Obama wants 2 FREE years of Community college for all students!

[Chef Ramsay]

President Barack Obama on Friday will propose making two years of community college free for students.

In a White House video posted Thursday evening, Obama said he wanted to offer “a little preview” of his plans for the Jan. 20 State of the Union address.

“What I’d like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who’s willing to work for it,” Obama said. “It’s something we can accomplish, and it’s something that will train our workforce so that we can compete with anybody in the world.”

The proposal would make two years of community college free for students with a C+ average who attend school at least half-time and who are making “steady progress” toward their degree.

Obama will visit Pellissippi Community College in Tennessee on Friday. Beginning this year, any state high school graduate is eligible for two years of free community college tuition under the Tennessee Promise.

Federal funding would cover three-quarters of the average cost of community college, and Obama is asking states to pick up the rest of the tab — assuming Congress agrees to the plan in the first place.

“I hope we’ve got the chance to make sure that Congress gets behind these kinds of efforts to make sure that even as we rebound and grow in 2015, that it benefits everybody and not just some,” the president said in the video.

To be eligible, community colleges would have to offer academic programs that fully transfer credits to local public four-year colleges and universities or training programs with high graduation rates that lead to in-demand degrees and certificates. Community colleges must also adopt “promising and evidence-based institutional reforms” to improve student outcomes.

If all 50 states participate, the proposal could benefit 9 million students each year and save students an average of $3,800 in tuition, the White House said.

More...http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/barack-obama-free-community-college-114094.html?hp=l3_4

Perhaps, this is one of their ways to stem the growing tide of student loan debt by giving students a trial run to see if college is for them and not allowing them to get stuck under any debt if they quit and a discount initially before they end up going to finish up the rest of their education. Obvious welfare is welfare and it's likely republicans won't allow it to get past the idea phase.

[Shattered]

A smarter society is a better society.
I think the fact we are talking about fixing the broken education system in the US is certainly a step in the right direction.

While Obama is on the education subject, maybe his administration can do something about the avg salary of teachers in this country.

[Chef Ramsay]

A smarter society is a better society.
I think the fact we are talking about fixing the broken education system in the US is certainly a step in the right direction.

While Obama is on the education subject, maybe his administration can do something about the avg salary of teachers in this country.

Rich click bait for sure. I think I'll wait to see what the dragons have to say. This is hardly a fix of the broken education system but a proliferation of it. And btw, teachers (who sent the product upwards) that are employed aren't hurting these days, my friend. The average person is lucky to get a paycheck from walmart or a fast food joint to feed the fam at under $10 per hr.

[Shattered]

We are starting to see the effects of 30yrs of the erosion of the education system...the short term band aid fixes dont solve long term problems.

You are right about the avg person just being happy to just get a paycheck.
In the next 20yrs, things will certainly get more interesting than they are now.

My guess is the middle class as we know it, wont be around much longer.
Uneducated people are easier to control.

[freedomno1]

Too much education causes degree inflation although a smarter society does seem like a positive benefit as long as it leads to a job.
(If there is training for jobs in fields that need employment then I could support this motion)
Sort of reminds me of an elevator system though.

The other concern I have is with student loans although I'm not sure of it's status as a crisis at present.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-figliola/student-loans-americas-next-financial-crisis_b_5999948.html

[Possum577]

Uneducated people aren't easier to control they just have fewer options so they end up choosing the lesser of two evils.

I wonder what subsidizing the first two years of community college would do to tuition for everyone else, would tuition rise to offset what would likely be a less-than-market rate subsidy?

[Shattered]

Uneducated people aren't easier to control they just have fewer options so they end up choosing the lesser of two evils.

I wonder what subsidizing the first two years of community college would do to tuition for everyone else, would tuition rise to offset what would likely be a less-than-market rate subsidy?

Isnt it easier to control a "pig" who sits in his own filth all day, and accepts either carrots or corn for every meal? (your lessor of 2 evils)

If that pig ever leaned to read, he might wander across the pasture to the next farm and read whats on their menu for dinner.
Then you have an educated, awake, problematic member of society to deal with...

All governments would rather have the masses pacified and obedient.

[Lethn]

The biggest problem isn't even necessarily going to be educating the new generation coming into college, the main problem you have is entire generations like me who were completely fucked over by education and aren't lucky enough to go out and get training in a proper skillset that helps an economy move or have knowledge of cryptocurrencies for that matter.

