While visiting the U.S.-Mexico border, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush talked higher education and seemingly found common ground with President Obama.
Bush supports a Tennessee initiative that grants scholarships for community college.
“There are great programs around the country — one of the ones I most admire is a project called Tennessee Promise, where every student that participates gets their community college education, at least for the first two years, debt free, free of tuition,” Bush said at a press conference Monday, according to The Hill.
He also emphasized the need for more four-year degree completion in four years and for universities to have accountability in the form of a “payback” to students or families and loan support.
President Obama found a good idea in Tennessee Promise as well. When he announced his plan for two years of free community college, he cited the program.
“Now, the good news is, you already do something like this in Tennessee. You call it Tennessee Promise,” Obama said.
“We thought why not just build on what works? So we’re going to call it ‘America’s College Promise.’”
Tennessee Promise has its first class of students starting this year; the results and effectiveness of the program are as yet unknown. The program covers a number of higher-education institutions in the state, but only covers technical certificates, diplomas, and two-year degrees.
Bush opposes Obama’s federal plan, however. He prefers state-driven efforts to federal programs, a Bush spokeswoman told The Hill.
