The White House proposed a”free” community college degree last week that it turns out will actually cost taxpayers about $60 billion. But even beyond the billions, this proposal should be cause for concern.
President Obama proposed waiving tuition for two years of community college for “anyone who’s willing to work for it” last Thursday evening, a bold proposal that could impact about 9 million students.
Students would have to be at least part-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA and “make steady progress” toward completing a program to be eligible, according to the initial White House proposal. Participating colleges would have to provide programs with either fully transferable credits to a four-year public college or occupational studies with good graduation rates and market demand.
Per Obama’s plan, the federal government would foot 75 percent of the bill while states would cover the rest.
Eric Schultz, the White House deputy press secretary, told reporters Friday that the program will likely cost at least $60 billion over the next decade. It represents “a significant investment,” Schultz said, “but it’s one the president believes is worthwhile because we need to make sure that America’s young people are getting the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century economy.”
This “investment” has several potential drawbacks.
One of the biggest that conservatives should worry about is the involvement of the federal government in the community college system.
Community colleges are typically under the control of state or local government and adding this additional layer of bureaucracy to them could prove detrimental. It also gives the government even more control over the education process. If the federal government really intends to shell out 75 percent of the cost of this program, you can bet that comes with some strings.
Some education experts are also worried that funding this program will take away federal funding from other forms of financial aid, like Pell grants. Its high cost — already a hard sell to Congress — would likely force the Obama administration to get creative.
But it could also be detrimental to the very students it seeks to help.
Obama spoke about helping low income students attend college and said that two free years of community college could be their ticket into the middle class. But this program could really just shift the enrollment of middle and upper class Americans to community college to take advantage of the free — or rather, the benefit their parent’s tax dollars already paid for — college courses.
The cost of tuition is not the only factor that could prohibit low income students from entering college. Many have to consider family and work obligations, as well as basic needs like housing, food and transportation. Plus, many low income students come from high school backgrounds that don’t adequately prepare them for college, another factor that this proposal leaves out.
Expanding access to college for Americans is an admirable goal, but this plan for accomplishing that should be explored more thoroughly before the administration throws $60 billion of our dollars at it.
