“President Obama on Friday proposed making community college free for all Americans, casting the plan as a way to help more people enter the middle class …. Describing a quality education as a ‘right’ for those willing to work for it, Obama called on Congress to support his ‘ambitious’ program to bring the cost of community college ‘down to zero.’ … The president urged making community college as universal as high school.”
The program would cost the federal government $60 billion over 10 years, or $6 billion a year, or about 1% of the Pentagon budget. Participating states would provide 25% matching funding. The White House estimates the program would save 9 million students an average of $3,800 a year of tuition costs.
Republicans immediately criticized the proposal even though it’s modeled on a successful Republican-supported program in the red state of Tennessee.
Photo of a community college campus in Nebraska. Notice there are no students in this picture. That’s how Republicans to see higher education campuses.