Dive Brief:
- Oregon Promise, the second such statewide program, following Tennessee, expects 7,000 students to attend community college with free tuition at the start of the 2016 school year.
- University Business reports Oregon Promise will cover free tuition for eligible students as well as additional funding for any of its 17 colleges that want to implement initiatives like summer bridge programs and intrusive advising.
- As the idea of free community college gains steam, perhaps in part because of competition across states, the Campaign for Free College Tuition names Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington as among the states considering similar proposals.
Dive Insight:
President Barack Obama highlighted the free community college programs in his adopted home of Chicago as well as the state of Tennessee in his last State of the Union address. Since then, Oregon announced the program. New York Gov. Mario Cuomo has reportedly begun asking questions about it, and several cities or individual colleges across the country have taken preliminary steps.
Harper College in Illinois announced its promise scholarship this fall for students from its feeder high schools without specific backing from any local governments. In many places now, two years of college is becoming an extension of the free public education expansion that resulted in kindergarten through grade 12.
