Obama to propose two free years of community college for students.

[ArcadiaGP]

"Free"

Obama to propose two free years of community college for students - Allie Grasgreen - POLITICO

Why only community college? why not university? Masters? PhDs? You know, it's free, after all.

Here's a diatribe on the subject by AoSHQ

Here's my view: Younger people like anything that allows them to waste time and delay making tough decisions about work. Furthermore, anyone would rather be paid (basically) to go to school, which is easy as ****, than to work. Lastly, anything FREE will be wasted, because only an ******* treasures something which is free.

when i was young, community college was largely a way for post-hs people to avoid making a decision about learning a trade or getting a job. college people like me got four years to waste that kind of time, but at least we could say, at the end of it, we got something of value. what bothers me here is that Obama is setting up the entire community college system to be like the City University of New York...

...once a proud and noble college, now, because it's free and there's open enrollment, a place to enjoy the 5th, 6th, and 7th years of HS. People will work at education if they're paying for it, and if there's a goal. But if it's just a delaying tactic, and if it's free... well, then, it will be treated as essentially two years' worth of guaranteed welfare for the young.

In what way will permitting the nation's skill-less, tradeless youth another two years to not work and not learn a skill benefit them? and that's what he's offering his subsidy-hungry coalition, a government voucher to delay adulthood. not an education. but of course we, those outside obama's coalition, will be picking up the tab for this two-year early retirement for the young and able.

if we've decided, as a nation, that young people ought to have three years post-high school pre-working just to Get Their Party On, ... then let's just ****ing enact such a law. Don't make me pay extra for Fake College when you're really just subsdizing young people's partying.

I cannot fault anyone for attempting to dodge the responsibilities and choices of adulthood-- I have been doing it my whole life -- ...but I must object when President Make It Rain demands that the rest of us pay cash money to enable this

 

[jagee]

Well if it's free...maybe I should go back to college???

 

[hoosierdoc]

I have said for years the reason that they "fixed" the student loan system and federalized it was to jack up the rates. This has led to ungodly student loan debts at rates up to 10%. kids are graduating from college with $100,000 in loans at 10%.

The reason for this program is to get kids terrified of not being able to pay back their loans. Then They search around for federal repayment programs and they signed up for them in order to get out from the student loan debt. It is the new indentured servant of the 21st-century.

I have said that in 2016 the Democrats will use student loan debt as a platform to get the youth vote out. And... Here it is in its first wave.

 

[spec4]

^^ Sad but true. Obama is doing what liberals are best at doing; phony pandering. The thought that every high school graduate is college material is ridiculous.

 

[bradmedic04]

Since it's free, we totally don't have to worry about funding! Free good! College good!

Oy...

 

[MisterChester]

"Free"

Obama to propose two free years of community college for students - Allie Grasgreen - POLITICO

Why only community college? why not university? Masters? PhDs? You know, it's free, after all.

Here's a diatribe on the subject by AoSHQ

Because community colleges are much more efficient cost-wise. They don't have as many expenses and overhead like universities do (someone has to pay their 30-member board of directors 6-figure incomes somehow). Community college tuition and fees in 2008 only totaled a little over $8 billion. I'll have to find the source for you but I'm on mobile right now.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Announce Free education
Congress blocks funding
Argue Republicans don't want people educated.
Tired. Boring. Old. Game.

 

[MisterChester]

Announce Free education
Congress blocks funding
Republicans and Democrats don't want people educated.
Tired. Boring. Old. Game.

FTFY

 

[nate77]

A few things I like:

Performance based, you have to keep a C+ grade average to keep the funding.

Open to everyone, not just low income people.

I don't think this is a bad idea, as long a the funding is cut from somewhere else to pay for it.

The country could use more Technical, and Skilled grads, vs more Business Administration, and Liberal Arts grads.

 

[KLB]

I have said for years the reason that they "fixed" the student loan system and federalized it was to jack up the rates. This has led to ungodly student loan debts at rates up to 10%. kids are graduating from college with $100,000 in loans at 10%.

The reason for this program is to get kids terrified of not being able to pay back their loans. Then They search around for federal repayment programs and they signed up for them in order to get out from the student loan debt. It is the new indentured servant of the 21st-century.

