With that being said, the State of the Union was on this
week. The State of the Union address is a time for
the President to inform Congress and the American people about….well, the State
of the Union. As expected, President
Obama touched on many different priorities including his new proposal to cut
the cost of community college to zero.
That’s right – zero! As in two
years of community college, totally free. In case you missed it, you can watch
the full address here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sotu
I’ve
blogged before about the rising costs of college tuition and how much I’m in debt because of my
education. You can read my thoughts and
your fellow students’ comments here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-owe-my-soul-to-university.html Obama’s plan would
provide two years of community college to any student who earns a C+ average,
attends at least ½ time and makes progress towards a degree. The credits earned could subsequently
transfer to a public four year university.
As Obama noted, 40% of America’s college students are attending
community college, and this plan would make the dream of a college education
much more affordable for the thousands of students who enter their professional
lives loaded with debt.
Critics
of the plan note that community college is already relatively affordable
through a variety of tax breaks and government grants. The plan also doesn’t address the staggering
housing and transportation fees that can also come along with attending
college. Opponents of the plan also
point out that many of America’s public K-12 schools are suffering budget cuts,
and that education spending should be prioritized towards getting kids off to a
better start.
I
suspect that many of you, like me, will finish your college career swamped with
student loan debt. So my question to you
this week is, “What do you think of Obama’s plan? Is it good for students or is the money better
spent elsewhere?” Answers are due no
later than Wednesday, January 28th, 2015.
P.S. Although I loved reading your responses last
week, there were some of you who answered by saying that you had no answer, or
just weren’t interested. I gave you a break for the first week – if you’re not
interested in anything that concerns you, fair enough. Going forward, you’ll need to answer the
questions or risk losing points. I think
you’ll find that you have an opinion after all!
J
I actually think Obama's plan is brilliant. I just think it's really hard for the poorer class to get started with college, because they simply cannot afford it. I think it will help out a lot of people tremendously. I also think it's smart that this whole plan is only for C+ or higher students, and not just any high school student who could possibly take advantage of the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI think making community college free is a step in the right direction for America. This will give many people an educational opportunity that they've never had before. However, I do agree that the U.S. should make sure there is enough money for all levels of education for all students before making community college free. Education is the most important thing a nation can invest in, because it creates citizens with expertise in certain skill sets. Our economy could also thrive due to community college being free because, theoretically, there would be more educated people with more money to spend. Many countries already offer free college to their citizens, and there have been no major issues that have come from it. Overall, I think free community college would be a great thing for America.
ReplyDeleteWell..... I agree and disagree. I think that Obama's plan is excellent for students that want to attend a community college and cannot afford to. But, I think that it is not fair for students like me (us) that go to The Art Institute because it is soooo expensive to go here and Obama has talked about not giving Federal grants to art students. That really makes me mad that he would let students go to community college for free but not even loan free money to art students. Im not sure if you heard about this or not but I had a professor tell me about it a couple quarters ago and it really racked my brain. I do think it is a great plan, but I would have to say the money could definitely be spent better elsewhere. Not that it wouldn't be awesome for people that cannot afford college, but community college is already pretty cheap as it is compared to other schools like IUPUI, IPFW, IU, Purdue, and The Art Institutes. More people going to college would be GREAT for America but I don't think free money for college would make that many people actually go simply because some people are lazy and wouldn't study or do the work even if it was free.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of Obamacare. My uncle had it and it was very expensive and he couldn't afford it anymore. If Obama wanted to truly make a good health care system, he wouldn't charge the people in it so highly.
ReplyDeleteI think its in the right direction, but with the cut backs in schools now makes me think that it will be a tough road ahead. To the critics if the schools would put more support and money to the arts and EDUCATION instead of all the funds going to sports there would be more funds for this plan
ReplyDeleteJeff Kern
I think the plan is a good idea however I think the funds need to be evenly distributed. Its not fair to give free community college yet have the student k-12 stuffer over the years then get to college and not be prepared for the curriculum. However, if the funds could be distributed through k-12, community colleges and universities it would help everyone and potentially help the United States as a whole. Money is the number one issue why people do not further their education which corresponds to the rest of their life struggle to make ends meet. I have many friends that have got a full time job instead of attending college because they need to survive today. Honestly, college is a huge investment for you future but I think it is ridiculous of price we pay. Also I think they should not have interest on students loans. We already have to pay a lot of money and many people struggle to find a job right out of school. So why punish graduates with more debt.
