US President Barak Obama this week announced a plan to pump $12 billion into the nation’s community college system. However, it’s unclear how much of that will translate into new teaching jobs; much of the funds are committed to infrastructure, development of online courses and student grants, according to this article in the Washington Post and this one in the New York Times.

Still, it seems probable that this initiative could generate jobs or funds for faculty at these institutions. Community colleges are traditionally laces for lower-income and “non-traditional” (ie undergrads outside the 18-22-year-old ages) to begin their education. Although less than half of these students graduate with two-year degrees, about half of those who do go on to four-year degrees.

This proposal is a bit personal for me, since I received an associate’s from the University of Wisconsin, Manitowoc, before transferring to the University of Milwaukee for a bachelor’s degree and then on to the University of Wisconsin, Madison for graduate work. I received some of my best instruction and mentoring at the small two-year, from professors who still managed to publish, while teaching 3-4 courses a semester. The class size and personal attention were akin to small private universities that were well outside my price range.

As for job prospects, community colleges offer a great place for professors who want to focus on teaching. If Obama’s proposal gets passed—and is expanded to include more money for faculty pay—community colleges might become a more desirable option for professors who aren’t interested in working at larger research institutions.

I’d be interested to hear anyone else’s experience as a community college student or interest in working as an instructor at a two-year school.