Obama Wants To Hand Out Free College. Yes, Really.

Obama Wants To Hand Out Free College. Yes, Really.

While we’re all watching the drama surrounding the Charlie Hedbo massacre unfold in France, on Friday Obama will visit Pellisssippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee, to propose dropping another sop to gullible young adults.

It is anticipated that he will announce a plan “to Make Community College Free for Responsible Students for 2 Years,” as is headlined on the White House blog and in a video message on Facebook, complete with the hashtag #FreeCommunityCollege. The requirements as listed by the WH are as follows:

“What students have to do: Students must attend community college at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and make steady progress toward completing their program.

What community colleges have to do: Community colleges will be expected to offer programs that are either 1) academic programs that fully transfer credits to local public four-year colleges and universities, or 2) occupational training programs with high graduation rates and lead to in-demand degrees and certificates. Community colleges must also adopt promising and evidence-based institutional reforms to improve student outcomes.

What the federal government has to do: Federal funding will cover three-quarters of the average cost of community college. Participating states will be expected to contribute the remaining funds necessary to eliminate the tuition for eligible students.”

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Wow, kids! Free Community College! Just vote Democrat to keep the goodies coming!

Obama chose a community college in Tennessee to make his big announcement, as that state sponsors a program called the “Tennessee Promise” in which students can attend community college free of charge. That program is largely bankrolled by lottery funds, and is supported by TN Republican governor Bill Haslam. 

As usual with anything proposed by Obama for federal government implementation, the devil is in the details — and this devil has one big-ass pitchfork with some mighty sharp tines.

No one is quite sure how much this will cost, but the New York Times claimed that it is “bound to be expensive,” while also noting that White House officials declined to discuss its price tag. Bloomberg reported that Obama didn’t specify how much it would cost (hmm, ‘Affordable’ Health Care, anyone?), but a person “briefed” on the proposal stated it would run about $5 billion.

There’s also the question of total federalization of community colleges, which are mostly run at state and local levels. What sort of control will the already too-powerful federal government exercise over those states that take the 75% funding (and how many states will resist that carrot)? Does “Common Core” ring an alarm?

Furthermore, what responsibility is required of students who accept this freebie, other than to attend at least half-time and maintain a C+ average? The five United States service academies — the US Military Academy, the US Naval Academy, the US Air Force Academy, the US Coast Guard Academy, and the US Merchant Marine Academy — all require a minimum five years commitment of active duty as an officer in return for their ‘full ride.’ And let’s face it — the students who attend those institutions are of top order, with 90% of them found in the top 20% of their high school classes. The same cannot be said for all students who would receive Obama’s proposed freebie. What skin will they have in this?

Naturally, this proposal sounds really good to teenagers and their families. As the news and media outlet News.Mic  breathlessly exclaimed, “Obama Just Did For Young People What No President Before Him Has Done,” adding at its Facebook page, “This could be a godsend for millions of young Americans.”

Actually, Obama has indeed done something for young people that no previous president has done, and that’s to saddle them with more federal debt than any of his predecessors. But who cares? Just as long as naive young adults keep voting big government liberals and socialists into office, then that end certainly justifies any means.

Written by

Kim is a pint-sized patriot who packs some big contradictions. She is a Baby Boomer who never became a hippie, an active Republican who first registered as a Democrat (okay, it was to help a sorority sister's father in his run for sheriff), and a devout Lutheran who practices yoga. Growing up in small-town Indiana, now living in the Kansas City metro, Kim is a conservative Midwestern gal whose heart is also in the Seattle area, where her eldest daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live. Kim is a working speech pathologist who left school system employment behind to subcontract to an agency, and has never looked back. She describes her conservatism as falling in the mold of Russell Kirk's Ten Conservative Principles. Don't know what they are? Google them!

5 Comments
  • Appalled By The World says:

    This is just a ploy to get more fuzzy headed yoots into the college system where the Left can fill more heads with more of their garbage. Today’s college grads would score poorly compared to mere high school grads from 1960 or 1970 if given a test on basic facts in a variety of subjects-especially history. The education system has become an indoctrination system for the Left-better to call it a brainwashing system.

  • George V says:

    Call it corporate welfare for community colleges. Today comm. colleges are affordable. When the gov’t pays the tuition, they soon will not be. Pity the fool who wants or needs a couple of classes after their two years run out, or the seasoned citizen who is just trying to expand their knowledge. I am old enough to remember when college was affordable. Tuition rose in the early 70’s and the student loan was “invented” to solve the problem. Tuition went up even more. I expect comm. college tuition to do the same. When there’s no market force to hold down costs, costs go up.

    Oh, yes, one more thing. I also expect that, as a nation, we will be dumb enough to fall for this.

  • GWB says:

    What I loved I the WH shill who said:

    Obama’s goal … is “to make two years of college the norm — the way high school is the norm.”

    Wouldn’t it be easier to just make high school the norm again? But that would require actually doing the work of teaching kids, instead of “caring” for them and indoctrinating them. Oh, and that would require holding them accountable. Nah…….., let’s just throw a couple more years on that 12+ year education, instead! Woohoo! Free pencils for everyone!

  • Servius says:

    Shoot, First two years of college are just finishing what High School should have taught you. Just make High School what it should be & by implication Grade School and JR High and they’ll get the same benefit.

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