President Obama is planning to propose a new program to pay for the first two years of community college.
In a video uploaded to Facebook on Thursday, President Obama previewed his free community college proposal that he will formally address on Friday in Tennessee.
“Put simply, what I’d like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for anybody who’s willing to work for it,” President Obama said. “It’s something we can accomplish, and it’s something that will train our workforce so that we can compete with anyone in the world.”
Although Obama provided few specifics in the short video, the White House did say that it could save the average student roughly $3,800 in tuition per-year for full-time students. In total, the White House said this initiative could help over 9 million students.
According to the release from the White House, the student would have to maintain a 2.5 GPA, must attend community college at least part-time and make steady progress towards completing their program.
Three-fourths of the average cost of community colleges would come from federal funding, with participating states expected to contribute the rest of the remaining funds for eligible students.
