New York to offer free college tuition to families making less than 125k

Remedymp

It doesn't make sense for your tax dollars to pay for a public institution and then you pay for the tuition to attend that institution.

So, it's not "wasted resources" when your tax dollars already pay for it.

YesOffense

Seems like a great idea, surprised by all the negativity. Taxes are a certainty, I have no problem with it going towards education or to help someone. America is a selfish nation.

tunerX

I don't see why they should check the parents income level.

For public/state schools it should be free 2-4 year school for everyone before their 26th birthday with deferments base on military service. The first two years should be community college and the last two could be a state school if academic performance criteria is met.

And this should only be at the state level. The feds need to keep their noses out of it.

Remedymp

tunerX wrote: »

I don't see why they should check the parents income level.

For public/state schools it should be free 2-4 year school for everyone before their 26th birthday with deferments base on military service. The first two years should be community college and the last two could be a state school if academic performance criteria is met.

And this should only be at the state level. The feds need to keep their noses out of it.

You're already paying for it even if you don't attend. So, a parents income or age doesn't matter to an attendee. As long as you're a registered citizen and pay taxes, the institutions should be fully accessible to the citizens.

You don't see anyone paying to go to public library for information.

The days of Community Colleges are over. They don't exactly serve the purpose they were originally intended for. The only way to maintain them at this point is to consolidate the 2 year institutions with the High schools to increase their yearly federal budget.

The bureaucracy are the main hurdle to accessibility of public education (amongst other institutions).

Danielm7

I think it's a great idea. As others have said, I'd rather see funds go to decent education than many of the other things we already fund. As witnessed in my workplace, and probably most of the people here, plans that allow you to go to school for free and be stuck in a location/job for the same number of years after aren't always as taken advantage of as you'd think. I'm in a huge IT dept, barely any of them even have BS degrees, everyone gets tuition reimbursement. One guy has been here 28 years since he graduated HS, he could have a doctorate 4x over by now, still doesn't bother. I think the idea that programs like this suddenly making degrees useless is a stretch.

Russ5813

Part of the reason that college degrees have become the new high school diplomas is because the state of our public education system has significantly devalued the diploma. It will continue to be a problem, no matter how much money is thrown at it, until some very real education reform is made.

Increasing government subsidies simply means that tuition costs will continue to spiral out of control while ultimately costing taxpayers even more, which could price some families out of a college option completely (without those lovely student loans, of course).

Point being, our government has this nasty habit of ruining business and education. It's fine that this program will benefit some families that may not have had the option before, but it's ultimately a short-term, unsustainable solution to a problem created in part by government in the first place.

And yes, on top of (probably) increased taxes, you'll see jobs offer less money as the supply of qualified candidates increases.

NetworkingStudent

I have a different take on this issue.

What happened to hard work?

People want free college, free internet, and oh don't even get me started on people working at Mc Donald's wanting 15.00 dollars an hour to start.

I just feel like no one wants to work for anything anymore, they just want things handed to them.

---

I think the government needs to focus on shutting down more for profits schools(IIT tech, ect), especially the ones NOT regionally accredited. Also, they need to find ways to help students that currently have student loan debt before handing out free education.

The next recession will be due to student loan debt. Just wait...

Iristheangel

Who says someone won't be working hard just because they don't have to pay for the cheapest type of college out there? Why the assumption that because someone uses a social program to get to a better place, they are hard-work adverse?

Also did you read the article? I'll give you the highlights:
The budget deal also contains two other measures related to college affordability:

- $8 million will be provided for promoting and distributing open educational resources (free online education materials) for SUNY and CUNY students. The systems have been urged to focus on high-enrollment courses, with the goal of minimizing or eliminating textbook costs for those courses.

- A new grant program will be created for students who attend private colleges in the state, with a maximum award of $3,000. However, private colleges would be required to match the grants, and to freeze tuition for the duration of a student's grant.

Zimpher also noted that the bill includes requirements that students enroll full time and maintain minimum grade point averages. This will "move the completion dial," she said.

They have to commit to college full time and maintain a desirable GPA. As I've said many times on this thread, most adults have debt and bills to pay so most will still probably have to have a job while going to full time school. Keeping that GPA up and working hard to pay the bills while going to school full time isn't going to appeal to the majority of slackers. It's called "hard work." Just because they have one less bill to pay (tuition) than you or I had doesn't mean they are working less hard to get it but it will open doors for the folks who can't pay an extra $4-6K a year to go to community college. The budget also takes into account raising tuition rates for private colleges if they're going to take public grants and also allocates money for free open educational resources for SUNY and CUNY.

Iristheangel

Russ5813 wrote: »

And yes, on top of (probably) increased taxes, you'll see jobs offer less money as the supply of qualified candidates increases.

