President Obama to visit Knoxville Friday to discuss college access

President Barack Obama will visit Knoxville on Friday to discuss his upcoming efforts to help more Americans get a college education, according to college officials there.

Obama will visit Pellissippi State Community College along with Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, according to a statement released Monday. The group also plans to visit the Techmer PM facility in Clinton, where they will tout the administration's efforts to create manufacturing jobs.

The Tennessee trip is part of a weeklong trek across the country to tout presidential policies on housing, economic development and education. It also will mark the president's second trek to the Volunteer State in a few weeks — he visited Nashville in December to deliver a speech on immigration reform.

Pellissippi State spokeswoman Julia Wood said the school found out about the visit only a couple days ago.

"We're very proud we were selected," she said. "It's a really exciting opportunity for the college."

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Gov. Bill Haslam, a Knoxville Republican, also plan to attend the event. Republicans have avoided the president's other recent trips to Tennessee: In December Obama visited an immigrant community center in Nashville to tout his immigration reform actions, and in January 2014 he visited McGavock High School to laud local education programs.

Haslam was recently recognized in Washington, D.C., for the Tennessee Promise scholarship program. More than 55,000 of Tennessee's roughly 60,000 eligible students started the application process that for the program, which offers full tuition at a two-year college.

Alexander is set to be elected chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions — the main education committee — as Republicans take over control of the Senate this week.

"Our priorities should be to fix No Child Left Behind and to reduce the mountain of federal paperwork that is today the main obstacle for Tennessee students who want to take advantage of Gov. Haslam's program for tuition-free community college," Alexander said in a statement.

"I look forward to working with the president on these goals in the same way we worked together in 2013 to pass a bipartisan law that made student loans cheaper, simpler, and more certain for nearly 8 million American students."

It's unclear which event Haslam will attend. Alexander plans to attend the event at Pellissippi State.

Pellissippi State, which has an enrollment of about 10,000 students, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Many of its students transfer to four-year universities after graduating with their associate's degrees, while others go straight into the workforce.

Wood said that university officials don't know what efforts Obama will discuss on Friday. She expected more details would be released later this week.

Here is the full statement, published Monday afternoon by Pellissippi State.

"On January 9th, the President, Vice President and Dr. Biden will travel to Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee to discuss new initiatives he will propose to help Americans go to college and get the skills they need to succeed. Afterward, the President, Vice President and Dr. Biden will travel to Techmer PM in Clinton, Tennessee to highlight the administration's efforts to act to create new, good-paying manufacturing jobs.

"Further details regarding the President's travel to Michigan, Arizona and Tennessee will be made available in the coming days."