Community College Argumentative Analysis

Access to a college education is getting easier for the underserved. There are two initiatives in particular which are designed to open opportunities for more people to pursue a college education. Some states, including Tennessee, Oregon, and Minnesota have passed laws to provide free community college. Moreover, some twenty-plus states are allowing community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees. Although seen by many as an encouraging step in educating the citizens of the country, these initiatives are stirring up controversy among conservatives and liberals as well as universities. The idea of free college is not new. California residents could attend college basically free of charge for many years. The concept is now being revived in several states. Tennessee governor, Bill Haslam signed the “Tennessee Promise” which spurred the state of Oregon to pass a similar bill. The Oregon program comes with a price tag to the state of $10 million per year. All eligible students will receive a minimum of $1,000. If their tuition is already covered by Pell grants and other aid, then the student can use the $1,000 to pay for other school related expenses. President Obama proposed a program called “America’s College Promise” which, if passed, would offer a matching federal grant of $3 for every $1 of state funds. These programs would come with some requirements. The Tennessee plan requires that a recipient must be a resident of the state for a year and have a high school diploma or equivalent. They must have a high school grade point average of at least 2.5. Students must enroll within 6 months of graduating from high school. The two-fold problem with this is that it would be of no assistance to non-traditional students and could pressure young people to start college before they may be ready. University proponents argue that offering free community college tuition …show more content…
This idea was born out of the “needs of modern workforce” (Chen, 2015). There are many advantages for students and society. Average community college tuition in 2013 and 2014 was about $8,000 less annually than at a university. A four-year degree at a community college could save a student around $30,000 in tuition alone. Community colleges tend to be more flexible in schedules, often offering weekend, night, and distance learning to fit the schedules of non-traditional students who have other responsibilities. This flexibility also works well for younger, traditional students. Community colleges usually have smaller class sizes, offering more personal interactions with instructors as well as other students. Community college degrees are geared more toward jobs. “The community college has become an institution that seeks to provide training that not only will produce better citizens but that also will meet the needs of our economy for a greater number of trained workers and the needs of young people for jobs” (Hunt, 2014). Some people who already have degrees are going back to community college for training that will be useful in the current job market. There are disadvantages to getting a bachelor’s degree at a community college. First, the types of degrees are limited. The community colleges had to agree to only offer limited degrees in order to avoid competing with universities for students. Secondly, warranted or not, there is a stigma attached to community college degrees. There will likely always be some in the world of academia who will view the community college degree as inferior to a university