Link - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/14/nyregion/for-cuomos-free-tuition-plan-lessons-from-tennessee.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront
Sunday, May 14, 2017
For Cuomo’s Free-Tuition Plan, Lessons From Tennessee
In this article it talks about the plans that Cuomo has for free tuition. It begins by speaking on how Tennessee basically started the whole trend with making college more affordable/ free when they made it so that all community colleges had free tuition. Specifically it says "a speaker came to her school to talk about a new state program, Tennessee Promise, that would pay the tuition for all students at the state’s community colleges ... Her journey is an increasingly familiar one in Tennessee, and one that a growing number of states are trying to replicate with programs that pay tuition, usually at the community college level, for a broad number of students." It then goes on to mention New York's version of what Tennessee was doing-the excelsior scholarship-and briefly mentions how its different. Basically while the excelsior scholarship is geared towards free tuition for "middle class students", Tennessee is just making all the community colleges tuition-free for all students there. The article then goes on to give some of the already-present after effects of what Tennessee is doing. In the article it says "For the past two years, Tennessee has led the nation in Fafsa applications. Seventy percent of high school seniors there fill one out, 13 percentage points higher than New York, according to federal Department of Education figures. The number of Tennessee students applying for federal loans, meanwhile, dropped by 17 percent in 2015, said Joni E. Finney, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, who was a co-author of a report in April analyzing higher education in Tennessee." My question for you guys is do you think that New York should follow Tennessee's lead and just make community college tuition free? The article also mentioned the fact that while, as a whole, college enrollment went up, it still went down for four year institutions because more and more people were just going to two year community colleges since it offered free tuition. This could potentially cause people to want to work after instead of just pursuing their bachelors degree in one go. What do you feel would be the most optimal and realistic pathway towards raising the education level of New York citizens as a whole?
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I believe that New York should follow Tennessee with free community college tuition. College is very expensive and there are very little affordable options. Yes there are several grant and scholarship programs, but it is. It enough. You need above average grades in order to get money and even with those grades, there is still competition for those scholarships. Because community colleges tend to be two years, they should be free. Or they should lower the cost of attending college. Also most of college cost come from room and board. I'm this alone should lower or make tuition free. If not, they should lower defense spending and increase education spending so there would be more money to go around and lower costs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bryce when he says the cost should be reduced altogether. With free tuition not only will it save people from taking out loans but life after college will be easier for people. If people have more money since they aren't going to be neck deep in loans there will be more money back into circulation from what they use that money on. Bryce also touched on the idea of reducing funding from defense and increasing educational funds. If more money was put towards education then having free tuition wouldn't be so detrimental. With more funding and the idea of more money in circulation as I stated before we might not see negative changes in our economy. I feel like eventually it would balance itself out and we would have an increase of educated people.
DeleteI agree with this, but just to play devils advocate do you feel as though this could potentially have detrimental effects in the long run? If more and more people are able to go to college and begin pursuing higher degrees the economy might end up taking a turn for the worse. Have more "educated" people means have more wealthy people. This could cause the decrease in value of money which would cause inflation. From another standpoint one could argue that this would cause aspiring students to have reduced effort. If they all know they can just get in a community college practically for free(as long as they are staying at home, so they dont have to pay room and board) then why try harder to get that scholarship for a four year school. The article also talked about a trend with how more and more people weren't trying to get any degree past their almost-free two year one, so its not like they're going to do that after. Finally if everyone is able to go what makes it any better than a competitive highschool?
DeleteI agree with the fact that we should follow their policy when it comes to free/reduced prices. One issue that I could see with this is those students seeking education at better performing schools. Saying that you can go to school for free or for a reasonable price if you simple attend a local school, may limit certain students that are, for example, Harvard, Yale etc. I feel the most realistic pathway for New Yorkers is to find a way to grant more aid to students. It seems like what we do now, but some people that make a significant amount of money aren't granted aid because of that reason alone. I feel like intelligent students shouldn't be limited the college experience or the college of their choice/dream because of financial reasons.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion and what I learned so far is that yes taking tuition off helps but the main cost is room and board. No we can not get both taking off completely but if these states really want to help then why not make room and board free. I feel as if that would help and make a bigger impact than cutting tuition off.
ReplyDeleteI agree with bryce. There are a lot of students who would like the oppertunity of going to college but can afford it. I think that its nice that they would like to take that next step in life. They would like to go to community college, a place thats not top notch but a place where you can get the education that you need. If they take this option they wouldnt need to pay an expensive amount because they will be very close to home
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