Community Colleges

Had I not gone to community college -- at night while changing tires and covering football games (stringing) -- I would not have a four-year edumacation. It's pretty simple. I encouraged my young Soldiers to take advantage of it by giving each of them two free days off work for each college class they completed. Many of them took me up on it and are better off for it.

 

I think it will limit participation to those who really want it, dq -- just as a $10 sign-up fee limits an after-school activity to people who want to be there. if they're just handing out money to anyone, you'll have even higher dropout rates than you do now.

 

Seems to me it might accomplish about the same as the President's plan for a lot less money.

 

The president's plan is free.

 

As for community colleges, I would not be as successfully condescending were it not for that freshman English class I took right after high school.

 

Didn't go to a juco, but have been in and around them for years on the beat. If a student is not sure what he/she wants to major in, it's a cheap way to get their GE out of the way and explore a few fields. And they do change lives.

 

The older of my 2 kids is a late-bloomer academically -- very late, in fact -- and would have zero chance to get into any 4-year school with the transcript he currently possesses.

But he's finally starting to get his shit together, was on the A-B honor roll for the first time after the first 9 weeks of his Sr. year, and seems genuinely interested in pursuing higher education.

For a kid like him, Virginia's excellent community college system is a godsend.

He gets to live at home and keep his PT job, so no temptation to party every night and sleep all day -- which is basically what his idiot father did as a freshman. (Academic probation? Who cares?)

$8,000 for 2 years of dopey gen-ed classes is a massive bargain.

And while the threshold differs for each college/university, if he gets his Associates and keeps the GPA around 3.0, the guaranteed acceptance program will give him an opportunity to finish a 4-year degree at a nice state school.

On the other hand, if he enrolls in classes, realizes college really isn't for him and decides to go another route, the financial hit is way less than it otherwise would've been.

Struggling to see the downside here...

 

You know what? I've flipped on this. I paid my way through college and I know tons of people who worked their asses off to do the same.

I think costs should be lowered, especially at the public university level, but I don't think it should be given away for free.

 

I agree.

A little secret in VA is it seems a lot easier to get into Tech and UVA by going the CC route rather than fighting it out when you are a high school senior.

 

What this program is trying to accomplish is having more skilled workers in America. These workers will not be on Wick and other government handouts, so I am OK giving people a handout now rather than for the rest of their lives.

The downside of making them pay it back if they fail is you are actually making them poorer, and I think this was started to bring up the lower class, not cripple some of them even more.

 

Community college is great. Wife has an associate's degree and makes twice as much as I've ever made plus monthly bonuses. My bachelors is toilet paper in comparison. Wish I had done things differently 15 years ago.

 

The only way this makes even a little sense is if it includes a tuition price freeze. As soon as this passes (which it won't) the price of community college will begin to skyrocket. And why not? There is no pressure to keep the cost down since the feds are picking up the tab.