You know the feeling. You have downloaded the free game Candy Crush and you run out of lives on the highest level you have ever achieved. The game offers to let you keep playing only if you pay for more lives and you say yes because you are addicted. These "freemium" apps are mobile games or tools that are free to download and play. That is, until you want to access a certain feature. Then you have to pay. The current rush to "free community college" reminds us a lot of Candy Crush. From the America’s College Promise Act to legislation recently passed in Oregon and Tennessee to the numerous online options available (like those "freeish" programs outlined in Goldie Blumenstyk’s recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education), there are many enticing ways to opt in to playing the community college game (although restrictions do apply).
None of these avenues are actually free, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a new approach to the access challenge. We hope this encourages more people to enroll in credit-bearing programs that help them work toward a meaningful credential.
We can’t stop with access, however. The problem that actually stymies student success isn’t enrolling in community college so much as completing community college. And that challenge won’t be met by just removing the impression of financial barriers.
Read more at The New America's Ed Central: http://www.edcentral.org/candy-crush-community-college/