Coinciding with the start of the academic year, the Obama administration is promoting free community college and awarding millions of dollars in apprenticeship grants.

With the help of Dr. Jill Biden, President Barack Obama announced the creation of the College Promise Advisory Board, which will serve as an independent group, to boost efforts of two-year free community college. In addition, an independent campaign titled "Heads Up America" will launch to further promote the need of community colleges. The Heads Up America campaign will include public service announcements featuring students, community college alumni and celebrities.

"It will give students, teachers, counselors, administrators, alumni, businesses and other leaders a role in spreading the word about the value and impact that universal access to community college will have on our future," according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The White House will release a report on the progress toward free community college for eligible and "responsible" students.

The Labor Department will award $175 million in American Apprenticeship Grants to 46 public-private partnerships. The partnerships' aim is to expand "high-quality apprenticeships, and the winning grantees will train and hire more than 34,000 new apprentices in growing and tech-related industries, plus health care, information technology and advanced manufacturing.

"[Obama] is committed to creating more opportunities for hard-working Americans to get ahead by advancing job-driven training initiatives that help American workers acquire the skills they need to succeed in good jobs that are available now," the statement noted, naming some recipients include the Silicon Valley High Tech Apprenticeship Initiative training more than 300 apprentices and the OpenTech Los Angeles Regional Apprenticeship Collaborative pledging to train 1,000 at-risk youths.

According to the Obama administration, more than 55,000 new apprenticeship opportunities have been added since Obama's 2014 State of the Union address, which is regarded as the largest increase in nearly 10 years.

As Latin Post reported, 40 percent of college students are enrolled in over 1,100 community colleges in the U.S. The Obama administration has been pushing for the two-year free community college program for students who attend at least part-time and maintain a 2.5 GPA. The eligible students must have shown "steady progress" toward completing their community college program in order for their tuition to be eliminated.

The federal government would fund three-quarters of the average cost of community college, while the remaining of the funds will come from the states that choose to participate in the program. White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said the federal government will be allocate $60 billion over the next 10 years for the program.

Must Read: Hillary Clinton Education Plan Would Cost $350 Billion Over 10 Years, Includes Free Community College 

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.