Dive Brief:
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) are expected to introduce legislation in their respective chambers Wednesday that would make the first two years of college free for low-income students attending community, technical, or tribal colleges.
- The legislation provides a $3 federal match for every $1 states invest to waive two years of tuition and fees.
- The America’s College Promise Act is also designed to cover much of the cost of a low-income student’s first two years of a bachelor’s degree at eligible minority-serving institutions.
Dive Insight:
President Barack Obama touted the idea of free community college for all during his State of the Union address in January, highlighting the success of similar commitments in Tennessee and the city of Chicago. Since then, debt-free college more generally has become a more publicized conversation. The Huffington Post reports that Baldwin’s and Scott’s bills could end up helping 9 million students save an average of $3,800 in tuition per year if they make it through the Republican-controlled Congress. Republican governors have been reluctant to accept federal matching funding for expansion of Medicaid, so it remains to be seen whether they’ll partner for education dollars.
Free community college is designed to be a logical expansion of free K-12 public education for the modern world. Like all federal initiatives, the proposal has its critics as well as supporters.
