President Obama announced his proposal on January 8, for the first two years of community college to be free for all students who set a goal and make steady progress towards it. There are many students who cannot afford to go to college to get a bachelor’s degree, and with the rising need for higher education in our society they cannot get the jobs they need or deserve without considerable amounts of debt.
The average borrower now graduates with $28,400 in debt. It is unfair to send students off into the world with such a large debt weighing on their actions and decisions. And the cheaper community colleges do not always offer the classes to help people succeed in the areas they were hoping for. As it was discovered in the Brown vs. Board of Education case, separate educational institutions for black and white—or for poor and rich—are rarely equal. The same holds true for colleges.
The informational economy requires fourteen years of education, not twelve, or some form of higher education outside of high school to join or stay in the middle class. 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. Sadly, education is expensive and any help to lessen the burden on graduates appears to be welcome, but people have some concerns.
There are not a lot of people who know how they are going to pay or get through college. Some just assume that they will be left with crippling debt afterwards and do not have solid plans on how to pay it off. On the other hand, with a new idea like this in place, students could leap ahead in education and not worry as much about costs.
“If I were considering going to a more expensive school, I might consider going to a community college first if it were free, and use those credits to transfer to a new university... It would save me like so much money,” NHS sophomore Tallie Nikitchyuk said.
Over a period of ten years, the initiative would need 80 billion. Although this is a considerable amount of money, it is less than five percent on what the US spent in the last decade on Iraq and Afghanistan. The Federal government will pay three quarters of the funds to eliminate the tuition of eligible students. This should benefit roughly nine million students each year and on average save a full-time community college student $3,800 in tuition. To make this program function properly, like one designed by Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Haslam, the students, states, and colleges must work together.
To qualify, students must be enrolled at least half-time and make steady progress to complete their programs. They also must maintain a GPA of 2.5 and have an AGI (adjusted gross income) less than $200,000. Colleges must offer study programs that fulfill transfer requirements to four-year public schools, or provide occupational training programs and adopt evidence-based reforms to improve student outcomes. Essentially, they must increase the availability of classes for students. Finally, the states have to chip in on the costs and pay the remaining quarter of the funds, commit to helping existing higher education investments, and allocate funding based on performance, not enrollment.
Now one may be thinking, ‘Why would anyone be against this?’ but there are multiple factors that can affect someone’s decision. Not everyone has children in college, so why should they care? To them it may even seem like wasting money. Another point that could be made is that the federal government is raising the taxes even more on something that does not apply to them. Questions or thoughts like these can discourage people from supporting this new idea.
Depending on who wins the presidential election in 2016 and what they support this proposal may not be passed at all. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wants to make college education completely free using these same methods. On the other hand, Republican Jeb Bush has made past statements saying he wants to disrupt the current higher education model. Two other GOP presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee and Lindsey Graham have come out in favor of giving students the ability to refinance student loans, but nothing else.
Unless one is looking for information, almost nothing is shown on TV or social media, even though it could be helpful for tons of students. Despite the plans promise, not many people have heard anything regarding the idea.
“That’s a good plan though. Higher levels of education are way too overpriced for a very miniscule return,” NHS Junior Jonathan Holden said.