I would like to see it go towards universities too. In my state, cc is private and expensive. Also, certain schoolsand degree programs do not look favorably on transfer students. My oldest cannot utilize cc unless it was summer school. One way I could see it working is for university students using cc on their breaks from their university such as summer or j term and getting their generals for free. That way everyone could utilize it. And I hope they don’t put an income cap on it. If you make more, you pay more taxes. It would be nice to use what you are already paying for.
CCs, by common use, are public. What state “only” has private CCs?
South Dakota. We have a private community college and a votech school that does not really serve the community like a traditional community college. It sucks. When i was a single parent my choice was private or tech school. I have massive student loans as a result. I do have to say the tech degrees they have now are definitely more useful and relevant.
But there was a huge difference in quality between my private university versus private community college. I’d hesitate to think kids are learning to become critical thinkers with cc as a foundation. Maybe the tech degrees with a job at the end is a better option.
Cellomom, why doesnt SDak have public community colleges? Is it that the people in your state are opposed to financing public community colleges?
Some states don’t have a good community college system because their college and university system is very good, inexpensive, and they’d prefer the state money to go to the most people, at the university level.
I don’t think Obama’s proposal would include private community colleges since the states probably don’t support those and 15% of the money is supposed to come from the state.
It looks like SD does have 4 public CCs but yes, they are technical CCs. Though looking through them, it seems that they have many, if not all, of the basic core classes to transfer to a U and get gen eds out of the way.
Everyone is taking about the Pell grant, but CC isn’t only for people who qualify for that kind of aid. I’m looking at $7200/year (w/ books) or $2400/quarter (w/ books). My parents are unable to contribute to my education but I don’t qualify for a lick of aid. My parents told me I’d go to school (CC to 4 year) on grant money and loans. I was never allowed to get a job or do running start (which would have been free other than books) because my parents wanted me in the house. I never took the SAT/ACT because you don’t need those for CC. Lo and behold, I don’t qualify. I could take private loans, yes, but that’s a waste for community college. So I’m working full time (40 hrs/week) and fulfilling a pre-req before I start school full time and work as many hours as I can to afford it while I pursue a computer scIence major (which my family thinks I’ll fail at).
Yeah, no one OWES me a college education, but this is the road that stops people from getting through school in the first place. This will never happen while I’m still in school, but boy would it make my life easier.
Just the thought of the myriad regulations that would come with this scares the heck out of me as a college administrator. Colleges run skeleton crews in the offices that deal with federal regulations, and this is going to put so much more pressure on them. Since everything gets dumped into Title IV aid regulations, aid administrators will have yet another set of difficult-to-deal-with rules to understand and administer (right on the heels of the SaVE Act/VAWA). For every proposal like this, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that affects schools … I cringe at more federal involvement, which is unfunded in terms of paying for the increased administrative burden.
PersonalParadox,
Are you putting your parents on your FAFSA? I put mine on there to start with and wasn’t approved for much government aid at all. It estimated their contribution to be around 20,000 which was laughable. I don’t think the formula takes into account the parents bills/payments/ect. I then filled out the FASFA with only my name and was approved for $22,000 in annual Federal Financial Aid with half of it coming in grants. The rest stafford loans. This was just a few months ago. I also feel a lot better with everything in MY name since I don’t have to rely on anyone else (parents) for my education.
You also might want to check the transfer requirements most public 4 year universities have in your area. Once you have over a certain amount of transferable credits (say around 30) they don’t even care about your high school GPA or SAT. They just care about your college GPA. Big public schools also have more $$$ to throw around for need based aid.
If you looked into it a bit I’m sure you could very well transfer into a college MUCH cheaper that is very financial aid friendly. I went to school for 2 years right after high school, worked the next 7 full time because I couldn’t afford to finish, and now back in school thanks to our generous government aid.
and to stay on topic…
If you make CC free and not dip into the pell grant I can see MANY more highly gifted students going to CC instead of straight to a 4 year. Makes me wonder if CC will start rejecting people due to enrollment numbers. The idea of that happening is… sad.
Yet… It could also stop people from enrolling in CC… receiving their refund… then dropping out at the last minute. This is very popular in the low income students. They don’t go for education at all. Just for the $500-$1000 refund 60 so days down the road. If tuition was “free” and $ wasn’t involved this would stop happening.
