education for at least two years for every young American with a will to work hard.

Years back when only the rich could afford high school education, Obama pointed out that we realized education has to reach the masses and therefore made school education free. Today, he says, the same situation faces the college students and it is time to offer free community college education for the masses.

He pointed out that politicians continue to harp on the fact that the youth is our future. However, he said that it is not just enough to say that. It is important to so something to make it a reality. To ensure that the young people of our country get high paying jobs by improving their skills, it is necessary to take concrete steps to reduce the cost of higher education.

Today, the federal government faces a shut down even as the congressional Republicans continue to be locked in a collision with the White House. For the second time in two years, the government faces a shut-down unless a consensus is reached by the two sides before September 30th.

According to the White House, sequestration level spending will not be undone by signing any bill as our President wants Congress to approve of additional funds towards investments in technology and research, education and infrastructure.

Obama’s continued calls for higher spending falls on deaf ears even as the Republicans remain stubborn. According to critics, even though our President’s goal of providing free community college education is noble, it will only place additional burden on the taxpayers.

Just increasing federal funding, according to them will be detrimental to the country and will also restrict opportunities for the younger generation. Government should be out of the higher education system, which must be handled by policy leaders. Holding down innovation in learning by driving up costs through pumping in more federal dollars is not the way out, says Generation Opportunity national spokesperson Patrice Lee.