President Joe Biden’s $302 billion higher education plan seeks to usher in a new era of free community college for all Americans. This is on top of the more than $1 trillion the federal government spent on higher education, as of 2018.
According to the left, completely funding two years of every American’s higher education via community college is still woefully inadequate. In fact, it seems the left will never be satisfied when it comes to pushing the college-for-all model.
For example, take this New York Times column entitled “Community College Should Be More Than Just Free.” The writer, professor David L. Kirp, observes that after Tennessee made community college free in 2015, the graduation or transfer-to-university rate increased by three points, reaching a still-woeful 25 percent, a change he somehow manages to portray as a victory. Kirp concludes the best way forward is to go beyond free tuition—more free services should be included, including counseling, scheduling help, and monitoring of students’ academic performances to ensure they stay on track.