On July 7, UNC-Chapel Hill announced a policy change. Beginning in 2024, the UNC System’s flagship will waive tuition and fees for in-state students whose family income is below or … Continue reading “Understanding Chapel Hill’s Tuition Giveaway”
House Democrats have released their draft plan to make free community college a reality across much of the country, at a price tag of over $100 billion. The obsession with … Continue reading “Why Free Community College Solves The Wrong Problem”
Now that President Biden has been sworn in as the 46th president, he wants to hit the ground running and attend to urgent priorities. One of his first moves was … Continue reading “Biden Could Shake Up Higher Ed—If He Doesn’t Endorse the Status Quo”
Recently, several states have adopted policies that ostensibly make college education free to their residents, but with strings attached to this benefit. The most famous program is undoubtedly New York’s. … Continue reading “Attaching Strings to “Free” College Education Makes No Sense”
During last week’s hearings on President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, Senator Bernie Sanders asked her, “Will you work with me and others to make public colleges … Continue reading “Hillary Clinton Lost, But Her “Free” College Idea Lives On”
One of the pillars of our education establishment, The Education Trust, recently published a report that’s meant to pressure colleges and universities with large endowments into spending more of their … Continue reading “The Education Trust Falls for the Chivas Regal Effect”
In his State of the Union address, President Obama pitched his plan for making two years of community college as “free and universal in America as high school is today.” He thinks it would be a great thing. But at the community college where I taught English from 2007 to 2010, Georgia Perimeter College, the joke was that it was already an extension of high school.
I am strongly committed to higher education, especially in the sciences and math where we are lagging other countries. I also understand that there are students of limited means, and they need a hand up in life. But we seem to no longer draw rational lines between serious students who need assistance, and the many non-serious students who squander it.