President Obama traveled here Friday to make his first full-fledged pitch for tuition-free community college, as White House officials confirmed that the ambitious proposal would cost about $60 billion over the next decade.
Speaking to several hundred students and faculty at Pellissippi State Community College, Obama presented hisplan as an economic imperative. He also said it was based on responsibility -- of individual students, of colleges and of states in boosting their spending on higher education.
"This isn’t a blank check. It’s not a free lunch," Obama said. "But for those who are willing to do the work, and states that want to be a part of this, it can be a game-changer."
The most important player in the short run, though, will be Congress, which needs to approve the $6 billion-a-year proposal.
Obama’s trip to Pellissippi, which is on the western outskirts of Knoxville, comes as part of a several-state tour to preview the themes of his State of the Union address later this month. During the speech he will address a Congress controlled completely by Republicans for the first time in his presidency.
Some of Obama’s largest higher education accomplishments in his first term -- such as boosting spending on federal Pell Grants and switching to 100 percent direct lending, ending federal bank-based student loans -- were hard-fought but approved by a Congress that likely was far friendlier to the administration’s agenda than the current one, controlled completely by Republicans.
The president’s trip to Tennessee appeared to reflect the new political dynamics the administration faces as it begins its final two years in office. And his visit raised, to some extent, the prospect that college access and affordability is an area on which Obama may be able to work with Congressional Republicans.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/12/obama-joined-republicans-unveiling-free-community-college-plan