OfTheCross
Veteran
Never realized how easy it is to afford higher education in Cali...y'all got it good.
Making Free Community College Work in Every State
Equal payments, unequal impact
We estimate that the national median community college tuition in 2017–18, the most recent year for which data are available, was $4,128. Using the committee’s formula for the fifth year of payments, that price means each state that opts into the program receives federal funds totaling $3,302 (80 percent of the national median) per student.
In California, tuition averages $1,268, meaning the federal payment offsets tuition more than twice. California would still be required to kick in its share—$826 per student—and must spend the extra funds on higher education, though not necessarily on community colleges.
The opposite is true in Minnesota, where tuition averages $5,381. The 80 percent federal payment falls $2,079 short of financing free tuition, so Minnesota would need to contribute both its 20 percent requirement—$826 per student—and an additional $1,253 per student.
The advantage of this approach is that federal funding per student is the same regardless of where that student lives, but the downside is that using the national median as a benchmark often does not line up well with what it would cost to fund free community college in each state. A spreadsheet with funding and tuition data for the 48 states with community college systems is available here.
Making Free Community College Work in Every State
Equal payments, unequal impact
We estimate that the national median community college tuition in 2017–18, the most recent year for which data are available, was $4,128. Using the committee’s formula for the fifth year of payments, that price means each state that opts into the program receives federal funds totaling $3,302 (80 percent of the national median) per student.
In California, tuition averages $1,268, meaning the federal payment offsets tuition more than twice. California would still be required to kick in its share—$826 per student—and must spend the extra funds on higher education, though not necessarily on community colleges.
The opposite is true in Minnesota, where tuition averages $5,381. The 80 percent federal payment falls $2,079 short of financing free tuition, so Minnesota would need to contribute both its 20 percent requirement—$826 per student—and an additional $1,253 per student.
The advantage of this approach is that federal funding per student is the same regardless of where that student lives, but the downside is that using the national median as a benchmark often does not line up well with what it would cost to fund free community college in each state. A spreadsheet with funding and tuition data for the 48 states with community college systems is available here.
