WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Thursday announced a proposal that President Barack Obama said would make community college "free for everybody who is willing to work for it." But administration officials provided no details about the program's costs or where the money would come to pay for it.

Obama planned to formally announce the plan Friday at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee. He gave a preview in a videotaped message shot aboard Air Force One and posted on Facebook.

"It's not just for kids," Obama said. "We also have to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to constantly train themselves for better jobs, better wages, better benefits."

Obama provided few specifics, and White House and Education Department officials on a conference call with reporters Thursday evening said the funding details would come out later with the president's budget.

The White House did say that if all states participated, that nine million students could benefit — saving on average $3,800 in tuition per year for a full-time student. That means the program could cost in the billions of dollars. In a Republican-led Congress, the proposal likely faces a tough legislative fight to be passed.

"With no details or information on the cost, this seems more like a talking point than a plan," said Cory Fritz, press secretary for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Under the proposal, participating students would be expected to maintain a modest grade point average and participating schools would have to meet certain academic requirements. States would opt in to the program and put up a fraction of the funding.

"Put simply, what I'd like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who is willing to work for it," the president said.

David Baime, vice president for government relations at the American Association of Community Colleges, called the plan an "extraordinary" investment. He said the essence of the proposal is to reduce the cost of attending community college and "that is a concept that we heartily endorse."

Last year, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed into law a scholarship program using lottery funding that provides free community and technical college tuition for two years to the state's high school graduates.

The scholarship program faced opposition in Tennessee from some of the state's private colleges and legislators concerned that the program could potentially divert students and scholarship dollars from four-year schools. Haslam has said the program will increase the pool of students going to college.

The White House said its proposal was inspired by the Tennessee plan and another similar program in Chicago.

 Breotan wrote:
And this will get through the Republican congress how? Oh, wait, it isn't supposed to, is it?

 DarkLink wrote:
Is this going to be like his plan for free universal healthcare: everyone is now required to go to 2 years of college or face a fine?

"With no details or information on the cost"

 Wyrmalla wrote:
What does community college equate to here in the UK? I'm wondering just how many countries actually have free Higher Education? At least here in Scotland you can sit through five years of the stuff, but well that's something which perhaps was more of a political stunt than anything. Now the question is does having a better educated population stimulate the economy? I mean at least on paper it does. I don't know how such a thing would improve the uptake in people actually going through Higher Education, but I'll say that I certainly wouldn't have been able to be in the position I'm in if I had to pay for it.

Like I said though, does having better qualified people actually equate to economic growth? It sounds like it should, though to me that also means more competing for the same jobs. Meh, I'm all for this sort of thing, its whether or not in the end it'd be economically feasible, or well yes, if the whole thing would be made a joke of like the free healthcare bill.

 DarkLink wrote:
Is this going to be like his plan for free universal healthcare: everyone is now required to go to 2 years of college or face a fine?

 Breotan wrote:
Do on-line (scam) colleges get to participate?

 Sigvatr wrote:
Obama is like an internet ad right now, just promising stuff for free with it actuall being a scam.

 Breotan wrote:
Community college is essentially a state-run education center that helps people get their first two years of college done (associates degree) at far less cost than in a four-year university. This is useful in a few ways. First, poorer people can get into college. Second, dropouts don't have to wind up in the poor house over massive debt. Third, since universities also have a sizable dropout rate they can farm the local community colleges for those people capable and willing to pursue the last two years at the university and get their Masters degree.

chaos0xomega wrote:
I think a lot of people don't realize that:
1. This is a very very good thing for this country, both societally and economically.
2. The costs associated with this are relatively insignificant. Community colleges are inexpensive to operate, even cheaper than the mandatory K-12 education. The likely (and I think intelligent) outcome of this move is that everyone will receive 2 free years, but prices for additional community college education beyond that will be more expensive in order to subsidize/offset the costs. I think its a very reasonable and fair tradeoff.

 Ouze wrote:

 DarkLink wrote:
Is this going to be like his plan for free universal healthcare: everyone is now required to go to 2 years of college or face a fine?

Well said. In theory I like the idea of taxpayer subsidized higher education for qualified students with proper benchmarks and qualifications, just as I liked the idea of taxpayer funded healthcare, but after seeing how the latter was implemented - a huge handjob for the insurance companies - I can at best be super dubious about the prospect of this.

 Ouze wrote:
I was very careful not to use that specific phrase, because of course, we never did.

 Paradigm wrote:
As an outsider, I fail to see how this is in any way a bad thing. Greater availability of education is something that can only improve people's quality of life, as well as providing a significant economic boost and greater social mobility. Bravo, Mr Obama.

I can't see why the government would stand against this, but it seems like they're going to.

 Breotan wrote:


Still, there are larger questions. What about technical schools? Do on-line (scam) colleges get to participate? Do old people get to go or is this for young-uns only? How easy would it be to game the system and bounce from college to college (even if state to state) and essentially stay in school forever?