It's a blatant problem in the UK, these guys only give a fuck about making their college's and schools look good and have good statistics for beauracrats to wave about so they can congratulate themselves, once you're out the door your on your own. For being such a welfare state America and nations like it do a fantastic job of abandoning people who would benefit from it the most, I'm lucky enough to have parents look after me, but can you imagine how fucked someone in a more difficult situation is going to be if their parents are too poor too afford extra tuition or worse they need them to go into work right away?

[BADecker]

Can we, also, apply it to people who went to college years ago? so that they get some of their loans paid off, or so that they get money back if it is all paid off?

For example, if great great grandpa went to college for 4 years, starting in 1936, can his estate get 2 years of his student loans back? It wouldn't be much. Things were a lot less expensive back then.

[HeroCat]

This is good step - free education means less expenses in family budget 

[Skinnyman]

All education should be free up to any level. It's terrible that countries cripple students with debts they're paying off half their life even after they've got a decent paying job and that still leaves those who could never afford it in the first place left out.

[pungopete468]

All education should be free up to any level. It's terrible that countries cripple students with debts they're paying off half their life even after they've got a decent paying job and that still leaves those who could never afford it in the first place left out.

If I'm the best at what I do, but don't have a college degree, I won't find employment (other than self-employment.) This is the problem... Competency isn't stored in a picture frame, and with the ability to learn outside of college today, the value of a degree should be weakened and the price of tuition should decrease...

Using a college degree as a "right of passage" makes no sense in a world with an internet of knowledge. For a competent, skilled, and knowledgeable worker to be disqualified from the workforce for lack of a degree is insanity, especially when the yearly loan payments paid on that degree can sometimes cost more than all the yearly wages that an employee will earn in that field. Look up a psychiatrist for instance...

[Shattered]

All education should be free up to any level. It's terrible that countries cripple students with debts they're paying off half their life even after they've got a decent paying job and that still leaves those who could never afford it in the first place left out.

If I'm the best at what I do, but don't have a college degree, I won't find employment (other than self-employment.) This is the problem... Competency isn't stored in a picture frame, and with the ability to learn outside of college today, the value of a degree should be weakened and the price of tuition should decrease...

Using a college degree as a "right of passage" makes no sense in a world with an internet of knowledge. For a competent, skilled, and knowledgeable worker to be disqualified from the workforce for lack of a degree is insanity, especially when the yearly loan payments paid on that degree can sometimes cost more than all the yearly wages that an employee will earn in that field. Look up a psychiatrist for instance...

You bring up a lot of solid points.
Its almost like the current college system is another example of the "good ol boys" network.
Its an old system that doesnt work anymore.

I bet many of the smartest people on this forum dont have college degrees.
They are not only smart because they are self taught from todays myriad of free information (internet) but they are smart because they didnt blindly follow the old systems instructions of heading to financial doom by attending a for profit college.

Certainly in some cases, college is very important. However its importance is becoming much more polarized since we are living in a very service industry country.

[sethminer14]

Education is definitely important. I think Obama's idea is good... but I don't know if it will be carried out in a very efficient way...

[BADecker]

All the plan does is to spread some of the costs that would normally come out of student loans, to the tax bearing population of the States. It is simply a push into further socialism. Ultimately, socialism becomes communism.

[Chef Ramsay]

It's simply unfair that a new crop of students would get such a hookup while there's people 10 years out of college paying back their student loans while also paying for this new bunch to get new benefits, not to mention the people that don't go to college that are paying for it. Also, the people that never had kids are stuck paying for something they didn't contract for voluntarily. If you go to college, you are voluntarily agreeing to the expenses it costs to get in the door. If everybody and their brother can have 2 free years of college, think about what that means: community colleges will exclusively have no incentive to control costs and could charge whatever they want since the money is guaranteed, or the education level will go down significantly, or there's a shit ton more teachers that need to be hired to handle the new free volume - it's got bad mojo infested in this plan all the way around. Ultimately, it's another form of welfare being burdened on the taxpayer and all these so-called forms are piling up and I think we're already beyond the tipping point where it's time to make people more reliant on themselves so we can phase out this statism and stop creating an entitlement mentality. Lastly, there's nothing constitutional about one red cent going towards education of any sort.

[JLynn171]

and from past experience, what Obama wants Obama Gets

[2dogs]

Who pays for this "free" education?

Is it just a matter of the Feds pushing the magic "print more dollars" button?

[JLynn171]

Who pays for this "free" education?

Is it just a matter of the Feds pushing the magic "print more dollars" button?

Monopoly Money vs USD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofIEGVLBoP0

^^^ goood lil short video