By Rhonda Leonard, staff writer
President Barrack Obama’s college tuition proposal will give many Americans a great start to their college experience. His proposal will increase graduation rates and place more people into the middle class.
However, there is a lot of opposition to his plan. Helping every American with the ability to start community college off tuition free should go a long way.
If a student is allowed to attend community college tuition free, the hope is they will have more successful rates of graduation and continuation of higher education.
President Obama’s proposal addresses quality and reforms so to ensure student success, but does not include extra funding to obtain these efforts.
We’re not just talking about anyone; we’re talking about the future educators and leaders of America. We most definitely need to invest in our future.
Requiring students themselves pay for a portion of their college tuition expenses can help ensure they continue in their education.
However, asking a student to pay for their entire community college tuition is only aiding in many students’ decisions not to attend community college due to rising costs.
It is OK to require students to pay for a small portion of their community college expenses. Society at large should be required to pay for a much larger portion of that educational expense in order to ensure an overall better society.
We need to not only think about how students can afford college, but the bigger picture of how to make college more affordable.
There is a big difference in affording college versus affordable college expenses that we need to address and fix in order to protect our future.
We need to encompass all Americans previously excluded from obtaining a community college degree due to affordability. We as a society must invest more time and money to help build our future generation with education and opportunities.
Rhonda Leonard can be reached at [email protected] or (217) 786-2311.