Answers to Access / Equity Many low income students receive enough aid to make college free Susan Svrluga, journalist, interviewing Sandy Baum, Professor, George Washington University, Economist: Send Obamas Free Community-College Idea Back to the Drawing Board, WASHINGTON POST, 2315, www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/02/03/economist-send-obamas-free-community-college-idea-back-to- the-drawing-board/, accessed 2-9-15. President Obamas proposal to eliminate tuition for Americas community college students would send an important message to students that college is affordable. Too many potential students are discouraged by confusing information about college prices and by the complexity of the financial aid system. A real improvement over the Tennessee plan on which it is purportedly based and some other free college plans is that the Obama strategy would allow students to keep their Pell grants to help with living expenses, while benefiting from free tuition. New federal dollars combined with a simple message about affordability might help to narrow the gaps in college attainment across people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. But this proposal has weaknesses that should send policymakers back to the drawing board. About half of full-time community college students and more than three-quarters of those from low-income families already get grant aid that fully covers their tuition. They may still face financial difficulties as they devote time to their studies instead of working full-time. But tuition is not the issue.Many low-income students already attend college tuition-free Janell Ross, Next America Project, Where Obamas Community-College Plan Falls Short, THE ATLANTIC, 11215, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/where-obamas-community-colleges-plan-falls-short/384425/, accessed 2-2- To bolster his case, Bailey pointed out that many of the nations lowest-income students can already attend community college for free. Pell Grants this school year cover up to $5,730 in college expenses for the lowest-income students. The average community college costs about $4,000. If Obamas plan were to be implemented, Bailey would like to see these students attend community college for free and use their Pell Grants for food, shelter, transportation, books, childcare, and other costs that often get in the way of their education. Those economic challenges factor into another little-known American college phenomenon. Since 2010, black, white, and Latino students have enrolled in college at almost the same rate (Asian college enrollment rates outpace all other groups). But significant graduation disparities remain.Free tuition does not address equity concernsit only helps those disadvantaged people who enroll Steven N. Durlauf, Professor, Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Free Community College Is an Empty Proposal, WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 11815, http://host.madison.com/steven-n-durlauf-free-community-college- is-an-empty-proposal/article_05fec175-fba6-5d71-961e-b61f3f2d0aba.html, accessed 2-10-15. The lack of a serious cost-benefit assessment of Obamas plan is also reflected in its crudity: if one cares about the poor or even middle-class families, it is an inefficient use of resources to provide free access to the children of the more affluent. Egalitarians should also question the focus on zero tuition rather than availability of loans with appropriate interest rates. Higher education benefits society and private individuals. While some subsidized tuition can be justified from a societal standpoint, it is not justified on an individual basis. To subsidize tuition for individuals is elitist, because it means society is redistributing resources to those disadvantaged people who attend college but not to those equally disadvantaged who do not enroll. Most low-income students wont benefit from free tuitionalready receive grants Michelle R. Weise, senior research fellow, Clayton Christensen Institute, Obamas Dead-End Community College Plan, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11215, www.wsj.com/articles/michelle-r-weise-obamas-dead-end-community-college-plan- 1421106892, accessed 2-7-15. Continued focus on a college degree loses sight of the needs of most first-generation, low-income and minority students. These students will miss out on the effects of Mr. Obamas proposed reform. Community-college tuition is already free through grant aid for most students in the bottom half of the income distribution. No one wants to further stratify higher education by race and classbut we need to be cognizant of the more than 91 million people with high-school degrees and some college who could significantly increase their earning power by attaining an alternative credential. Those pursuing and acquiring alternative credentials are typically low-income students with parents with an education of less than a bachelors degree. College is not the only path into the middle class. Its time to think strategically about how alternative credentials might serve as a powerful lever for upward mobility.There is little evidence that tuition is an important access barrier Steven N. Durlauf, Professor, Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Free Community College Is an Empty Proposal, WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 11815, http://host.madison.com/steven-n-durlauf-free-community-college- is-an-empty-proposal/article_05fec175-fba6-5d71-961e-b61f3f2d0aba.html, accessed 2-10-15. President Barack Obamas proposal to render community college free has received widespread approval and kudos from the liberals and the left. For serious egalitarians, however, the proposal should be seen as a policy change of marginal importance and more posturing than