Top Iowa Story: Obama Pitching Free Tuition For Community College
Here's today's key story out of the Iowa local press: The Des Moines Register reports that Barack Obama will give a speech outlining a plan to provide free tuition for community colleges, through a $4,000 refundable tax credit. “An ever-expanding American Dream: this is the legacy – and the promise – of the community college system in America,” Obama will say. The speech is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. in Fort Dodge.
The plan would clearly make Obama an attractive option to students who might participate in the caucus. And because it would involve community colleges, its prospective beneficiaries in Iowa would all be in-staters — high school seniors and current community college students, plus their parents — many of whom will be around on January 3.
Good idea. Does California even do that anymore? There was a time when they did.
November 19, 2007 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary is for this, too, provided the idea gets a good reaction over the next couple of days.
November 19, 2007 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Eric (or anyone), do you have any idea if this plan is really anything new, or if it's just expanding on the "Reclaiming the American Dream" middle class revival plan? That plan already details the $4,000 CC tax credit, along with just about everything else the article mentions.
Also, for comparison, here's some details from the strikingly similar Edwards plan, released back in May 2007.
November 19, 2007 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right, because that's what we should read into it. Not that this is a good idea for workers, competitiveness or anything else...that it will appeal to a very small subset in Iowa.
I'm getting to the point where I can tell Kleefield's posts from Sargent's without reading the byline.
November 19, 2007 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is starting to sound more like your standard politician every day, unfortunately. He's got a new promise de jour to toss out to whatever audience he's speaking to, but we all know how many of these promises ever come to fruition.
I'm still waiting for the candidate that tells the American people we can't afford to live above our means any longer, and we better get our financial house in order. that's the guy that gets my vote.
November 19, 2007 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is a shame that you cannot just call Obama's office, and ask him to call the college of your choice, and convince them to waive tuition costs.
Hillary could do that. Give her a call.
November 19, 2007 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where in the hell is all this money coming from? I don't know what the numbers are, but promising free community college tuition throughout the country would cost billions. Sounds like just another Democratic "throw money at a problem" solution.
November 19, 2007 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
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November 19, 2007 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink