Whether community college should be free depends on what you count. Supporters point to real programs that already do it: Tennessee Promise, a last-dollar scholarship that has covered tuition and fees at Tennessee’s 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology since fall 2015, and is estimated to have raised attendance at the state’s two-year institutions by an average of 40%. Critics point out that “free” covers tuition only, that someone still pays, and that completion, not enrollment, is the harder problem.
The honest answer is that free community college is affordable and popular at the state level, has measurable effects on enrollment, and still leaves students with fees, living costs and the same graduation hurdles they faced before.
Why Supporters Say It Should Be Free
- It removes the sticker-price barrier. Last-dollar programs pay whatever tuition and fees remain after other aid, such as the Pell Grant and state scholarships, so no eligible student has to weigh tuition against enrolling at all.
- It raises enrollment. The increase in attendance at Tennessee’s two-year institutions as a result of Tennessee Promise is estimated at an average of 40%.
- It is cheap to run as a last-dollar program. Because federal and state aid pay first, the program only fills the gap, which is why several states have adopted the model rather than paying full tuition for everyone.
- It comes with support, not just money. Tennessee Promise is a scholarship and mentorship program, and it grew out of a county non-profit, KnoxAchieves, that paired last-dollar aid with mentoring for low-income freshmen.
- It has spread. After Tennessee’s program, Oregon, Rhode Island and New York created similar programs, and it became the model for a proposed nationwide “America’s College Promise”.
Why Critics Say It Should Not
- “Free” is tuition only. New York’s Excelsior Scholarship, for example, covers tuition but not fees or room and board, which can cost up to $14,000 a year, against an annual tuition saving of $4,000 to $6,500.
- Strings attached. Excelsior requires 30 credits a year, a GPA requirement, and that graduates live and work in New York for as many years as they received the scholarship, a condition critics have called unfair and costly to recipients.
- Enrollment is not completion. As of 2012, only 25.9% of CUNY students and 48.9% of SUNY students earned a bachelor’s degree within four years, the pace Excelsior demands.
- Last-dollar design favours the middle. Because Pell Grants already cover tuition for the lowest-income students at most community colleges, a last-dollar program’s money mostly goes to students whose families earn too much for Pell, while the poorest students still struggle with living costs.
- Complexity. Some in the free-college movement say programs like Excelsior fall into the same trap as existing scholarships: complicated rules that trap or exclude recipients.
Where It Already Exists
- Tennessee Promise (statewide since 2015). Created by legislation in May 2014 as part of the state’s “Drive to 55” goal of 55% of Tennesseans holding a degree or certificate by 2025. It pays tuition and fees that exceed a student’s other aid, at any of the 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology, and pairs students with mentors.
- New York Excelsior Scholarship (since 2017). On April 11, 2017, New York became the first state to make four-year public colleges tuition-free for residents under an income cap: $100,000 in 2017, rising to $110,000 in 2018 and $125,000 in 2019, at SUNY and CUNY, with an estimated 200,000 students eligible once fully phased in.
- Oregon and Rhode Island created programs modelled on Tennessee’s.
Who Pays, and How Much
State programs are paid from state budgets, and last-dollar design keeps the bill down because federal Pell Grants and existing state scholarships pay first. The cost to a family is not zero: under Excelsior, for example, a student saves $4,000 to $6,500 in tuition a year but still faces fees, room and board of up to $14,000. Programs also impose costs in kind, such as community service or mentoring requirements in Tennessee and the post-graduation residency requirement in New York.
What the Middle-Ground Options Are
- Free community college only, not four-year. Tennessee’s model limits the promise to two-year institutions, which are far cheaper per student.
- Income caps. New York’s approach targets families under a set income rather than paying for everyone.
- First-dollar aid for living costs. Critics of last-dollar programs argue that money for books, transport and housing would do more for the lowest-income students than paying tuition that Pell already covers.
- Aid tied to support. Mentoring and completion coaching address the completion gap that tuition alone does not.
Conclusion
Free community college works as advertised on enrollment and is cheap enough that a growing number of states run it. It does not, on its own, solve living costs or completion, and its rules can exclude the students who need help most. Whether it should be free is a values question; whether it can be done, and what it does and does not fix, is now a matter of record.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is community college free anywhere in the United States? Yes. Tennessee Promise has covered tuition and fees at Tennessee’s community colleges since fall 2015, and other states run similar programs.
- What is a last-dollar scholarship? One that pays whatever tuition and fees remain after other grants and scholarships, such as the Pell Grant, have been applied.
- Does free tuition cover room and board? Usually not. Excelsior covers tuition only, leaving fees and living costs of up to $14,000 a year.