As part of an effort to make higher education accessible to all Americans, President Obama has proposed offering two free years of community college to qualified students, a plan critics say is too expensive and misses the mark on education reform. Here are the pros and cons of making the first two years of community college free:
Pros:
- Gives students a nice two-year buffer between high school and their first data entry position
- More weird 43-year-olds in backs of classes
- Would benefit American businesses by pumping millions into the nation’s bus ad industry
- Has potential to elevate whatever still remains of middle class
- Students can always take on massive debt later
- Prepares students for eventual transfer to a four-year college where credits they earned will be completely rejected
- Since plan has no chance of being made into law, projected cost is an affordable $0
Cons
- Not enough room in Ivory Tower for all these newcomers
- Cuts into bottom line of universally successful for-profit colleges
- Employers don’t need a bunch of entitled community college graduates expecting a $26,000 salary their first year
- College is full of beer parties and unruly behavior
- Affluent community college alumni should be funding this, not taxpayers
- Upends traditional American ideal that students who can’t afford tuition are not deserving of college
- Slippery slope to other improvements in public education
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