President Obama’s press office has released preliminary information about the administration’s proposed America’s College Promise program. The stated purpose of the proposal is to encourage graduating high school students to use the community colleges as a stepping-stone to baccalaureate programs.
This morning’s Washington Post article headlined Obama to unveil proposal for tuition-free community college summarizes the administration’s press release and adds a little bit of reader appeal.
OpenCdA is anxious to see Idaho’s evaluation of the President’s proposal.
It will be a very loud cry of ” Never, never, never” … Idaho has trouble with a grocery tax … this will send most of Idaho into hysterical brain spasms. And, isnt there plans for a NIC Events Center …. somewhere? Iwant to know what states if any will support this move of Obama’s. I hear Utah is giving unrented apts to the homeless so they can get jobs ect. Evidently, it costs the state less to house them, than to support the legal and medical costs associated with this populatipon. With all of the over building ,maybe there are plans to do the same, here? A new vision for the LCDC …promoting humanitarian regard? LOL
Comment by Stebbijo — January 9, 2015 @ 6:06 pm
Watch this aspect as it unfolds….”Community colleges must also adopt promising and evidence based institutional reforms…”. Read, your locally elected board will be forced to adopt certain unspecified institutional reforms and so on.
Comment by Gary Ingram — January 9, 2015 @ 7:22 pm
Stebbijo and Gary,
With three community colleges (CSI, CWI, and NIC) and one postsecondary technical college (EITC – which may not even qualify for the President’s promises), Idaho still ought to give this proposal a close look. If and when a substantial plan is provided, it should get a closer look still.
Gary, you exactly identified one of the challenges the President’s proposal will have to overcome: States exert different levels of governance over their respective community college systems. In Idaho, the state has really almost no operational control over its community colleges. In other states, they come under the auspices of a state board of education. The feds like one-size-fits-all plans, not fifty different plans.
The proposal today was the tinkertoy tech version of hope and change. We’ll see what develops.
Comment by Bill — January 9, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
Idaho should look at this, but first they need decent paying jobs.We are so behind the eight ball. There is no incentive to go to college in Idaho when bordering states offer much better minimum wage jobs and with cheaper fuel now, it is more cost effective to ditch Idaho. Why waste any federal funds on education in this state when it is an obvious dead end? Perspective lawyers, here,cannot even pass the Bar. Idaho is I-dumb-ho.But, like, the ACA, Idaho will take the federal money … but that is all they will do, then offer a website and subsequently, pass the buck back to the feds, sue, and then bill their own taxpayers. This proposal is way over Idaho’s heads … we will never qualify for “evidence based” funding unless we can cook the books.
Comment by Stebbijo — January 9, 2015 @ 8:04 pm