Free public college
The "Free Public College" movement has been growing since President Obama first suggested supplemental federal funding for community colleges in his 2015 State of the Union Address. Since then, there have been a variety of federal proposals introduced in Congress to provide institutional aid to all public colleges, state-level free public college programs have been proliferating, and "free public college" has become a popular progressive campaign promise.
The Biden-Harris campaign included “free public college” as one of its policy planks for Beyond High School, and is expected to submit proposals to reflect these ideas as part of the Biden Administration's budget.
During the 116th Congress, the House Education and Labor Committee introduced the College Affordability Act, which includes “America’s College Promise,” a federal-state partnership for tuition waivers at public community colleges. Additionally, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the College for All Act, which would provide free public two- and four-year tuition for families making less than $125,000. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee did not release comprehensive Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization legislation during the 116th Congress. With Democrats in control of the House and Senate for the 117th Congress, action on an HEA reauthorization that includes some form of “free college” is expected.
NAICU supports the Partnership for Affordability and Student Success (PASS) Act, introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), which expands the existing federal-state partnership to increase state need-based grant aid.
At the state level, free public two-year or community college tuition is also gaining traction as several states have enacted or proposed legislation. New York enacted free public four-year tuition in 2017, and a few other states are considering similar initiatives. However, “free four-year” has not had the momentum of “free two-year” in the states.
A key concern with these programs is that they do not target resources to low-income students. Private, nonprofit colleges, public four-year, and public two-year colleges all have about the same percentage of Pell Grant students in their enrollments. All colleges serve a public mission, even if the independent sector does not get additional state support. The federal higher education investment must remain focused on low-income students, wherever they chose to attend