Chelsea Hoag, Campus Carrier Managing Editor
In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening, he announced a plan to make the first two years of community and technical college as free as public high school.
“By the end of this decade, two in three job openings will require a higher education,” he said. Obama announced the idea to the public for the first time in a video and press release on the White House’s blog on Jan. 8.
In a growing economy, the White House press release said an estimated 35 percent of job openings will require at least a bachelor’s degree and 30 percent will require some college or an associate’s degree by 2020. If all 50 states choose to accept the president’s new community college proposal, also called “America’s College Promise,” it could save a full-time community college student $3,800 in tuition per year on average and aid about 9 million students each year. Requirements would be slightly lower than Georgia’s HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) Scholarship that requires a minimum grade-point average of 3.0. “America’s College Promise” requires a student to maintain a 2.5 GPA and attend at least half time.
The White House press release also requires community colleges to offer programs that are either fully transferable credits to local public four-year colleges and universities or occupational training with high graduation rates targeted toward in-demand degrees and certificates.
Community colleges must also create evidence-based institutional reforms in order to enhance student outcomes.
Federal funding will cover 75 percent of the average cost of community college. Participating states will “be expected to contribute the remaining funds necessary to eliminate the tuition for the eligible students,” according to the press release.
Obama found inspiration for the proposal from Tennessee’s implementation of a similar bill, providing all Tennesseans who met the requirements an opportunity to go to community college for free.
Republican Governor Bill Haslam saw the opportunity to help businesses meet a shortage of skilled and educated workers.
John Grout, dean of the Campbell School of Business and Garrett professor in business administration, said his suspicion is that Georgia will find a way for “America’s College Promise” to make the HOPE scholarship go further.
In terms of impacting Berry, Grout doesn’t see a huge impact in the short term and is not convinced the proposal will affect Berry very much in the long term.”
I think that Berry was far more concerned when HOPE scholarship started because it then competing against good, big state schools for free,” Grout said.
“If the taxes to pay for free community college comes out of the pockets of the wealthiest people, and those people are also donors to Berry College, they might not be able to give as much because they aren’t making as much. That might impact Berry, but I don’t really see that being a noticeable change.”
Sheila Jones, Director of marketing and communications at Georgia Highlands College, said it is too early to speculate what the concerns would be, but Georgia Highlands anticipates learning more about the proposal and in particular the ability for adult students to participate who are most often impacted by HOPE funding limitations and federal financial aid caps.
“Fortunately in Georgia, the costs of attending a two-year institution remains among the lowest in the country and many students qualify for federal and state aid enabling them to attend two-year colleges at little to no costs,” Jones said. “In fact, at Georgia Highlands College, a number of our students receive financial aid refunds.”
In terms of enrollment, Grout said he isn’t sure if much of a change will occur because Berry College is already competing against the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech where a student with a 3.0 GPA can both go for free.
“Having people going to Georgia Highlands College for free isn’t going to have a huge impact on Berry College because Berry College works in a different market,” Grout said. “People who wouldn’t have gone to community college before and now will, because they can afford it are probably not going to end up at Berry because of financial considerations.”
Jones said Georgia Highlands College students attend with the goal to transfer to another institution and haven’t considered earning an associate’s degree.
“Georgia Highlands College is working to change that trend and have experienced record graduation numbers in the past two years with over 600 graduates,” Jones said.
“A number of students and families are beginning to discover the amount of money they can save by earning as associate’s degree prior to transferring to an university.”
Jones said there are too many unknowns at the moment to determine the potential impact on Georgia Highlands’ student enrollment.
“As a two-year institution, we are able to adjust fairly and quickly and increase our enrollment capacity if needed,” Jones said.
Grout said colleges might get more for their money if students transfer into a state university after taking general education classes at a place that delivers it for less and utilize state funding infrastructure.
“If you were a state school administrator, you might have capacity constraints. For instance, the University of Georgia can’t get that much bigger. Capacity could be generated if freshman and sophomore classes were held elsewhere, taking their general education classes, and transferring to UGA for their junior and senior year,” Grout said.
Jones said the most popular institutions students transfer to include Kennesaw State University, the University of West Georgia and the University of Georgia. Students in the career fields of nursing, dental hygiene and human services normally move directly into their career field. Their decisions are often due to the availability of funding resources.
According to President Obama at the State of the Union, 40 percent of America’s college students choose community college.