America's College Promise Explained

America's College Promise was a proposal by the Barack Obama administration to offer all students two free years of community college tuition.[1] It was based on the Tennessee Promise, a similar program for the state of Tennessee. State level programs, like the Tennessee Promise, have faced critique for their ability to fill tangible educational benefits.[2] The bill was referred to committee in July 2015, where it languished.[3] Later that year, Obama announced the College Promise Advisory Board, an independent coalition of American leaders in community college, political, foundation, and business sectors to advocate for the proposal.[4] A criticism of the plan is its lack of focus on existing student loan debt.[5] Senator Tammy Baldwin and Representative Andy Levin re-introduced the bill in July 2019.[6]

Tennessee was the first to offer free community college.[7] To be eligible for the Tennessee Promise, you must meet the requirements of a Tennessee Promise partnering organization, apply senior year and meet application deadlines, attend all team meetings and college orientation, begin in the Fall, maintain at least twelve hours per semester, attend for consecutive semesters, complete FAFSA, maintain a 2.0 GPA, and complete at least eight hours of community service per semester.[8]

Notes and References

  1. News: Mangan . Katherine . Obama Proposes Free Community College for Millions of Students . . 2015-01-08 . en-US . 0009-5982 . mdy-all . August 5, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190302015730/https://www.chronicle.com/article/Obama-Proposes-Free-Community/151097/ . March 2, 2019 . live .
  2. Hightower . Tristan . Tennessee's Promise: Education for All? . Pursuit - the Journal of Undergraduate Research . July 2019 . 9 . 1 .
  3. Alter . Charlotte . Here's What Obama Got Done After the Last State of the Union . . 2016-01-12 . en . 2019-08-05 . mdy-all . https://web.archive.org/web/20170714043837/http://time.com/4175927/heres-what-obama-got-done-after-the-last-state-of-the-union/ . July 14, 2017 . live .
  4. Web site: Smith . Ashley A. . Obama unveils new push for national free community college . Inside Higher Ed . 2015-09-09 . en . 2019-08-05 . mdy-all . https://web.archive.org/web/20190719151744/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/09/obama-unveils-new-push-national-free-community-college . July 19, 2019 . live .
  5. Web site: Osterndorf . Chris . Why colleges have to start caring about student loans . . 2015-03-31 . en . 2019-08-05 . mdy-all . https://web.archive.org/web/20161223120600/http://www.dailydot.com/via/student-debt-crisis-killing-college/ . December 23, 2016 . live .
  6. Web site: America's College Promise Act re-introduced . Community College Daily . July 24, 2019 . May 10, 2020.
  7. Web site: Tennessee Promise. August 6, 2014.
  8. Web site: TN Promise. April 25, 2018.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "America's College Promise".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.