Obama will announce this today. Notice the language about being “responsible” and “working for it.” God forbid people should just give us stuff as if we were billionaires:
Nearly a century ago, a movement that made high school widely available helped lead to rapid growth in the education and skills training of Americans, driving decades of economic growth and prosperity. America thrived in the 20th century in large part because we had the most educated workforce in the world. But other nations have matched or exceeded the secret to our success. Today, more than ever, Americans need more knowledge and skills to meet the demands of a growing global economy without having to take on decades of debt before they even embark on their career.
Today the President is unveiling the America’s College Promise proposal to make two years of community college free for responsible students, letting students earn the first half of a bachelor’s degree and earn skills needed in the workforce at no cost. This proposal will require everyone to do their part: community colleges must strengthen their programs and increase the number of students who graduate, states must invest more in higher education and training, and students must take responsibility for their education, earn good grades, and stay on track to graduate. The program would be undertaken in partnership with states and is inspired by new programs in Tennessee and Chicago. If all states participate, an estimated 9 million students could benefit. A full-time community college student could save an average of $3,800 in tuition per year.
In addition, today the President will propose a new American Technical Training Fund to expand innovative, high-quality technical training programs similar to Tennessee Tech Centers that meet employer needs and help prepare more Americans for better paying jobs. These proposals build on a number of historic investments the President has made in college affordability and quality since taking office, including a $1,000 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award to help working and middle class families, the creation of the $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit, reforming student loans to eliminate subsidies to banks to invest in making college more affordable and keeping student debt manageable, and making available over $2 billion in grants to connect community colleges with employers to develop programs that are designed to get hard-working students good jobs.
Any kind of support for education is better than his previous pushes that consisted of firing teachers and replacing them with testing software.
But it took Obama six years to think of it? Why now, when he knows it hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in Congress?
Why not in his first two years when he had a fully Dem Congress and could have actually done it?
Obama’s problem, or sneaky plan, is to only do things half way.
In this case he pisses off the capitalist Republicans who only want those who can afford college to go to college. After all government is too big already.
He pisses off Democrats who want anyone who wants to go to college to be fully funded. College should be free to everyone.
So Obama starts a huge fight that pits one group against the other and in the end nothing gets done.
At which point Obama claims that he did all that he could. What a fucker Obama is.
This is a proposal for training future employees to fit better into the capitalist structure, using public money.
The capitalists want ready-to-hire vocationally-trained graduates, but they don’t want to pay their share of taxes to make this happen.