GOP blocks school for free

Obama idea like Haslam’s, but ignored

WASHINGTON — On a bitterly cold afternoon back in January, President Barack Obama stood in the warmth of a jam-packed college auditorium in Knoxville and proposed two years of free community college for millions of students across the country.

But nine months after Obama previewed “America’s College Promise” at Pellissippi State Community College, the proposal is stalled in a Republicancontrolled Congress that has no appetite for creating another government program and no desire to hand Obama a significant legislative victory in the twilight of his presidency.

“I’ve gotten a little resistance from members of Congress — that will shock you,” Obama conceded last month, drawing laughter from a crowd at Macomb Community College just outside of Detroit, the first of several recent appearances intended to promote college affordability and spark national interest in the proposal.

In Washington, Democrats in the House and Senate introduced bills in July that closely mirror Obama’s free community college plan, which is projected to cost $60 billion over the next 10 years.

Not one Republican signed on as co-sponsor of either piece of legislation. Neither bill has even gotten a committee hearing, although aides to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who chairs the Senate panel with jurisdiction over education issues, suggested the proposal could be considered later this year as part of a broader higher education package.

Alexander himself remains opposed to Obama’s community college proposal, even though it was patterned after Gov. Bill Haslam’s Tennessee Promise scholarship program, which Alexander supports.

“The right way to make community college tuitionfree is the way Tennessee, Oregon and Chicago have done it for themselves,” said Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Com-

mittee. “This is only possible for states because of the federal funding that already exists for community college students who need help.”

Nearly 40 percent of community college students are eligible for a Pell grant they don’t have to pay back, Alexander said, and for most of them, the average Pell grant makes the average $3,300 tuition free.

Instead of creating a new federal program, Alexander said, the federal government can help students in other ways:

First, by reducing federal paperwork for the 108-question student aid application form, which Alexander says discourages Americans from applying for federal Pell grants that already are available to help pay community college tuition.

Second, by paying for millions of new Pell grants that will be awarded if other states emulate Tennessee Promise and if Congress reduces federal paperwork and allows students to use Pell grants year-round.

At the White House, Obama’s aides sense that momentum for his community college proposal is building across the country, if not in Congress.

“This isn’t something that’s going to happen in one huge step,” said James Kvaal, deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. “What we have done is try to lay out a vision for where the country needs to get to. We’re trying to make concrete progress toward that vision.”

On the state and local levels, there has been some movement. In just the past six months, six states and communities have created new programs to provide free community college, including statewide programs in Oregon and Minnesota and local efforts in Philadelphia; Milwaukee; Dayton, Ohio; and Palatine, Illinois.

Similar proposals also are under consideration in 11 other states, including Texas, New York and Massachusetts.

In Tennessee, more than 60,000 students have applied for Tennessee Promise, and nearly 16,000 enrolled and are currently attending college under the program — more evidence, the White House suggests, that the concept is catching on.

“I think it sends a clear signal to students about how much the state of Tennessee believes in the importance of them continuing their education,” Kvaal said.

“And I think students are responding to that. We’ve seen a similar thing with the president’s proposal. Around the country, people are very aware of it and are very excited about it. It’s a level of enthusiasm I have not seen often.”

To further stoke interest in the proposal, Obama has been plugging the initiative in appearances across the country and in a video recently released by the White House.

An independent “college promise” advisory board headed by Jill Biden, a community college professor and the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, also is working with students, teachers, alumni, business leaders and others to raise awareness about the importance of community college and create momentum for Obama’s proposal.

The board’s initiatives include a public service announcement video.

Obama’s community college proposal may be stuck in Congress, but in one sense, it is already having a positive effect, said Davis Jenkins, senior research associate at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University.

“It’s getting states and local funders — philanthropies — to invest in this and to look at it,” Jenkins said.