WASHINGTON, D.C. – A free two year college degree may be possible for some students under a proposal unveiled by President Obama.
President Barack Obama announced his proposal Thursday that would make community college “free for everybody who is willing to work for it.”
Administration officials said funding details will come out later with the president’s budget. He made the announcement ahead of his State of the Union address later this month.
According to the White House, in a growing global economy, Americans need to have more knowledge and more skills to compete. Officials there said that 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.
“Students should be able to get the knowledge and the skills they need without taking on decades’ worth of student debt,” the White House proclaimed.
If all 50 states choose to implement the President’s new community college proposal, it could save a full-time community college student $3,800 in tuition per year on average and benefit roughly 9 million students each year.
Under President Obama’s new proposal, students would be able to earn the first half of a bachelor’s degree, or earn the technical skills needed in the workforce – all at no cost to them.
Students must attend community college at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and make steady progress toward completing their program.
I wonder if I would qualify so I too could take advantage of this? I think I’d like a free degree in Community Organizing. As longs as its FREE, why not go for the best degree their is!
Free my butt. There is nothing free in this world. just another attempt to buy votes. It is going nowhere.
I agree LVS, all the community colleges love this but nothing is free.
The admin and instructors are not going to work for free. The utilities will not be free, the maintenance will not be free.
The bottom line is this, we tax payers will pay the $3800 per year to pay for this. That is not a good lesson to the kids. If they have no skin in the game, they don’t care, and will not care.
Here is another way of looking at it but it is the same.
I lent my kid one of my car’s and she totaled it. She didn’t care, it was her dad’s car.
I got another used car and she wanted to use it. She had a job and I told her that if she wanted to drive a car, she needed to buy it and pay the insurance. I sold it to her and things have been perfect. No accidents.
Get my point? If you have no skin in the game, “your own money,” you don’t care. Nothing is free.
He’s running for president again?
@Polio Loco-No he is not. But what he is doing is trying to make the Republicans look bad. he knows they will never go for this but he is putting it out there to discredit them. It is called politics at our expense.