Obama Proposes 2 Years of Free Community College

An anonymous reader writes with news about a White House proposal that would provide 2 years of free community college for good students."President Barack Obama announced a proposal Thursday to provide two years of free community college tuition to American students who maintain good grades. 'Put simply, what I'd like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everyone who's willing to work for it,' Obama said in a video filmed Wednesday aboard Air Force One and posted to Facebook. He made the announcement as part of his pre-State of the Union tour and will formally lay out the proposal Friday in a speech in Tennessee. The White House estimated it would save the average community college student $3,800 annually and said it could benefit nine million if fully realized."

Comments

Free?

[NotQuiteReal]

As in somebody else pays for it...

But still, it might be ok if the covered courses are useful, and not just "community organizer" type courses. That is to say, something that will train for a marketable skill.

Re:Free?

[ClickOnThis]

Education is already tax-subsidized. There's no way most of us could afford it if it weren't.

Re:Free?

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of us can't afford it anyways.. takes 20 years to pay it back.

Re:Free?

[Anonymous Coward]

Rich aren't going to community college.

I'd rather have an educated society than not. Wouldn't you?

Re:Free?

[7-Vodka]

I think you mean "There's no way most of us can afford it because it's subsidized"

Prices are determined by where willingness to pay meets willingness to sell. Subsidies raise the willingness to pay and therefore raise prices.

In fact I remember from an economics class that this effect has been studied in farm subsidies, I wish I could reference that here but alas it has been a long time.

Let's not forget that fiat currencies and deficit spending also raise prices.

Re:Free?

[cayenne8]

The world needs ditch diggers too.

Not everyone needs to go to college, If they can't afford it, there are very good living levels to be made by learning a trade. Hell, plumbers around here make more than some GP physicians at the lower levels.

Re:Free?

[ShanghaiBill]

You don't need to worry. This proposal has ZERO chance of becoming law. There is no way that a Republican congress is going to run up the debt to fund Obama's pet project. The only reason that Obama is even proposing it is so the Republicans can reject it, and then the Dems can use it against them in 2016.

Re:Free?

[tchuladdiass]

:: Why would you pick classes that wouldn't transfer?

Simple -- you have basically 3 degree options in Community college -- Associates in Arts, Science, and Applied Science. The applied degree consists of classes that generally don't transfer. However, that degree does prepare you for the work place after 2 years (assuming you can find a job that doesn't think of an Associates degree as a failed Bachelors). Whereas the non applied degrees won't give you any job skills, but only prep you for a 4-year college. In any case, it is recommended that a student work with the target 4 year institution, to determine which courses to take at the local community college, and not do it blindly.

However, this is actually a bigger issue. A lot of the high school classes are dumbed down enough that they really don't prepare students for college level courses. So often times students have to take 1 - 2 semesters of additional prep work classes before they can jump into the real college classes. This can even be true if one took "college prep" classes in high school (depending on how crappy the local school district is).

Re:Free?

[biek]

But why should I have to pay even MORE in taxes to send someone to college. I may need that money to send my OWN kids to school.

Your kids wouldn't qualify as that "someone" being sent to college on the public dime?

Re:When everyone has a 2 year degree

[Anonymous Coward]

I understand worth means different things to different people, but a 2 year degree will be worth nothing only if you place absolutely no value in knowledge.

Re:great news for corporations and politicians

[vux984]

And why is he doing it? Not because it helps students, but because it appears to lower youth unemployment and reduces the need for corporations to train people themselves slightly.

How is giving every kid with good grades the opportunity to get more than a high school education without having finaces be an overriding consideration?

Of course it helps the students. The best thing in the world to improve the odds for success in life is more education.

And the first 2 years of college/university are worlds apart from what you learned in grade 12.

but because it appears to lower youth unemployment and reduces the need for corporations to train people themselves slightly.

Fascinating world view you have there.

That's two years out of the workforce, two years of not paying into retirement, and no benefit, since those students will simply be competing against each other for the same jobs anyway.

Good point. We should end public education at grade 4. Its just years they aren't in the work force, and of no benefit since they'll just be competing each other for the same jobs anyway; and all it does is reduce the need for corporations to train people themselves.

I mean, everyone does work for a corporation right? There aren't ~20 million sole-proprieterships in the country. And there certainly aren't another 40 million+ people working for small to medium businesses.

It's a gigantic ripoff, both of students and tax payers.

Seriously. Sarcasm off. More available education is one of the best things we can do for the country. This isn't no-child-left-behind sillyness... this is about making sure students who can and would succeed at post-secondary school get to go.

What would be a better use of tax dollars in the long run?