I’m 18; I’m required to put my parents information on the FAFSA. Their EFC is similar to what you mention, though a few thousand less. I’m medically ineligible for the military, so that isn’t an option. I know the ins and outs of the transfer system and I’ll be able to get a 4 yr degree despite my GED and lack of test scores, if I can pay for it. There is no college in my area that it’s cheaper than this CC, but this CC is still cost prohibitive. When I get to a large public university, my FinAid may change; for now, I’m a full pay community college student.
My point is not to derail but to say something like this would really help students that are stuck in this as their only choice through no fault off their own.
someguy, you can’t arbitrarily decide whether or not you can use your parents’ info or yours. Unless you are 24, married, active military, or have a child that you support 50% of the time (those are the big ones, there might be another category or two), you are dependent and must use your parents’ info.
You also are not getting 22k in federal aid. Even if you’re independent and get the full Pell and full direct loan, you’re coming in around 14k, 15k. You must have some state or school aid mixed in there.
In terms of the program though, it should be a 3.0 gpa, which seems to be what most scholarships require, and it should only be good for a total of 3 years; long enough if you’re going part time to save up. The years don’t have to be consecutive, maybe, but you have to get it done within x years, say 5. If you don’t meet the gpa, you are pay for a year or you leave for a year, and there is only one second chance. That would cut down on abuse of the system. They could probably do this without raising taxes, too, but this is probably never gonna happen anyway.
I’d prefer a program of interested free loans for all students. They can used them for CCs or 4 year institution and pay them back after graduation. After some initial seed money, for the most part it is self funding.
Giving the money away, with no promise of repayment is a bad plan.
He can do whatever he wishes…because he is going to pay for it out of his own pocket…yes!
I’d have see to see more details before I am adamant about this, and normally I would be 100% for this kind of thing, but my initial reaction is to not support this. I DO believe that higher education is a good thing, but that education is not the same for all people. Not everyone should go to college or even Community College. Knowing what I know about graduation rates at some “good” Community Colleges, I believe that not everyone even should attempt Community College. This opinion has nothing to do with politics or that I think this is a step toward making us a Socialist country (because I don’t think that) or any of that. It’s simply a matter of pushing back a little on the idea that all Americans (in this case) should go to college. Not all jobs in this country require an education, and we don’t need to denigrate those who decide not to go to college, for it is more than ok to decide not to.
A college education isn’t the pinnacle. Our public high schools aren’t fully funded. Both my high school kids are athletes, and we pay a TON toward pay-to-play, uniform purchases, have to participate (meaning buying some stuff we don’t want or need) in fund raisers, etc. Fully fund K-12 FIRST and then maybe talk about funding beyond that.
I think that whether this is a good investment or not will depend on how it is carried out. I like the idea of requiring specific grades and progress, and I also like the idea of including technical and vocational education.
I would also point out that some people may get significant benefit from some community college courses even if they don’t obtain a 2-year degree.
On the surface, this sounds like a good idea (but one that the states should undertake, not the feds.)
But realistically, with the funding issues at the K-12 levels, the poor performance of most CC attendees, the dated-to-the-point-of-useless curriculums many instruct from, and the dearth of trade and occupational training options, I think this is rather a low-priority initiative. Not to mention, CC’s are already heavily subsidized for in-state students, and is pretty affordable as it is.
I think it’s a political gesture anyway, a “Free Candy” program that’s never meant to pass.
If you want “free” community college, then I suggest you vote for state representatives that share that view.
I think the problem most people have is they think Federal money is “free”, that they’ll never actually personally have to pay for it - which is why we have an $18T debt.
States generally are more transparent about spending and taxes – and when a state proposes a program like this, there’ll be a bill - a property tax increase, a sales tax increase, income tax increase, a meals tax, whatever - aaand that’s where it all falls apart, especially when people they start to consider uses of that money that more directly affects their lives.
And why not free 4-year colleges? Free Medical school? Free Law school? The same arguments used to support free CC are even greater for these. And I could go for some free lunch, myself - let the government pay for my lunch, it’ll stimulate the economy, right?
Not that I think free CC tuition is a terrible idea - it’s just somewhere down the wishlist for me.
Even as a someone who was a high school athlete and had to pay-to-play, I’d rather we fund academics at a CC before we fund sports at a high school. Sports are important, higher education is moreso IMO.