In his State of the Union address, President Obama discussed his plan to make two years of community college free to millions of students.  Modelled after the Tennessee Promise, the America’s College Promise plan aims to restore the title of ‘most educated workforce in the world’ to the United States.  The federal government would cover 75% of tuition while participating states cover the other 25%.

Takeaways: 

- Beneficiaries of the plan will need to maintain a 2.5 grade-point average, attend at least half time, and make steady progress towards program completion 

- Academic programs are eligible if they fully transfer to public four-year institutions or to job-training programs 

- 40% of all American college students are educated by the nation’s 1,100 community colleges 

- Funding would come from his proposed tax-reform plan, in which taxes are increased on the nation’s wealthiest and financial firms, with streamlined higher education tax credits and rolling back tax breaks for college-savings plans 

- It is expected that, by 2020, 35% of jobs will require a bachelor’s degree and 30% will require some college or an associate degree 

To further increase access to higher education, the president has also proposed the elimination of 27 questions on FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

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