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I still don't see your point about people who "just barely cannot get in". Most community college students did not need to do anything to get in. For the public

by smeyer 12y ago

I still don't see your point about people who "just barely cannot get in". Most community college students did not need to do anything to get in. For the public community colleges in California, if I recall correctly, you just need to be 18 (or have a high school diploma or meet some other conditions.) Why do you think that funding community college would result in more students like the bottom 10% of those currently in community college classes?

danielweber 12y ago
> As Reihan Salam of National Review notes, community college tuition is already low. In fact, it’s zero, on average, for lower-income families, after taking financial aid into account. Vox’s Libby Nelson wrote, “Community college tuition for poorer students is often entirely covered by the need-based Pell Grant.” So making it free takes care of people who couldn't handle the paperwork of filing for a Pell Grant. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/upshot/obamas-community-college-plan-a-reading-list.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/upshot/obamas-community-co...
- learc83 12y ago
  They're still going to have to fill out the applications to get in, which aren't significantly different in difficulty from the FAFSA. And most colleges have people who will help you fill out the FAFSA anyway. I can't imagine that eliminating the FAFSA form requirements will allow a noticeably larger number of substandard students to attend.
  - fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
    I can't either, (not proportionally larger) and if it does, I'd expect to see those individuals shunted into the remedial math and language courses which are already offered for that purpose.
- fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
  >In fact, it’s zero, on average, for lower-income families, after taking financial aid into account. Vox’s Libby Nelson wrote, “Community college tuition for poorer students is often entirely covered by the need-based Pell Grant.” It may be true that tuition is free for some, but to say it is often or on average probably depends upon a strange definition of the word. Anyway, the students' expense is not zero, there are never enough Pell grants to go around. Tuition is not the only cost. etc. >So making it free takes care of people who couldn't handle the paperwork of filing for a Pell Grant. My own experience in the '90s was that the time I spent filling out forms and travelling to offices and standing in lines would have been better spent at a minimum wage job.

by smeyer 12y ago

danielweber 12y ago

> As Reihan Salam of National Review notes, community college tuition is already low. In fact, it’s zero, on average, for lower-income families, after taking financial aid into account. Vox’s Libby Nelson wrote, “Community college tuition for poorer students is often entirely covered by the need-based Pell Grant.” So making it free takes care of people who couldn't handle the paperwork of filing for a Pell Grant. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/upshot/obamas-community-college-plan-a-reading-list.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/upshot/obamas-community-co...

learc83 12y ago
They're still going to have to fill out the applications to get in, which aren't significantly different in difficulty from the FAFSA. And most colleges have people who will help you fill out the FAFSA anyway. I can't imagine that eliminating the FAFSA form requirements will allow a noticeably larger number of substandard students to attend.
- fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
  I can't either, (not proportionally larger) and if it does, I'd expect to see those individuals shunted into the remedial math and language courses which are already offered for that purpose.
fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
>In fact, it’s zero, on average, for lower-income families, after taking financial aid into account. Vox’s Libby Nelson wrote, “Community college tuition for poorer students is often entirely covered by the need-based Pell Grant.” It may be true that tuition is free for some, but to say it is often or on average probably depends upon a strange definition of the word. Anyway, the students' expense is not zero, there are never enough Pell grants to go around. Tuition is not the only cost. etc. >So making it free takes care of people who couldn't handle the paperwork of filing for a Pell Grant. My own experience in the '90s was that the time I spent filling out forms and travelling to offices and standing in lines would have been better spent at a minimum wage job.