I have said that in 2016 the Democrats will use student loan debt as a platform to get the youth vote out. And... Here it is in its first wave.

My student loans in the mid 80s were at 9%. I didn't get anywhere near 100K though.

People in this country have real issues with debt. It is treated like free money with little thought given to actually having to pay it back. It was the root of the housing crisis and it will be the root of this crisis when it happens.

The truth is that all of these kids should not be going to college. Spending four plus years of your life accumulating debt to get a degree in something that is not useful in making a good living is simply a waste. More time and effort should be made in creating and supporting good trade schools that can teach people something that they can actually use to support themselves.

 

[hoosierdoc]

My medschool loans were $150k at 3.25%. Then the prime rate continued to go down, but they tripled the student loan rates over that same period.

your student loan rate was likely cheaper than your mortgage in the mid 80s

 

[DoggyDaddy]

My student loans in the mid 80s were at 9%. I didn't get anywhere near 100K though.

People in this country have real issues with debt. It is treated like free money with little thought given to actually having to pay it back. It was the root of the housing crisis and it will be the root of this crisis when it happens.

The truth is that all of these kids should not be going to college. Spending four plus years of your life accumulating debt to get a degree in something that is not useful in making a good living is simply a waste. More time and effort should be made in creating and supporting good trade schools that can teach people something that they can actually use to support themselves.

I agree. And it's not just that trade schools would do this, but if you read almost any comment section with a story about student loan debt, you get the inevitable "educated idiots" that just can't believe they can't get a 6-figure job right out of school with their Masters degree in ancient Mesopotamian women's studies. If you want a job right out of college, then you should pursue a line of study that will provide you with skills that are actually in demand.

 

[Hkindiana]

IF the mighty "O" HAS to propose something along these lines, why not extremely low interest rate loans, or even ZERO rate loans. If you just GIVE it away, it will be squandered and not appreciated. Teach a man to fish, but impress upon him that HE is responsible for the bait, and he won't waste it chumming the waters.

 

[KittySlayer]

"Free"

Why only community college? why not university? Masters? PhDs? You know, it's free, after all.

Only community college because all those tenured liberal professors will not work for free and donate their time. Some of them can barely bother to teach a class. I thought it was funny when all those liberal hippy professors that join in and support any protest that comes along could not join in on the Occupy Wall Street since the excessive tuition that paid their inflated salaries was one of the root causes the protest. College cost seemed to be in the race with health care cost to see who can have the highest inflation rate.

 

[JollyMon]

Not everyone should go to college. It doesn't mean they are not as smart or don't have the drive but colleges dont teach a lot of real life skills. I used maybe 10% of what I learned in college and the rest was on the job training. I feel if we actually pushed trade and vocational schools it will do much more for this country. Teach a skill that will allow these individuals to start a career. There are tons of jobs out there that need to be filled.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Asking questions about Obama's Free college proposal misses the point. He knows he can't get it, he wants the fight and the talking point. The talking point being Republicans hate education and want to ban college. That's it. It's all he knows how to do.

 

[mrjarrell]

It might be worth noting that Germany offers free college tuition to everyone, even foreign students accepted at their universities. Everyone is well paid and their economy is doing quite well. Two years of community college is nothing. You might be able to get technical accreditation in a field, which would be useful, and if credits are transferable you'd get two years of college credit out of the way towards a bachelors degree, but two years is nothing, really. I wish there was a way to do it without saddling the taxpayers or accruing a lifetime of debt. Sadly, it's a system we've let get out of control and it DOES need reining in. This is just pandering to the base, for Obama. It won't go anywhere, with republicans in control of the house and senate.

 

[nate77]

The idea came from the dark red state of Tennessee, it is not a bad idea, and I think it would have bipartisan support, but funding needs to be carved from somewhere else to pay for it.

 

[KLB]

The idea came from the dark red state of Tennessee, it is not a bad idea, I think it would have bipartisan support, but funding needs to be carved from somewhere else to pay for it.

If you were talking about reallocating money from a balanced budget I MIGHT be closer to agreeing. When you are talking about moving borrowed money, no way.

 

[Robert Richardson]

The idea came from the dark red state of Tennessee, it is not a bad idea, and I think it would have bipartisan support, but funding needs to be carved from somewhere else to pay for it.

It will be carved from our paychecks, just like Obamacare.