Six things to know about Obama’s plan for free community college

Six things to know about Obama’s plan for free community college

By Lydia DePillis at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/09/six-things-to-know-about-obamas-plan-for-free-community-college/

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1) Two-year degrees help you earn more.

There’s lots of evidence to show that associate’s degrees, which typically take two years to earn, boost a student’s wages over what he or she would have made with just a high school education. A 2011 review of the literature found that each additional year of school raises earnings between five percent and 10 percent per year. The results are especially good for women: A 2012 study of community college graduates in Kentucky showed that women with associate’s degrees made an extra $2,000 per quarter in the early 2000s, while men made an additional $1,500. Then there are various certificate programs, which don’t show as dramatic results but tend to at least be worth the cost of attendance. It’s not as much as the gains from a four-year college degree, but it’s also not as expensive.

2) Some two-year degrees make you earn more than others.

An associate’s degree in English literature probably won’t get you very far. A degree in a fast-growing health-care or information technology specialty, by contrast, could earn you a lot: Radiation therapists and dental hygienists, the two top-earning two-year degrees ranked by EMSI, make $38 and $35 an hour, respectively. According to another EMSI analysis, the biggest gaps for projected demand and supply in middle-skilled fields are in marketing, sales, hospitality and tourism fields. The moral of the story: Even if tuition is free, if you’re going to spend two years of your life going to school, think about what might get you a well-paying job on the other end.

3) Two free years could help more people actually graduate.

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Lots of people enter public community colleges every year. Only about 20 percent finish with a certificate or degree — and getting a degree is much more useful than leaving with just a few credits. One reason is that a lot of people have to work while going to school, and according to the Aspen Institute’s Wyner, working full time diminishes your chances of completion considerably. “So if you can use the money the free tuition frees up to work fewer hours, that makes a huge difference for whatever program you’re entering,” he says. Perhaps for that reason, the Tennessee program on which the White House’s proposal is based requires students to go full time.

4) Two free years could help you afford the next two, three or four years.

If Obama’s plan were enacted, it wouldn’t be the only source of college aid for people who can’t afford it. There are also Pell Grants — but eligibility for Pell Grants only lasts for six years, and if you’re doing a four-year degree working half time, you’re not going to make it. So if you can use the free community college tuition to rack up some credits, that makes it a lot easier to finish a bachelor’s degree before that federal aid runs out.




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