With a
number of groups supporting the concept of free community college tuition for
students, they might reconsider once they find out just how many students would
opt for that.
The 2016 Workforce Readiness Survey conducted by McGraw-Hill Education found that 62% of
college students would have chosen to attend community college first or instead
of a university if there was no cost for tuition. Apparently students felt they
couldn’t pass up a deal like that.
The same
survey also revealed that 60% of students don’t think their current school has
been all that helpful in getting them ready for a career. That belief may have
prompted survey respondents to think more favorably of community colleges,
which are more focused on specific job preparedness.
At the
state level, legislators are grappling with the idea of a free community
college education and how to fund it.
A new report produced by the Education Commission of the States examines financial
aid, including state legislation concerning free community college tuition. The
report noted that as of July 2016, Oregon, Minnesota, Kentucky, Tennessee, and
Rhode Island had enacted some type of legislation and bills were pending in California,
Illinois, North Carolina, New York, and Massachusetts. Eleven other states had
introduced measures on free community college, but the bills stalled out.