substance. Little empirical evidence suggests community college costs are a first-order impediment to potential or actual students. Even less is known about how free tuition will affect completion of four-year college degrees. Serious problems exist with the quality of community college that render the value of the policy all the more unclear. Free community college programs empirically do very little to help the students with the highest need Robert Kelchen, Assistant Professor, Seton Hall University, The Costs of Free, INSIDE HIGHER ED, 101314, www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/10/13/essay-questions-free-community-college-policies, accessed 2-3-15.All of these programs operate as last-dollar scholarships, meaning that the city or state makes their contribution if any to the student after federal grant aid (primarily the Pell Grant) has already been applied. In Chicago, tuition and fees for a full- time student are approximately $2,536, less than half of the maximum Pell Grant. District officials estimate that 85 percent of students tuition and fees will be covered by Pell Grants meaning that the citys contribution will be zero in most cases. This contributes to an estimated cost of about $2 million in the first year. Looking more broadly, these free college programs will give very little additional money to students with the greatest financial need. In every state except New Hampshire and South Dakota, the average tuition and fees at community colleges was lower than the maximum Pell Grant of $5,645 in the 2013-14 academic year. Data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), a nationally representative sample of students enrolled in the 2011-12 academic year, show that 38 percent of community college students had their tuition and fees entirely covered by grant aid. An additional 33 percent of students paid less than $1,000 out of pocket for tuition and fees. Eighty-five percent of Pell recipients at community colleges had sufficient grant aid to cover tuition and fees, meaning they would get no additional money from a free college program. Bryce McKibben of the Association of Community College Trustees has written about how Tennessees program will mainly benefit students from middle-income and higher-income families. NPSAS data for community college students show that relatively few low-income students nationwide will benefit from these programs, as most of them already have tuition and fees paid for by other sourcesMost students wont benefit Dave Hebert. Writer at Watchdog. February 4, 2015. Free community college not a very sound idea. Accessed February 7, 2015. http://watchdog.org/197723/free-community-college-sound- idea/ The problem with community college, and college in general for that matter, is not the cost, as every year millions of people around the country choose to enroll in some type of post-secondary education program. The problem is that these institutions are failing to provide students with an adequate education in a dynamic and increasingly global economy. While some may point to a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as evidence that college is still worthwhile, these statistics are based on averages which may hide underlying characteristics of great importance. By the same token, college may be worth it on average, but the millions of unemployed and underemployed college graduates in society today certainly dont feel that way and rightfully so. Instead of trying to lower the cost, we should instead find ways to increase the benefit of furthering ones education beyond the high school level.Answers to Resource ShortagesFree community college does not make any sensewe already over-invest in higher educationRichard Veddar, Director, Center for College Affordability and Productivity, FORBES, 11115, www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2015/01/11/six-reasons-why-obamas-free-community-college-is-a-poor-investment/, accessed 2-1-15 Lets get this straight. First, we are a nation with an $18 trillion debt that, five years into a business cycle upturn, that still cannot come close to balancing the federal budget despite Obama-induced tax increases. Second, we have a very significant problem of overinvestment in higher education that manifests itself in a large proportion (one-third to one-half) of recent college graduates taking jobs that usually go to high school graduates they are underemployed, many of them still living with their parents and dependent on parental financial support. Third, and related to that, for every ten students that enter community college, only three graduate within three years. Fourth, despite the first three points, President Obama wants to encourage increased community college attendance by making it costless to the consumer.Free college failswill do nothing to lower costs, will only shift who pays for it Andrew P. Kelly, Director, Center on Higher Education Reform, American Enterprise Institute, Shifting Tuition to Taxpayers May Derail Promising Innovations, MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE, 92613, www.aei.org/publication/shifting-tuition-to-taxpayers-may-derail-promising-innovations/, accessed 2-1-15.While its tempting to assume that tuition-free public colleges would solve our higher education problems overnight, merely moving resources around is no panacea for rising costs and low rates of student success. While its tempting to assume that tuition-free public colleges would solve our higher education problems overnight, merely moving resources around is no panacea for rising costs and low rates of student success. First, a public option would change who pays for higher education, but not necessarily how much it costs to provide it. Economists argue that traditional higher education is like other service industries: because