The proposal, America’s College Promise, would implement new partnerships with states in order to make the tuition for well-ranked community college programs free to students who are at least attending school part-time and have a 2.5 grade-point ?average.
This plan would offer community college students feasible tuition and open admission policies to conveniently-located campuses. The federal government would cover 75 percent of the costs, while states would be responsible for the remaining one-fourth.
The proposal is contingent on the current job market in conjunction with standard educational requirements for entry-level jobs. According to a press release from the White House, in five years an estimated 35 percent of job openings will require at least a bachelor’s degree and 30 percent will require some college or an ?associate’s degree.
Although the proposal has yet to go through Congress, the impact of it could positively aid Bloomington as well as the rest of Indiana, with Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana being the state’s largest institution of higher education.
“Certainly this plan will benefit Ivy Tech and other colleges across the country with increased enrollment,” said Jennie Vaughan, Chancellor of ?Ivy Tech-Bloomington.
“With our capital campaign under way and building expansion expected to be completed for spring semester 2016, we are confident we can accommodate the influx of students we expect to see if America’s College Promise moves forward.”
Vaughan said the real benefit from this proposal would be a national one and that Ivy Tech president Tom Snyder referred to this plan as a game-changer for our country.
Not all, however, are anticipating that this proposal would be in the state’s best interest, let alone the entire country.
Don Hossler, Professor of Higher Education at IU, said that not every state has fully recovered from the 2008 recession and therefore may be reluctant to commit to any cost-sharing proposals that President Obama has put forth.
He said this type of program does have a history of success, dating back to the 1970s when the federal government launched the State Student Incentive Grant Program at a time when few states had a grant program. But now that almost every single state does have a grant program, the current circumstances would not necessarily ?produce the same positive? results.
Hossler said that many states are not providing their community colleges with sufficient funds, which strips them of adequate support systems for students and an overreliance on adjunct ?faculty.
“Ivy Tech would certainly handle more students, but Ivy Tech is already underfunded, and it is very doubtful that the state would both come up with the money to cover its 25 percent and provide enough additional support to the campuses of Ivy Tech to hire new support staff and new full-time ?faculty,” Hossler said.
“If this initiative were enacted, it would hurt the regional campuses with respect to student enrollment and even IU-Bloomington and IUPUI to some extent as more students would complete their general education requirements at a community ?college.”
President Obama will officially propose America’s College Promise at his State of the Union Address next Tuesday night.
