Free community college expected to be cut

President Joe Biden’s long-sought goal of free community college appears to be a victim of cost-cutting in his social spending plan, dealing a major blow to his vision for a historic expansion of educational opportunity to all Americans.

Biden acknowledged as much in a televised town hall on Thursday night, citing the political realities created by Democratic holdout Sen. Joe Manchin and “one other person.”

Still, he pledged that the fight was not over. “I promise you — I guarantee you — we’re going to get free community college in the next several years and across the board.”

For Biden, it represents yet another setback to a plan he has been pushing for years. He backed a proposal for free community college in 2015 under the Obama administration, made it a key issue in his 2020 presidential campaign and has remained a staunch champion of the idea along with his wife, Jill, who teaches English at a community college.

During the CNN town hall, Biden pointed to other provisions in the legislation, including increased Pell Grants for low-income students, as a way to make up some of the difference.

Supporters are lobbying to preserve the free community college. They say it would help more Americans earn degrees while also stabilizing the nation’s community colleges, which saw enrollments plummet during the pandemic.

Peter Granville, a senior policy associate at the left-leaning Century Foundation, said the plan would have given a financial boost to students who need it most.

“An investment in community college is an investment in student-parents, in workers who are looking for a second chance and in the foundations of our workforce,” he said. “Too much of the burden rests on families, and college costs keep rising.”

Rise, a student-run nonprofit that supports free college, was urging supporters to call lawmakers on Friday in hopes of keeping the proposal alive. The group argues that millions of students were relying on the plan to improve their futures.

Biden included the proposal in his social spending package along with a separate proposal for two years of free preschool. Taken together, it promised to expand free public education by four years and expand education opportunities from childhood through college.

But free community college has drawn sharp opposition from Republicans and even some Democrats who prefer benefits that are limited to low-income students. Those who have opposed it include Manchin, D-W. Va., a key holdout of Biden’s spending plan.

The proposal from House Democrats included a five-year, $45 billion plan to give Americans two years of free community college. It required states to opt in and eventually cover 20% of the cost.

It was already a scaledback version of Biden’s initial proposal, which called for $109 billion to fund the program for 10 years.

Biden pitched it as an economic driver that would help more Americans get workforce training or transfer their credits to a four-year university.