By Jenna A. Robinson
President Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders, and now North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (who is running for governor) have all advocated for free community college.
In this article, the Pope Center’s Stephanie Keaveney examines how such programs work and whether they have any benefits.
She finds that the “last-dollar” approach already adopted by two states—Tennessee and Oregon—disproportionately benefits wealthier students who are already likely to enroll and succeed in college. That’s because last-dollar programs only kick in after a student has used her federal Pell grant, which is need-based.
But financial problems aren’t the real issue, writes Keaveney:
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of free community college is that completion rates at community colleges are already dismal. The guarantee of free tuition is unlikely to improve them. Nationwide, only 20 percent of first-time, degree-seeking students who enroll in community college ever earn a degree. The removal of all personal financial risk from attempting college does not incentivize students to complete their degrees. So far no program has proposed a safeguard against this issue.
Instead, community colleges should focus on giving students the flexibility and the tools to successfully complete a degree.
Read all of Keaveney’s suggestions here.
Jenna A. Robinson is president of the John William Pope Center on Higher Education Policy.
Would one of the fine conservatives explain the FACT American taxpayers reaped the greatest benefits from the GI Bill after World War II of any government spending program in American history?
“Expanded Opportunity for a Strong Middle Class
Four out of five men born in the United States during the 1920s served in the military, and about half of them used the G.I. Bill for education and training (either right after World War II or after the Korean War, when comparably generous benefits were provided). Prior to 1940, colleges were mostly for the privileged, but the G.I. Bill opened doors to many who were Catholic and Jewish, including rural people, first-generation immigrant offspring, and veterans from working and middle class backgrounds. An example is Richard Colosimo, a son of Italian immigrants who grew up very poor. “My father always told me,” he explained, “‘Dick, I don’t know how I can ever help you, but get an education: that’s the most important thing.” Thanks to the “magnanimous” GI Bill, he earned college and graduate degrees for a successful career.”
https://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/sites/default/files/ssn_key_findings_mettler_on_gi_bill.pdf