A version of this essay first appeared on the Kresge Foundation.
Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, New York, is part of the State University of New York system. (tompkinscortland. edu)
M.Making community college tuition-free should be a national priority.
It would help counter the recent decline in enrollment in our country’s community colleges. It would help produce the trained staff that companies say they are lacking. Most importantly, it would bring low-income students and people of color into higher education in a place where they have traditionally been excluded.
President Biden’s suggestion that community college should be made toll free is not the only way to accomplish these goals. But it’s brave, it’s on the table, and Congress should respond to it.
The American Families Plan outlines a full range of investments in childcare, education and teacher training and provides $ 109 billion to eliminate tuition fees at community colleges. Recognizing that tuition fees aren’t the only hurdle facing students, Biden’s plan calls for an investment of $ 62 billion in student retention and graduation strategies and $ 80 billion in increasing Pell Grants.
The plan also includes other investments that would benefit community college students, including reducing childcare costs, expanding nutritional support, and establishing a national paid family and sick leave program.
President Biden’s proposal for free tuition would build on state programs for college graduates (Tennessee Promise and Oregon Promise) and adult learners (Tennessee Reconnects and Michigan Reconnects). It’s a political winner, according to pre-pandemic surveys, especially among younger adults and those with no college degrees.
Here are five goals that politicians and educational leaders have been campaigning for for years and that could be achieved with the right legislation.
First, a national initiative to make community college tuition free would send a clear message to all prospective students that they can afford at least some of the college’s cost – and that they should consider attending.
Second, this initiative could reduce racial disparities in higher education. Programs that offer free community college tuition have been found to increase college enrollment for Black and Hispanic students. For “good jobs” there is an increasing need for some kind of education beyond high school. However, access to higher education is uneven, as evidenced by persistent differences in study-related outcomes between demographic groups. Without action, these disparities in college access and graduation are likely to increase, given the disproportionately negative impact of COVID-19 on underserved people and communities and ongoing systemic racism.
Third, these policies could stimulate other efforts to address the systematic inequalities that constrain educational attainment. Only 27 percent of first-time full-time students who enrolled in a community college for the first time in 2015 completed a certificate or associate degree within three years. This is an opportunity to ensure more students are enrolling. It’s also an opportunity to help more students transition from K-12 to higher education and from community college to a four-year university without loss of credit.
Fourth, provided that state and local governments at least maintain their support, this initiative could ensure that community colleges have the resources necessary to serve their diverse and historically underserved populations. When enrollment declines, study revenues and government funding based on enrollment also decrease. Even before the pandemic, community colleges were spending less per student than other institutions. Counseling, academic support, and other comprehensive services can improve student outcomes, but they require resources.
Finally, this is an opportunity to rethink the roles and responsibilities of federal, state and local actors in delivering quality, affordable, equitable and accessible public higher education. A free community college could encourage stakeholders to create a common understanding that everyone should have access to “12 + 2” years of education. It is also an opportunity to systematically tailor resources available from other sources (e.g., nutritional supplement program, temporary assistance to families in need, Medicaid, staff training, etc.) to the needs and circumstances of adults and other learners.
Community colleges are an integral part of our country’s higher education system. Community colleges are often the closest higher education institution geographically and enroll different students with different educational goals and needs. Eighteen and nineteen-year-olds begin the path to four-year studies. Hourly workers who want to make a career. People who had a career and now want or need another. Many have children. Most have at least one job.
It won’t be easy to get community college tuition for free. As Biden’s plan recognizes, we need to invest new resources. We need to ensure that these initiatives cut costs for low-income students. And we must design a federal-state partnership that rewards states for their investment in higher education, balances out differences in state assets and other resources, and recognizes that state higher education systems and policies are different.
However, a well-designed federal initiative working with states to free tuition fees at community colleges could encourage renewed efforts to make system-level changes that address seemingly unsolvable problems. American community colleges, which are free of charge, could revitalize these institutions, ensure employers have a skilled workforce, and give people from low-income families and other underserved groups access to better jobs and the many other benefits of a college degree.
Laura W. Perna is Vice Provincial Faculty and GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Edward J. Smith is the Kresge Foundation Program Officer. Perna and Smith are co-editors of Improving research based knowledge of College Promise Programs (American Educational Research Association, 2020).
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/analysis-its-time-for-free-community-college-here-are-5-reasons-why/
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