A couple of years ago, the idea of free college for all students might have sounded like a pipe dream.
On Friday that idea is going to gain a lot more attention and legitimacy as President Obama highlights a statewide program in Tennessee that will cover community-college tuition for all of the state’s graduating high-school seniors.
The president is traveling to the Volunteer State as part of a three-state tour to highlight new policy proposals, just a few weeks before the annual State of the Union address. His first stop in Tennessee is scheduled to be at Pellissippi State Community College, near Knoxville, where he is widely expected to unveil a new higher-education initiative.
Details of the president’s agenda are sparse, but he will almost certainly be putting the spotlight on the Tennessee Promise, which starting this year will use lottery money to pay tuition for any high-school graduate to attend a two-year public college in the state. For several months, Obama-administration officials have been studying the pros and cons of free-college programs, said several higher-education experts.
It’s a heady moment for state higher-education officials, and advocates for the idea of free college are hoping that the president’s visit will push more states and local governments to consider similar approaches.
"The president is putting the Tennessee Promise on the national stage, and announcing whatever he’s going to announce is a tremendous boost to the momentum," said Morley Winograd, who leads a nonprofit group that promotes similar programs across the country as well as a plan to provide federal grants to cover two years of college tuition for all students.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Obama-Puts-Tennessee-s/151081