Biden makes another push for tuition-free community college. Here’s why it may work this time

When
President Joe
Biden
unveiled
the details
of
his
Plan
B for
student
loan
forgiveness,
he
revealed
that
his
hope
to
make
some
college
free
was
not
dead.
 

“I
also
want
to
make
community
college
tuition
free
so
you
don’t
need
loans
at
all,”

Biden
said
after
including free
community
college as
part
of
his

$7.3
trillion
budget
for
fiscal
2025.

Unlike
loan
forgiveness,
free
college
is
a
better
way
to
combat
the
college
affordability
crisis,
some
experts
say
—
and
although
a
federal
effort
has
yet
to
get
off
the
ground,
it
could
have
a
good
chance
of
securing

widespread
approval
going
forward.

“Student
loan
forgiveness
is
a
Band-Aid,”
said
Ryan
Morgan,
CEO
of
the
Campaign
for
Free
College
Tuition. “It’s
not
a
permanent
solution
but
it’s
certainly
better
than
nothing.”

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This
could
be
the
best
year
to
lobby
for
more
college
financial
aid

Critics
have
panned
the
president’s
efforts
on
loan
forgiveness
for
overstepping
his
authority
while
only
impacting
those
graduates
with
existing
education
debt.

“Loan
forgiveness
is
a
snapshot
in
time
in
terms
of
a
fix,”
Morgan
said.

Alternatively,
free
college
appeals
more
broadly
to
those
struggling
in
the
face
of
rising
college
costs,
rather
than
after
the
fact.

“If
you
remove
cost
as
the
barrier
than
everyone
who
wants
to,
and
is
qualified
to
go,
can
attend
some
sort
of
higher
education
program,”
Morgan
said.

“That
makes
it “a
very
popular
bi-partisan
issue,”
he
added.

And
yet,
the
Biden
administration’s
plan
to
make
community
college
tuition-free
for
two
years
was
ultimately
stripped
from
the

Build
Back
Better
Act
in
2021.

However,
while
the
White
House
turned
its
focus
to
student
loan
forgiveness,
states
have
been
moving
forward
with
plans
to
pass
legislation
of
their
own
to
make
some
college
tuition-free.

As
of
the
latest
tally,
35
states
already
have
some
type
of
program
in
place.

Most
are “last-dollar”
scholarships,
meaning
the
program
pays
for
whatever
tuition
and
fees
are
left
after
financial
aid
and
other
grants
are
applied.
In
other
words,
students
receive
a
scholarship
for
the
amount
of
tuition
that
is
not
covered
by
existing
state
or
federal
aid.

Critics
say
lower-income
students,
through
a
combination
of
existing
grants
and
scholarships,
already
pay
little
in
tuition
to
state
schools,
if
anything
at
all.

“The
reality
is
that
there’s
a
very
good
chance
you
aren’t
going
to
pay
tuition,”
said
Sandy
Baum,
senior
fellow
at
Urban
Institute’s
Center
on
Education
Data
and
Policy. “That’s
not
really
solving
an
access
problem.”

Further,
in
most
cases
the
money
does
not
cover
fees, books,
or
room
and
board,
which
are
all
costs
that
lower-income
students
struggle
with,
and

community
college
may
not
be
the
stepping
stone
to
a
four-year
school
it
is
often
believed
to
be.

In
fact,

just
16%
of
all
community
college
students go
on
and
attain
a
bachelor’s
degree,
according
to
recent
reports
by
the
Community
College
Research
Center at
Columbia
University,
the
Aspen
Institute
College
Excellence
Program
and
the
National
Student
Clearinghouse
Research
Center.

“It’s
a
really
risky
way
to
think
you
are
going
to
save
money
because
very
few
people
go
on
to
get
a
bachelor’s
degree,”
Baum
said.

In
addition,
community
college
is
already
significantly
less
expensive.
At
two-year
public
schools, tuition
and
fees
averages
$3,990
for
the
2023-24
school
year,
according
to
the College
Board.
Alternatively,
at
four-year,
in-state
public
schools,
that
number
is
$11,260
per
year
and,
at
four-year
private
universities,
it’s
$41,540.

Among
all
state-based
plans,
the
New
Mexico
Opportunity
Scholarship
Act
has
been
hailed
as
the
most
extensive
tuition-free
scholarship
program
in
the
country
— “that’s
our
gold
star
in
terms
of
programs,”
Morgan
said.

New
Mexico’s Opportunity
Scholarship goes
a
step
further
than
most
by
opening
up
access
to
returning
adult
learners,
part-time
students
and
immigrants,
regardless
of
their
immigration
status,
in
addition
to
recent
high
school
graduates.
(The
average
scholarship
recipient
in
New
Mexico
is
under
25
years
old, female
and
Hispanic.)

In
New
Mexico,
the
state
aid
is
applied
first,
so
federal
aid
and
private
scholarships
can
go
toward
books,
room
and
board
and
childcare
to
help
cover
the
total
cost
of
going
to
school. 

Since
its
inception
in
2022,
overall
college
enrollment
has
increased
by
nearly
7%
in
the
state,
reversing
more
than
a
decade
of
declines,
according
to
Higher
Education
Department Secretary
Stephanie
Rodriguez.

That’s “telling
us
that
students
are
ready
to
go
to
school,
they
want
to
be
there
and
they
want
to
reskill
or
upskill,”
she
said.

“It’s
gratifying
to
see
that
the
scholarship
is
doing
exactly
what
it
was
intended
to
do,”
Rodriguez
added.

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