Obama’s proposal for free community college has caught the nation’s attention. A two-minute video featuring Obama explaining the proposal is the most viewed video ever produced by the Obama White House.
Despite national interest in the plan, many question the plausibility of it being successfully implemented. At the legislative summit, community college leaders expressed cautious enthusiasm for the proposal.
“Anything that makes community colleges more accessible financially for students is a good thing,” said David Baime, American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) senior vice president for government relations and policy, during a public discussion session on community college priorities for 2015 and beyond.
Yet Baime said that it was not yet clear how the proposal might be financed.
Jim Hermes, AACC associate vice president of government relations, held similar views. “In concept this is something that we’ve been very supportive of, but again, a number of details have yet to emerge and need to be worked out,” he said.
Hermes pointed out that the budget for FY 2016 did not appear to allocate enough money to get the proposal off the ground. America’s College Promise would cost the federal government $60 billion over ten years. States would be required to contribute 25 percent of costs.