ReplyDeleteI personally would like community college to be free... as i have previously been to one and it would help me out. Yes it was more affordable than this school but, it would still help out in the long run. i have not problem with this idea, although yes funding should be given to k-12 schools especially since the cutting of programs is a problem but in the end a free college education is important too...
ReplyDeleteFree community college? Sounds like a great idea to me! I wish they would've gotten that started a few years ago while I was actually attending a community college, but oh well...
ReplyDeleteIn any case, lowering education costs on any level is definitely a step in the right direction. However, I also agree with the fact that putting that money towards earlier education is extremely important too. I've always sympathized with the public school system whenever the government has cut its budget, because I remember how it impacted me as a kid. As a whole, I think the government should work on investing more of its budget into the nation's education, on every level.
If I had this opportunity of having two years of free education I would have spent my money on expending my education farther to get a Masters degree. I think it gives not only the poor more opportunities but also the middle class. Education is very important to have in a community. It will resolve a lot of issues such as crime and poverty.
ReplyDeleteAs a student I believe this is a step in the right direction. However there are a lot more costs to college. I believe this will help a lot of students and their parents with the cost of college. The cost of college often weighs people down for their entire life. Every little bit helps.
ReplyDeleteFree community college is how the world should be or at least if you can keep a gpa of 3.5+ be free or greatly reduced. The cost of college is way to high and some students get sucked in to a B.S. school that they pay way to much for and get a poor education such as most for profit schools like AI
ReplyDeleteFree community college sounds great but to get there you need to have so schooling so using the money to improve K-12 would make more sense so more students make it to college in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe idea sounds good, we would just have to use the money that was going to be paid for tuition for improve the funding of elementary to high schools.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think community college should be free, otherwise their budget for our books, class equipment, etc. would plummet, but I do think it should extremely cheap and affordable to those who have to live on minimum wage. Society wants everyone to go to college but I don't know how they expect everyone to when it's so ridiculously expensive. I think if you can maintain a reasonably high GPA, you should get deals when signing up for college classes.
ReplyDeleteI like obamas plan to make community college free, however I don't think it goes far enough. I feel all college in America should be free. All of our citizens have a right to the pursuit of knowledge, not just those with the means to afford it. Education should be one of the top priorities of a nation that wants its people to become skilled workers. (although I don't necessarily agree with the work until you die lifestyle that is required in a capitalist society but that is not what we are discussing tonight.) You cannot expect your economy to thrive if your citizens are not educated enough to obtain jobs that would put them above the poverty line!! 15% of americans live below the poverty line because they dont have the education to get a job that would provide for them and their families.
ReplyDeleteNot only that but education in general should be a central focus in america. Instead of spending Billions a year on our military ( which is unnecessarily excessive) we should invest our money into education and social programs! We need to be investing our money back into our people. And education is one of the best ways to do this, not only will it make Americans a more skilled workforce but students out of college will have more money to put into the economy. Along with having money freed up for ebt companies that had previously outsourced to other countries will come back to America because of our highly skilled workers, again putting more money into our economy.
Education as a whole in America is absolutely pathetic, we're one of the few major countries in the world that does not teach our students from a young age a second or third language. We are falling behind in education fast (part of me wonders if this is purposeful, it's much easier to control an uneducated population that one that thinks for itself) and unless we do something about it America will go from being one of the greatest countries on earth to a hellpool of poverty and crime. Speaking of crime when you have a highly educated population crime goes down drastically along with poverty.
As far what Alex LaRoche said I do agree that the declining quality of our education would be a big concern. However I think that if we set strict standards that constantly changed to compete with other countries in the world and demanded that they be upheld we would be able to prevent this outcome. We must simply demande the best and accept nothing less.
Here are some interesting reads if anyone wants to look into college and debt.
ReplyDeleteOne-third of all college graduates end up taking jobs that don't require a degree.
(I'd say that most of the jobs post-grad usually have nothing to due with the degree)
Two million college graduates are unemployed, and a million more are working in low-wage industries.
American's have accumulated well over $1.2 trillion in college debt. That figure is higher than the total amount of cred card debt in the United States.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/student-loan-debt-hell-21-statistics-that-will-make-you-think-twice-about-going-to-college#disqus_thread
"When President Obama spoke in the State of the Union of the need to send more Americans to college, it was in the context of economic competition with China, phrased as if we ought to produce graduates like steel. As the near-ubiquitous unpaid internship for credit (in which students pay tuition in order to work for free) replaces class time, the bourgeois trade school supplants the academy. Parents understandably worried about their children make sure they never forget about the importance of an attractive résumé. It was easier for students to believe a college education was priceless when it wasn't bought and sold from every angle.