Probably some increase in taxes but I doubt we'll see a crazy influx of college educated candidates. For every job I've ever worked that offered free training, tuition reimbursement, certification costs, etc, only a tinest fraction of the employees would take advantage of it. California has cheaper community college rates and we are at an average for people who have some college or 2 year degrees. You think a bunch of slackers are going to jump into full time college, maintain their GPA and then be forced to stay in the state? For what purpose? They aren't getting living expenses, dorms, or anything else out of this deal.

Remedymp

It's amazing to see some people argue against this ideal. As if people are education isn't a human right or something.

NetworkNewb

Iristheangel wrote: »

For every job I've ever worked that offered free training, tuition reimbursement, certification costs, etc, only a tinest fraction of the employees would take advantage of it.

That's a good point. My company gives everyone in IT a CBT Nuggets account and I have access to the admin account. I'll sometimes go in there to look at the reports of who is doing what in there. Maybe 10% ever even logs in and watches anything.

Hopefully this "free college" helps those out who needs it and can put it to good use.

blatini

It's pretty depressing reading this thread. I am not sure how you can go through life and not feel like we as people are in this together and want to see other people succeed.

Maybe some day you will lose that incredible tier 2 job you have and fall on hard times and learn why different programs like these exist.

Queue

Seems legit, glad were moving away from only "Low income" families getting a leg up.

I don't think it will drive down salaries.


@NetworkNewb

I watched 5 or so videos and was in first place on my companies CBT Nuggets leaderboard.

Iristheangel

NetworkNewb wrote: »

That's a good point. My company gives everyone in IT a CBT Nuggets account and I have access to the admin account. I'll sometimes go in there to look at the reports of who is doing what in there. Maybe 10% ever even logs in and watches anything.

Totally. I am lucky enough to work at a company that will pay for a certain amount of CCIE lab attempts, VOD membership with a top vendor paid for, mentorship programs for CCIEs, and a nice bonus for certing and re-certing. Yet only a tiny fraction take advantage of it My friends a VARs and companies with similar policies say that same thing.

Russ5813

I'm sorry if I gave the impression that there'd be a "crazy influx" of candidates. Most of what I described is not an overnight process--it often takes years to see the effect on the economy. Again, I'm not really concerned with students' motivations as much as I am with the impact these programs have on the quality of education being delivered, or how deeply Uncle Sam has to dive into my pocket to support it.

I'm not opposed to providing tuition for people in need, but if the government's track record with educational programs is any useful indicator, this will be yet another drain on taxpayers with insufficient ROI. We've been throwing money at this problem for years with virtually zero improvement. More money is not the solution. There's nothing philanthropic about forcing others to pay for things you want for yourself or others.

chrisone

Some of you are letting your political shackles intervene with personal responses and attacks. Just my simple observation here....

SteveLavoie

Same here, free Pluralsight account on request. Most request it once.. and use it for a few minutes a month for the first 2-3 month (if they are very motivated), then they don't use it anymore. Even free training is not pushing people to train themself.

On the college/university, I am from Quebec, it is probably one of the cheapest (not free) place in North America for college education. One year of Cegep (community college) is like 400$ CAD for a year and there are many help program. Even with that, there is no hordes of people in college. Many colleges are struggling with falling enrollment... So being free don't push people to study.

Iristheangel

Russ5813 wrote: »

There's nothing philanthropic about forcing others to pay for things you want for yourself or others.

I could say that of every thing I don't like in the federal and state budget. For example, if I don't agree that we need more submarines, I don't have an "opt out of DoD contractor funding" checkbox on my tax return either. We all pay for things we don't always agree with. Depending on which side of the political spectrum you are on, you might have a different assessment of what you find necessary and not necessary. That's a much broader conversation outside these forums. In terms of this particular thread, the state isn't letting them cut and run out of the state or crap out on their GPA. If they do, this free tuition converts to school loans and they pay just like anyone else. By having to stay inside the state for X amount of years after college, they're adding direct revenue back to the state in terms of taxes (not to mention other forms of regressive taxes that person might pay in those years). In one way or another, that person pays some back.

Fulcrum45

Only somewhat related to the topic at hand: I once showed interested in a small for-profit school when I was getting started in the field. When it came down to money and curriculum they insisted that I take a 2 year program. I only wanted a class here and there- something formal but not a degree of any kind. They wanted 30K for a two year degree. It finally dawned on me that I was never intended to pay that myself- I was expected to get student loan/ aid to pay for this useless degree- hence the price. They hounded me for weeks afterward and when I finally told them that my 4 year degree (not IT related) cost just as much as their little 2 year program the calls stopped.

Slowhand

I think we've gone as far as we can go on this merry-go-round. I'm closing the thread before we really wade into the ideological reeds.