Tennessee Promise: Offering free community college to all students
 

I was coming back from golf today listening to NPR. The discussion and Q&A was about Tennessee's free tuition plan. The expert says it costs Tennessee a thousand dollars per student to make this work. Students must maintain a 2.5 GPA and they can choose trade or technology courses too.

For me cheap college was the light at the end of my tunnel and it kept me busy. A little off topic but I sold a house to someone who said the first thing he's going to do after they move in is buy his 12 year old son a horse. He said you can't get in trouble if you are busy and nothing will keep a teenager more busy then owning a horse.

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Florida Residents' State Scholarship and Grant Programs:

http://www.floridastudentfinancialai...ome/uamain.htm

Fantastic idea. Tying it to community service is key. Here in Florida, we have the Bright Futures that helps somewhat but severely lags behind the current costs. It's great for the kids in the middle.

What happens in Tennessee stays in Tennessee....oops Obama's objective of free community college is a take off of that program and it is going to be a catastrophe for taxpayers. First Obama nationalized the student loan market adding $1 trillion in taxpayer liabilities. Then he made forgiving those loans easier which will cost taxpayers $7.6 billion in 2015 when it predicted in 2010 a 10 year $7.4 billion This year he proposes a new rating system to determine which schools the feds will give aid to.

Further there are already several federal financial assistance training programs for community colleges in existence now.

I have to disagree with your argument. The money is state money and if state money can fund such a juncture, why not? In the state of Florida, which severely lags behind academically, we need a more educated population. The kid in the middle of the road as far as income is concerned, is left to fend for themselves. The poor student has more aid than they will ever need and the wealthy kid doesn't have to worry either. The middle-class kid with average grades sees the least amount of aid available. Why not let them "work" for it through community service opportunities?

The first half of my teaching career I was a shop teacher in NJ. We watched all of those programs being phased out. What a shame. Tell me our kids don't need shop skills. Our budgets for the entire year was about $200 a class. At the same time we were preaching to get a good job you need a good education. Kids borrowed thousands and thousands of dollars only to end up in debt with a liberal arts degree, not everyone but many.

This program seems like a way to make things right for young people. It gives me hope and as I said before the guy on NPR said that it is costing Tennessee about a thousand dollars a student.

Hi jbdlfan: I am not questioning the Tennessee state plan. I agree with it and your rationale and in fact want the fed to cut back and stop superseding state rights. My point was to say that the fed is going to nationalize this state plan and we know that old story its going to cost taxpayers big bucks and because it is national it won't be monitored and it will be a complete failure like so many other fed programs

Personal Best Regards

I served on the boards of a community college for four years and a university for 15 years. I don't see how a state can provide 3/4 of the costs incured by a CC student for $1000 per year. My suspicion is that it would exceed $7000 for full time students. The mandates imposed by the Feds would no doubt be unpalatable to many communities. How many programs have we seen where the Feds create a program, suck in cash hungry constituents, then abandon the effort leaving states and cities holding the bag? The devil is,as always, in the details.:MOJE_whot:

Don't you want more people making more money to pay off the debt? How can you make more money without a high paying job? How can you get a high paying job without skills?

I invested in my children's education and 2 out of 3 are making 6 figures. They went to NJIT, a state school with a more reasonable tuition, majored in Engineering and worked part time in college. I invested a lot more then a thousand a year. This also looks like a great investment to me.

I think the real problem is that students can't wait to start studying when they get to a free college. It has to begin when they are 4 or 5 years old. I think we need to somehow tie free college into all of the years leading up to college. Kids need to see the pay-off of studying.

I'm not sure how to do that.

tomwed: I agree many of the blue collar positions have become high paying jobs and many are going unfilled

I don't get it either. It sounds too inexpensive, too good to be true. I'm going to try and figure out what actual show on NPR I was listening to today. I think it was around 12:30. It was just starting to rain.
I got it. It's called the take-away and you can listen to the broadcast by clicking here It's about 20 minutes in the program. It's called Tennessee Promise. They started it in 2008.

1. I funded my way through school and like you my children.

2. Many prospective students need skin in the game

3. It doesn't matter if more people are making more money because if the pols continue with their irrational exuberance their won't ever be enough taxpayer money to keep up with them

How much was your tuition? Mine was $350 a year. I'm guessing all my college living expenses came out to $2,500 a year and my first year teaching my contract was $10,400.
How does that compare to today's tuition and today's first year teaching contracts? It's not even close. But you are a smart person and you know all that.

Sure they need skin in the game. Free tuition does not mean every college expense and living expense is free. You know that too, you raised kids.

Come on now, don't be bashful. Tell us what you really think!