If tuition has increased astronomically and the portion of money spent on instruction and student services has fallen, if the (at very least comparative) market value of a degree has dipped and most students can no longer afford to enjoy college as a period of intellectual adventure, then at least one more thing is clear: higher education, for-profit or not, has increasingly become a scam."
Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/11/04/1032314/are-student-loans-an-impending-bubble-is-higher-education-a-scam#ixzz3QBJlk1id
An issue I have with this is - how hard is it to get a job now with a degree? I already have an associates degree from a community college. It was a "that's nice" in most interviews. Why not just do two more years of high school? High school should be enough to make a living, but it is not. The standard is too low in quality. To differentiate we "need a college degree." Even with a bachelors nowadays it is not enough. With everyone in the future able to get associates in a community college, how with that raise to bar of minimum for everyone one else? Will it become a sliding-slope of what "minimum" is needed for a decent future?
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, things learned in college does not apply to the job unless it is a highly specialized job. The knowledge is outdated to moment you "get that piece of paper". We can get better education, but the best way would be to immediately apply the knowledge gained. On the job training (OJT) would be more applicable and should be looked into as an alternative. OJT would be mutually beneficial for both perspective employee and employer. This would also create a feedback loop.
Apprenticeship should be looked into as a viable alternative. This would let the student/employee learn the skills/education/ect needed and if they truly want make this their endeavor in life. This would also create a platform for more jobs by either the apprentice taking over without have to spend masses of resources in the hiring process or creating a business themselves.
The president's announcement said that the plan could benefit as many as nine million students who could save an average of $3,800 per year. This would put the total cost at a little more than $34 billion. How is the average taxpayer going to pay for this? The plan calls for taking this out of 529 tax plans but this is currently under debate due to the fact that most them have an average of only $21,000. This undercuts the middle-class and takes away the incentive to have a 529 tax plan.
i think it will be good for the students, i think it's brilliant having the community college being completely free since most colleges don't do that. That will be good for the people who don't have the money. Now what i don't agree with is how the K-12's budget is cut down super low. K-12 student's should come first. K-12's budget should be higher, because with a low budget the kids won't have a future. Obama should have worked on the K-12's budget first. College comes second. Personally i think that Obama's free community college plan could turn out pretty well. This plan will help out America and it's people making it less difficult. I like the plan.
ReplyDeleteIt will give a positive outlook on college education, and education in general.
And to have a free college fund it would be a stress relief for the parents, and it will probably take us in the right direction as a society, and maybe there will be more people who will be getting a healthy education, since there is only 40% of college graduates i think we need more graduates i think that having more then just 40% would be outstanding. But i have hope that this plan will work out for the best
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is imperative for the United States to exhault all options in regards to minimizing the cost of post High School education. When in a an era of which a Bachelor Degree is the prerequisite for most careers, making it affordable should not be in question. I find it disheartening that when taking precautions to have a successful career, by obtaining education, you are in turn agreeing to what could be detrimental debt. I consider myself very fortunate to have my education free of charge, due to my honorable military service, but am also very sympathetic to those that are less fortunate.
ReplyDeleteObama has the right idea here. The main reason people don't go to college or stop going is because they can't afford it, and it's understandable because it's so expensive. Given two years free college will help many students start what they usually couldn't before. It would be good for students to at least get a taste of college instead of instantly saying I can't afford this.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a good idea, it will get more people into college. Mostly people who are in the lower class, It would help them get on their feet and make a living for themselves and get better jobs. So then they can save money for graduate school, if they wanted to further their degree. This may need tweeking, but if this happens, it provides huge potential for business to not go out of business, and a larger yearly salary..
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with the plan, but I do think it's a step in the right direction. I mean yes, it will make college very affordable for the people that need it, but it doesn't help the people who are already in college and meeting the requirements.
ReplyDeleteI've always been fond of the UK financial aid system. They offer two types of loans for students, those that cover tuition and those that cover housing, and they have a set maximum that you can borrow each year. However, they also have maximum debt ceiling, where you will only have to pay this amount of debt, and, whatever doesn't get payed off in 30 years, gets covered by the government, as long as you try to keep up with the bare minimum of payments.
I don't understand why America is so hell bent on coming up with new plans for things when we can simply go and copy/ adopt plans from other countries, those that are proven to work.
I think community college have to be deal with any other college. It is college and learn same thing with other 'real' college. We learn something in there, and get diplomas. Why do we have to trat different. Desire of learning should not be ignored or cause of debt for these days.
ReplyDelete-Jaeyoung