the product entails interaction with highly educated labor in small groups, it is difficult to raise productivity. As wages rise in the rest of the economy, colleges must pay employees more even though their output doesnt increase, leading to higher costs. Simply shifting who pays the bill will do little to change this equation. So while existing federal and state investments might cover the cost of a public option today, those same sums wont go as far next year or the year after unless colleges also make changes to their cost structure. Taxpayers would have to foot an increasingly large bill.Taking money from a hard working person to finance lazy students is morally wrong Joy Pullmann. Writer at the Federalist. January 14, 2015. Ten Quick Reasons Free Community College Is A Rotten Idea. http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/14/ten-quick-reasons-free- community-college-is-a-rotten-idea/ Its completely unfair to take money from people who worked for it to hand it to other people who didnt. Full stop, no excuses. Every time some politician comes up with some new thing to give to people, I want to start earning all my money on the black market and hiding it under the mattress. This is for the kids! they always say. Well, my money is for my kids. And the federal governments been taking about a fifth of it every year. Not even God asks for a fifth of our income. How in the everloving hell is it right for me to have to take my kids to vaccination clinics instead of pediatricians because the latter charge too much for the family budget just so some 18-year-old somewhere who is perfectly capable of getting a job can instead stick her fat little fingers into the money Ive worked my butt off to earn for my family? Its not! I realize that parents nowadays allow their children to persist until adulthood in the belief that they should get all the nice stuff they want just because they whine for it, but thats bad parenting and its bad public policy. Kids: Random people the government points a gun at to collect taxes dont owe you anything. You owe society things. Youve spent the last 18 years of your life soaking up your parents and grandparents and neighbors time and money in schooling, healthcare, transportation, physical maintenance, and hyper-attention. Now that youre a legal adult, its time to start thinking about how youre going to pay it forward, and its time for adults to start telling you thats how you join the maturity club.Free community college will only worsen our fiscal problems Richard Veddar, Director, Center for College Affordability and Productivity, FORBES, 11115, www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2015/01/11/six-reasons-why-obamas-free-community-college-is-a-poor-investment/, accessed 2-1- 15. Fifth, as mentioned previously, the U.S. governments finances are somewhat precarious, which has already led to its first credit downgrade in modern American history. The unfunded liabilities associated with Social Security and Medicare alone reach into the tens of trillions of dollars. We should be seeking ways to shrink those liabilities, particularly given the decline in the proportion of Americans who are working (itself probably largely a manifestation of the modern welfare state). The Obama proposal worsens an already serious fiscal problem.It is not freecommunity college costs will be borne by the public THE SOUTHERN ILLINOISAN, Voice of the Southern: Free Tuition Writes Check We Cant Cash, 12715, http://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/voice-of-the-southern/voice-of-the-southern-free-tuition-writes-check-we- can/article_2598935c-ea15-5ec2-afc2-8195837f3829.html, accessed 2-10-15. During his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama proposed a plan to provide free community college tuition to any student who maintains a 2.5 GPA and graduates in a timely manner. It sounds like a great way to stimulate the economy and flood the market with skilled labor. Earlier this week, we published a story about employers in the trades struggling to find workers, even going so far as to pay for trade school in exchange for a commitment to work. The proposal fills a need. Its a good idea and its part of an American tradition. It comes out of the same economic philosophy that led to the GI Bill. The GI bill subsidized education for war veterans and later for peacetime veterans. We were happy to make the sacrifices to returning troops, and the GI Bill changed the trajectory of American history. It dug us out of an economic hole. It grew the middle class. It educated a generation. The same could be said for Obamas other comparison free public high school. We cant imagine life without publicly funded K-12 education. But free tuition is not free. It is taxpayer funded. According to the Obamas proposal, community college tuition subsidies would be funded 75 percent by the federal government and 25 percent by the states.Obamas proposal will cost approximately $60B Richard Davis, Professor, Political Science, Brigham Young University, Obama, Congress Must Negotiate to Make Higher Education More Affordable, DESERET NEWS, 12815, www.deseretnews.com/article/865620545/Obama-Congress- must-negotiate-to-make-higher-education-more-affordable.html, accessed 2-2-15. The price tag is not cheap. Providing free tuition for these students will cost an estimated $60 billion. However, the program cost will be shared with states, which would be expected to provide one-quarter of the bill if they participate. Nevertheless, most Americans support the presidents proposal. According to a recent ABC News/Washington Poll survey, 53 percent of Americans support the plan while 44 percent oppose.Obamas proposal is very expensive Koran Addo, journalist, Obamas Push for Free Community College Stirs