Dive Brief:
- California only started charging tuition for community college in 1984 and as it considers going back to that model, there are pros and cons.
- Reducing the cost of tuition and fees from $1,429 per year to free would eat up resources otherwise used to expand course offerings or provide additional support on campus.
- Already, tuition is just $46 per credit hour and the majority of students get fee waivers or grants to pay the remaining fees, but offering free community college to California’s 2.1 million students would be a major win for the wider movement.
Dive Insight:
President Barack Obama announced America’s College Promise during his 2015 State of the Union address, highlighting programs in Tennessee and the City of Chicago that essentially expand public education from K-12 to K-14. Oregon recently became the second state to approve a free community college plan. California is perhaps closest to becoming the next state to get in line, but the question of whether state funding would be better spent targeting aid to students through on-campus support services is a good one — especially considering the costs to students in California are already so low.