Dive Brief:
- A recent study published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy concludes that while decreased community college costs do increase college enrollment for recent high school graduates, they don't detract from four-year enrollment numbers.
- The study found that reduced tuition encouraged students who would not have enrolled in any type of college to attend, but students who were already thinking about four-year institutions are still enrolling in the sector.
- Research focused on two-year institutions with drastically reduced, but not free, tuition, since free tuition initiatives had not been a widespread enough trend to study, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education reports.
Dive Insight:
A conflicting study out of Tennessee based on the Tennessee Promise plan, on which the national "America's Promise" free community college plan is based, found the complete opposite. While enrollment at two-year institutions across the state increased, first-year enrollment at four-year institutions dropped, that study found.
It would seem that regardless of whether states or the federal government advance free tuition plans for two-year institutions, the way ahead is in forming stronger partnerships between the institution types to pool capacity and tighten up pathways to degree. Stronger articulation agreements between community colleges and four-year institutions would help ensure a population of students who would be enrolling into the four-year schools — but these institutions must be prepared to meet the needs of these students when they arrive.
For most students, tuition is not the main concern. Cost of living expenses remain the top impediment to college completion, and even plans that cover 100% of a student's education expenses do not account for room and board, growing food insecurity and other circumstantial expenses, like needing a brake job on one's car. It is in establishing "gap funding" pools to help cover these types of expenses where higher education as an industry still has a way to go.