Debate, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 22 15, www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/obama-s-push-for-free-community-college-stirs-debate/article_1650f610-0fa4- 5bbb-86a1-a125a3f6884a.html, accessed 2-5-15. But free community college is a tough sell, if for no other reason than the cost. The Obama administration estimates it would cost about $60 billion over 10 years, with the federal government covering 75 percent of the costs and the states paying the rest. Among the critics is Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who immediately criticized the president for knowing full well theres no blank space in the taxpayers checkbook to pay for the program and mocked him with a Taylor Swift-inspired blog post. Answers to Stratification Free tuition will only increase the stratification of our education system April Kelly-Woessner, staff, Free Community College Is Not the Smart Answer, LNP (Lancaster, PA), 2815, p. F3. Most importantly, the consequence of directing qualified, low-income students to community college is that our higher education system is becoming more and more stratified. Poor, minority students are becoming increasingly concentrated at schools that have the lowest per student spending on academic programs and the lowest student success rates - i.e., community colleges. The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a group commissioned by Congress, found that the income and racial gap in achievement is true even when looking at students who had completed advanced math courses in high school and were otherwise "college-ready." Those from the highest income group are nearly twice as likely to complete a four-year- degree as those from the lowest. According to Dr. Jeff Strohl and Dr. Anthony Carnevale, researchers at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, white students are concentrated at the best colleges, while black students are becoming more and more concentrated at two-year colleges. Stohl and Carnevale argue that, each year, more than 100,000 African-Americans and Latinos graduate from high school in the top half of their class but do not attain a two- or four-year degree. The authors conclude that, if these students had attended a selective four-year college, 73 percent would have graduated. In the community college system, their outcomes are not nearly as good. Thus, encouraging qualified low-income students to attend community college only reinforces class divisions. The solution is to get college-ready students into competitive colleges with high graduate rates, relative to student background and preparation. Making these institutions more affordable should be the priority. Answers to Workforce Preparation The highest-growing job categories do not need postsecondary training Neal McCluskey, Associate Director, Center for Educational Freedom, Cato Institute, Community College Courtesy of the Federal Taxpayer? No Thanks, CATO AT LIBERTY, 1915, www.cato.org/blog/community-college-courtesy-federal- taxpayer-no-thanks, accessed 2-9-15. The other huge problem is that the large majority of job categories expected to grow the most in the coming years do not require postsecondary training. Of the 30 occupations that the U.S. Department of Labor projects to see the greatest total growth by 2022, only 10 typically need some sort of postsecondary education, and several of those require less than an associates degree. Most of the new jobs will require a high school diploma or less. Of course, one of the biggest problems in higher ed is that for so much of it, someone other than the student is paying the bill, tamping down students incentives to seriously consider whether they should go to college and what they should study if they do. This proposal would only exacerbate that problem, essentially encouraging people to spend two years in community college fully on the taxpayer dime while they dabble in things they may or may not want to doand as they maintain a pretty low 2.5 GPAthen maybe focusing a little more when the two years is up and they have to pay something themselves.Increasing graduation rates wont improve our workforce Michelle R. Weise, senior research fellow, Clayton Christensen Institute, Obamas Dead-End Community College Plan, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11215, www.wsj.com/articles/michelle-r-weise-obamas-dead-end-community-college-plan- 1421106892, accessed 2-7-15. We have two competing agendas when it comes to higher education in the U.S. today: one about college completion and another about social mobility. Mr. Obamas goal, which he announced in his first year in office, is that by 2020, America would once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. He based this initiative on the assumptions that employers will increasingly require degrees and that higher education is the clearest pathway into the middle class. But increasing graduation rates does not necessarily translate into adding more skilled workers to the workforce or upward mobility.Community college alone is inadequate to ensure economic security for our citizens Joseph E. Aoun, President, Northeastern University, To Rebuild the Middle Class, Dont Stop with Free Community College, WBUR, 12715, http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2015/01/27/state-of-the-union-education-joseph-e-aoun, accessed 2-1-15By proposing that all Americans be able to access two years of free college, the president in essence wants to move the minimum baseline of education up from 13 to 15 years. As he noted, since seven out of 10 jobs in the near future will require some level of higher learning, a K-12 education is no longer sufficient to make it in the modern economy. Just as President Obama is now redefining what the baseline level of education should be, policymakers would do well to begin