Dive Brief:
- With its legislature’s approval and an expected signature from Gov. Kate Brown, Oregon is set to join Tennessee as the second state to offer free community college to eligible students — and similar plans are in the works elsewhere.
- Minnesota and the District of Columbia are considering their own programs, while a handful of community colleges across the country have already done so themselves.
- Oregon will set aside $10 million per year to fill the gap between the cost of tuition and other state and federal financial aid for recent high school graduates with good grades and residency in the state.
Dive Insight:
President Barack Obama’s call for free community college during his 2015 State of the Union address has largely been overshadowed in the public eye by Democratic calls for debt-free college in the more general sense. Within state legislatures and city governments, however, officials are moving forward with the president’s vision. A federal proposal for such a program has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate but is not likely to pass through the Republican-controlled chambers.
Greater investment in the community college realm of higher education could entice more middle class families to such institutions. These families tend to advocate for higher quality more than their low-income peers. Free community college could also put a strain on the budgets of four-year institutions, which would presumably have to serve greater numbers of transfer students and pick up their educations at the most expensive point.