Dear Commons Community,

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that several state plans to provide free community colleges are meeting resistance mainly from other sectors of higher education.  As reported by The Chronicle:

“…a batch of higher-­education proposals for free community college in Mississippi and Tennessee, and a legislative study of that idea in Oregon…

have run into difficulty as lawmakers grapple with competing demands in a still-tenuous economy. That competition includes other sectors and groups within higher education, which are seeking to protect their own enrollment and state appropriations.

The proposal for free community college in Mississippi, which easily passed the state House of Representatives, died in a Senate committee. The Tennessee measure, a key part of the governor’s legislative agenda, has been delayed as public and private four-year colleges call for changes to protect grants for their students.”

The article expands on the issues and also discusses collective bargaining rights of adjuncts and offering four-year degrees in community colleges.

As posted in this blog, free higher education is an idea whose time has come.  Making community colleges free is a first step in the right direction.

Tony