shifting their view of higher education as something that is an ongoing process, rather than something that happens at one point in time... Nonetheless, helping people gain an economic toehold isnt the same as helping them secure a place in the middle class. A stable existence in the 21st century requires a much greater investment in learning. As weve seen vividly over the last 15 years, the global, knowledge-based digital economy is a landscape marked by peaks, valleys and disruptions. New discoveries and new fields of knowledge are revolutionizing industries on a constant basis. To thrive in this whirlwind, employees need to retool their knowledge and skills continually. They need lifelong learning. Students are telling us that even a bachelors degree is only a step in this ongoing process. According to a recent survey from the Higher Education Research Institute, 42 percent of todays college freshmen expect to go on to earn a masters degree. Students who used to leave higher education to forge an entrepreneurial path are now choosing to continue on to graduate school because the chances of success are better. For example, the Financial Times recently reported that graduates of MBA programs achieve greater success in launching start-ups than non-MBA graduates, as well as higher annual earnings. But it doesnt stop there.New community college enrollees wont be ready for the work University of Chicagos The Gate. January 29, 2015. Tuition-Free Community College: Why Obamas Proposal Wont Work. Accessed February 7, 2015. http://uchicagogate.com/2015/01/29/tuition-free-community-college-why-obamas-proposal-wont- work/ First, relatively few of the people eligible for this program are even prepared to enter into community college. Spending $60 billion for students to attend college is a great initiative, but it will be a poor investment if they cannot succeed there. Fifty percent of community college students place into remedial education courses (based on how they score on placement tests that they are required to take prior to entering community college). A study conducted by Teachers College, a graduate program at Columbia University, shows that this statistic directly relates to students lack of preparation in high schoollower final grades in their secondary education often resulted in lower placement in college. Tuition-free community college ultimately aims to fix the public education problem in this nation twelve years too late into a students academic career. While many students might be able to attend community college for free under this program, just as many will drop out due to highly insufficient primary and secondary educations.Community colleges dont create a quality workforce Shawn McCoy. Writer at Chicago Sun Times. January 18, 2015. "Free" community college isn't a good investment. Accessed February 7, 2015. http://chicago.suntimes.com/other- views/7/71/297222/free-community-college-isnt-good-investment Over the long term, he could argue, the country benefits from a skilled workforce, and in theory, that could expand the tax base and pay back taxpayers for the upfront costs. Thats not the case here. In fact, this is a terrible investment. To understand why this is the case, its important to examine trends in education and the failure of high schools to prepare students for college. The rapid increase of remedial education has policymakers and educators worried. Fifteen years ago, during the 1999-2000 school year, there were 1.04 million undergraduate college students enrolled in at least one remedial (high school- level) course. By 2011-2012, this number had nearly tripled to 2.70 million. And were pumping more taxpayer money into funding remedial education. In 1990-2000, $0.96 billion in Pell grants (federally- funded, need-based assistance) was given to students enrolled in remedial education. That number has ballooned to $4.6 billion (both figures in 2014 dollars). These numbers do not include taxpayer money that subsidizes schools from state coffers. According to research from Complete College America, an advocacy organization with an alliance of 35 governors, more than 50 percent of students who enroll in two-year community college programs are required to take remedial courses. This number wouldnt be so bad if community colleges helped them catch up, but only one in ten remedial students graduate. Complete College America also found that 70 percent of community college students referred to remedial math had not even attempted a college-level math class within two years. Community college graduates dont effectively leverage their degrees Robert Ferguson. Writer at Forbes. January 21, 2015. Free Community College Is Not The Answer. Accessed February 7, 2015. http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2015/01/21/free- community-college-is-not-the-answer/2/ While some students do leverage community college as a stepping stone to a 4 year degree according to a study by National Student Clearinghouse only 15% achieve this most community college students drop out, as evidenced by the fact that community colleges only have a 22% graduation rate. The real question is: would free tuition change these statistics? No. The reason is the makeup of students who attend community college and their purpose for attending is very specific, and most would be in the same situation whether or not community college was free. A better way to look at this is by analyzing who is not going to community college: high school graduates who are employed, students enrolled in college, and college drop outs in general (of both community and traditional college). There are very few individuals who are choosing NOT to go to community college because of the costs. These students arent attending community college because they dont see a purpose in attending.