Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

“Thanks, President Obama!” #FreeCommunityCollege

From the White House: The President Proposes to Make Community College Free for Responsible Students for 2 Years

Today, the President unveiled a new proposal: Make two years of community college free for responsible students across America.

In our growing global economy, Americans need to have more knowledge and more skills to compete — by 2020, an estimated 35 percent of job openings will require at least a bachelor’s degree, and 30 percent will require some college or an associate’s degree. Students should be able to get the knowledge and the skills they need without taking on decades’ worth of student debt.

UPDATE: Fact Sheet: America’s College Promise

“The President’s Plan: Make Two Years of College as Free and Universal as High School”

This is a win-win for the economy and for the next generation. Cash-strapped states (many of which strapped themselves to tax-cut fever which is burning up their seed corn) are cutting back on their funding of higher education. A recent story in NPR reported that tuition now outweighs state aid as the major source of revenue for public colleges. Tuition that is paid for by student loan debt and parent loan debt … or the high cost of which has made it impossible for low-income students to afford college.

Why is a college education important? This:

According to new data, based on an analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Economic Policy Institute, Americans with four-year college degrees are not only equipped for a fulfilling adult and professional life but made 98 percent more an hour on average than those without a degree. And, the wage gap is only increasing, up from 89 percent five years ago, 85 percent a decade earlier, and 64 percent in the early 1980s.

College graduates are also more likely to be employed full-time than their less-educated counterparts, and are less likely to be unemployed, 4 percent versus 12 percent, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.

More on the presidents program below …

From the White House blog …


The numbers:

If all 50 states choose to implement the President’s new community college proposal, it could:

   – Save a full-time community college student $3,800 in tuition per year on average

   – Benefit roughly 9 million students each year

Under President Obama’s new proposal, students would be able to earn the first half of a bachelor’s degree, or earn the technical skills needed in the workforce — all at no cost to them

The requirements:

   – What students have to do: Students must attend community college at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and make steady progress toward completing their program.

   – What community colleges have to do: Community colleges will be expected to offer programs that are either 1) academic programs that fully transfer credits to local public four-year colleges and universities, or 2) occupational training programs with high graduation rates and lead to in-demand degrees and certificates. Community colleges must also adopt promising and evidence-based institutional reforms to improve student outcomes.

   – What the federal government has to do: Federal funding will cover three-quarters of the average cost of community college. Participating states will be expected to contribute the remaining funds necessary to eliminate the tuition for eligible students.

Let’s get it done.


15 comments

  1. Republicans hate education because educated people are not as easily duped. And when people are not living from paycheck to paycheck and wallowing in debt, they have time to examine more closely what kind of country the have-mores have created for them and demand better.

  2. Diana in NoVa

    I am saving for my younger two grandchildren’s college tuition because right now their parents can’t. I have no hope that the paltry amount I’m able to save will pay for college: they’ll have to work in the summer and win scholarships. What I do hope is that my savings will keep them from borrowing. Free tuition at community college for the first two years would help.

    Someone I know is in such despair about his ever-spiraling student loan debt that he is sometimes suicidal. He’s bound to a job he hates in a town he hates. I wish there were a loan forgiveness program so he could go free. He has a Ph.D. in English, and you know how useless that is in terms of the business world. In addition, he is a former priest of Isis and abhors the business world. It’s complicated. But I do feel so sorry for him. It’s not his fault the economy sucks because of Bushco.

  3. princesspat

    This program will help our grand children. We are planning to assist them with college expenses, so it will help us as well.

  4. princesspat

    Obama’s “Free Community College” Initiative


    It may not get much initial attention because of competing news, but yesterday the White House provided a “sneak preview” of a proposal that will be fully unveiled in the State of the Union Address, aimed at making a two-year community college education essentially tuition-free, at least in states willing to meet what amounts to a three-to-one federal “challenge grant.” It’s not a new idea; President Clinton heavily advertised his Hope Scholarship Tax Credit as aimed at making community college affordable for most Americans. And it would seem the White House is seeking to obtain a bipartisan glow for its initiative by identifying it with Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s “Tennessee Promise” plan for abolishing tuition for Tennessee high school graduates at community colleges and technical schools.

  5. TPM: Yes, Free Community College Is Major, But Not Just For The Reason You Think

    … the real revolutionary nature of this proposal is not what it means for the students who may save a few thousand dollars in tuition-it’s the implications for states.

    At first glance, the most important number in the proposal might be $0, the tuition to students. It isn’t. The most important number is 25 percent. That’s the share of costs that the federal government would expect participating states to bear. Picking up just one-fourth of the tab is a modest ask. But it’s also a revolutionary one. That’s because, to date, the federal government has never had clear expectations for exactly what states must do to support higher education. It’s not like K-12 or special education where strict rules require states to maintain certain support or risk facing stiff financial penalties.

    Instead, the federal role in higher education has entirely bypassed states in any formal role. […]

    States spent what they wanted to when they felt like it. They made big investments when times were good and took all of that and then some when times were bad. Students suffered in the form of greater tuition and more debt, but Uncle Sam never stepped in to bring law and order.

    If adopted, today’s announcement changes all that. It finally creates a formal expectation for what states should contribute to help their residents afford college.

    ThinkProgress: How Obama Could Make College Free For Everyone Without Spending A Dime

    If President Obama truly wants to transform the cost of higher education, however, he could make college free for all students without having to lay out more money to pay for it. That’s because the federal government could take the $69 billion it currently spends to subsidize the cost of college through grants, tax breaks, and work-study funds and instead cover tuition at all public colleges, which came to $62.6 billion in 2012, the most recent data. (The government spends another $197.4 billion on student loans.) That would give all students who want to get a college degree a free option to do so. It could also put pressure on private universities to compete with the free option by reducing their costs, which have risen 13 percent over the last five years.

  6. DeniseVelez

    are “automatic transfers” from community colleges

    You’re In.

    Guaranteed admission to a SUNY four-year campus for New York students transferring directly from a SUNY campus with an AA or AS degree.

    http://www.suny.edu/attend/get

    Community colleges  work as feeders to the 4 year schools.

    I find that my transfer students are more mature – many were working while going to cc – quite a few are a little older than the average junior.

  7. LZ Granderson, CNN: Two years of free community college makes sense

    If you still think a proposal to make community college free is just a liberal handout, then you’re living in the past. The reality is bachelor degrees are the high school diplomas of the 21st century. And whether you like President Obama or not is irrelevant, because the skills gap that has been a drag on our economy is not go away after 2016.[…]

    … it will take a degree of fiscal gymnastics to pay $3,800 in tuition for each of the 9 million students the administration is estimating would take advantage of the program. But it is a mistake to immediately shoot holes into the K-14 conversation and allow all the good it could do sink into the abyss of partisan gamesmanship.

    The Tennessee Promise that is the model for the new program, has this as its backdrop:

    By 2025, 55% of new jobs in Tennessee will require at least a two-year degree. Currently, only 32% of state residents have one.

    In response, Gov. Bill Haslam introduced the “Tennessee Promise” scholarships last year, becoming the first state to make community college free. All students need to do is prove they are state residents, maintain a 2.0 GPA and do eight hours of community service per semester. Haslam, a Republican, understood that for his state to be competitive with the rest of the country, he had to address the looming skills gap.

Comments are closed.