Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,565 posts, read 81,147,605 times
Reputation: 57767
Advertisements
Despite the fact that the AA is not going to get many people a decent job, the community colleges are bursting at the seams already, especially with the high school students going there for the "Running Start" program. It would do far more good to subsidize the first two years of a full uiniversity, however I oppose that too. The solution to the high cost of college is not taxing people more to pay for some students, it's to reduce the waste in public college/university management that has resulted in the high tuition costs. Here's a good place to start:
Republicans are not let this passed because it does not benefit them.
Republicans already passed this in Tennessee; that's where Obama got the idea. However, I don't think Congress would pass this. They'll probably see this as a state issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140
Despite the fact that the AA is not going to get many people a decent job, the community colleges are bursting at the seams already, especially with the high school students going there for the "Running Start" program. It would do far more good to subsidize the first two years of a full uiniversity, however I oppose that too. The solution to the high cost of college is not taxing people more to pay for some students, it's to reduce the waste in public college/university management that has resulted in the high tuition costs. Here's a good place to start:
Despite the fact that the AA is not going to get many people a decent job, the community colleges are bursting at the seams already, especially with the high school students going there for the "Running Start" program. It would do far more good to subsidize the first two years of a full uiniversity, however I oppose that too. The solution to the high cost of college is not taxing people more to pay for some students, it's to reduce the waste in public college/university management that has resulted in the high tuition costs. Here's a good place to start:
Let the private colleges do what they want, but eventually they too will have to drop tuition to attract students.
It's even worse than this. In all but a few states (my state of South Dakota being one of them) the highest paid public official is either a football coach OR a basketball coach. This includes Med. School deans, Law School Deans, Governors and the like.
At this point, I have a hard time thinking anything that Obama comes up with regarding education can possibly be a good idea. It sounds good without details right now, but I'm thinking it will just somehow lead to worsening the quality of the education - perhaps it will mean more students without enough funds, or perhaps it will mean more students and to get more funds schools will have to do something awful, like implement standardized testing for college students and value added assessments for professors. Somewhere there's a catch that will ruin more of the education system.
2. Devalues the Associate Degree if anyone can get one
I would argue that the Associate's degree is already of fairly limited value. Not being critical, it simply has limited application, particularly if it's terminal.
Who is going to pay for the billions of dollars it will cost to provide “free” tuition at community colleges, which are heavily subsidized by taxpayers already? College should be affordable, but students need to responsibly shoulder most of the cost.
States are perfectly capable of maintaining community colleges without interference from federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., and all the strings they will invariably attach to the “free” program.
If community college becomes “free,” it will attract even more unserious students than the ones already enrolled in community colleges.
The Obama proposal will turn community college into yet another entitlement. It will almost certainly encourage legions of students to simply burn government money and “hang out” for two years after high school before they start to get serious about education, careers, and life in general.
Community college should be an opportunity for mature young adults – not another federal welfare program!
In this situation where the average debt per student is in the $ 20 000 or $ 30 000 in America with 53% of new college grads not being able to find a job, I would say Free College is the best way to go.
No Cons to me.
More competition for jobs. It will give everyone a leg up in the job market and will make the master's degree the high school diploma of the year Obama would like to implement this policy.
In this situation where the average debt per student is in the $ 20 000 or $ 30 000 in America with 53% of new college grads not being able to find a job, I would say Free College is the best way to go.
No Cons to me.
Who's gonna pay for this?
Read my post about retention issues.
I don't want my tax dollars going to pay for kids to go to Community College of with probably 60%+ will drop out.
If you wanna start a scholarship and foot the bill, fine by me.
We are already paying for many students to attend community colleges for free through federal and state grant programs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
