News(USA): Two New Proposals Would Make College Free Nationwide At a time when the cost of attending many private colleges exceeds the national median household income, the idea of paying no tuition at all seems so unrealistic that one higher-education economist refers to it as “la-la land.” But there are a handful of schools—such as Alice Lloyd and others—that don’t charge students a penny. Meanwhile, Tennessee will make all of its community colleges free for state residents beginning next year, and Oregon is moving forward with a study considering the same thing. Now two new proposals go even farther, both aiming to make no-cost college a nationwide standard. A report from the Lumina Foundation recommends that the first two years of public universities and colleges be free, and a new nonprofit called Redeeming America’s Promise has come out with a proposal to give every lower- and middle-class student a full ride. Redeeming America’s Promise proposes redirecting existing federal and state financial aid and tuition tax breaks to give full tuition scholarships in specified amounts. It says the amount of money the government already spends for those purposes is enough to provide $2,500 per academic year for community college and $8,500 for four-year universities to every student from a family earning $180,000 a year or less. Under the plan, which is backed by several Republican and Democratic former governors, Cabinet members, and members of Congress, the students could take out loans to cover their living expenses and repay them based on their incomes after graduation. The scholarships would be limited to two years for an associate’s degree and four years for a bachelor’s degree to encourage students to graduate on time—which only a fifth of those at four-year institutions currently do and 4% at two-year schools. Colleges and universities generally wouldn’t be allowed to raise their prices higher than the scholarship amounts, forcing them to control their costs. Culled: time
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:13:07 +0000
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