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At the end of April 2021, President Biden unveiled his proposal for the American Families Plan, an ambitious initiative that comes with a $1.8 trillion price tag. Of that amount, approximately $300 billion is earmarked for making community colleges free to anyone who wants to attend.
Making community college free is right in line with why community colleges were founded to begin with: to make higher education more accessible for everyone. Historically, this has been done through low tuition and open access (the latter of which means you don’t have to apply; anyone with a high school diploma or GED can simply enroll).
While enrollment still remains simple, tuition has increased dramatically over the years (46% in the last two decades). Although that jump is not as dramatic as that of four-year public colleges (76%), it still puts the average annual cost ($3,730) out of reach of many college hopefuls.
Higher Education in the American Families Plan
Higher education is just one component of Biden’s overall American Families Plan. Others include childcare, making pre-kindergarten universally free, and subsidizing paid family and medical leave.
Here’s the breakdown of spending for the higher-education portion of the plan, according to Inside Higher Ed:
- Two free years of community college ($109 billion). Since many careers now require at least some education beyond high school, community colleges assist in better preparing students for the workforce. Employed individuals are less likely to require government assistance and further contribute by paying taxes. If the country sees the same ROI as that of Washington State’s community college system, that means a boon of $621 billion.
- Increasing the maximum Pell Grant by $1,400 ($80 billion). The grant has not kept pace with inflation or tuition costs: Whereas it once covered 80% of most four-year colleges, it now covers less than 30%.
- Grants for institutions serving high numbers of low-income students ($62 billion). Per the White House website: “States, territories, and Tribes will receive grants to provide funding to colleges that adopt innovative, proven solutions for student success, including wraparound services ranging from child care and mental health services to faculty and peer mentoring; emergency basic needs grants; practices that recruit and retain diverse faculty; transfer agreements between colleges; and evidence-based remediation programs.”
- Provide tuition assistance to low-income students attending an MSI ($39 billion). Students from families earning less than $125,000 and enrolled in a four-year historically Black college (HBCU), tribally controlled university (TCU), or minority-serving institution (MSI) will receive subsidized tuition for two years.
- Increasing education and funding for teachers. Scholarships for future teachers will double (to $8,000), while $400 million will be spent on teacher preparation at MSIs and $900 million will go to the development of special education teachers.
How Biden’s Plan Furthers the Mission of Community Colleges
Historically, community colleges have been built on three pillars: access, responsiveness to community need, and equity. Each of these pillars stands to benefit from the American Families Plan.
Access. While open-access admissions won’t change in the foreseeable future, some students might not be able to afford even a low-cost community college, meaning their access will be limited due to financial constraints rather than educational ones. By eliminating tuition, the American Families Plan will keep that access open — the way community colleges were originally intended to be.
Community need. Many communities were hit hard by the pandemic, including communities on Hawai’i, which saw tourism — and all its related jobs — all but disappear. Local community colleges, which know the local economy and population better than an institution thousands of miles away, thus shifted to help students find viable new career paths locally. The American Families Plan will allow community colleges across the country to do the same.
Equity. More so than their four-year counterparts, community colleges are uniquely equipped to help level the playing field for under-prepared students, by providing additional resources such as learning centers, counseling, test prep, etc. And because under-prepared students are more likely to come from lower-income households, the American Families Plan gives those individuals the opportunity to take advantage of all the resources that await to guide them on their career journey.
The American Families Plan is a boon for community colleges — and all those they serve. Please write to your representative and both senators to encourage them to vote for the bill to pass. You can find your representative by searching the following websites: