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Should Higher Education Be Free?

• Vijay Govindarajan
• Jatin Desai

Disruptive new models offer an alternative to expensive tuition.

In the United States, our higher education system is broken. Since 1980, we’ve seen a 400% increase in the cost of higher education, after adjustment for inflation — a higher cost escalation than any other industry, even health care. We have recently passed the trillion dollar mark in student loan debt in the United States.

• Vijay Govindarajan is the Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, and faculty partner at the Silicon Valley incubator Mach 49. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His latest book is Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future . His Harvard Business Review articles “ Engineering Reverse Innovations ” and “ Stop the Innovation Wars ” won McKinsey Awards for best article published in HBR. His HBR articles “ How GE Is Disrupting Itself ” and “ The CEO’s Role in Business Model Reinvention ” are HBR all-time top-50 bestsellers. Follow him on LinkedIn . vgovindarajan
• JD Jatin Desai is co-founder and chief executive officer of The Desai Group and the author of  Innovation Engine: Driving Execution for Breakthrough Results .

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Should College Be Free? The Pros and Cons

Types of Publicly Funded College Tuition Programs

Pros: why college should be free, cons: why college should not be free, what the free college debate means for students, how to cut your college costs now, frequently asked questions (faqs).

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Americans have been debating the wisdom of free college for decades, and more than 30 states now offer some type of free college program. But it wasn't until 2021 that a nationwide free college program came close to becoming reality, re-energizing a longstanding debate over whether or not free college is a good idea. 

And despite a setback for the free-college advocates, the idea is still in play. The Biden administration's free community college proposal was scrapped from the American Families Plan . But close observers say that similar proposals promoting free community college have drawn solid bipartisan support in the past. "Community colleges are one of the relatively few areas where there's support from both Republicans and Democrats," said Tulane economics professor Douglas N. Harris, who has previously consulted with the Biden administration on free college, in an interview with The Balance. 

To get a sense of the various arguments for and against free college, as well as the potential impacts on U.S. students and taxpayers, The Balance combed through studies investigating the design and implementation of publicly funded free tuition programs and spoke with several higher education policy experts. Here's what we learned about the current debate over free college in the U.S.—and more about how you can cut your college costs or even get free tuition through existing programs.

Key Takeaways

• Research shows free tuition programs encourage more students to attend college and increase graduation rates, which creates a better-educated workforce and higher-earning consumers who can help boost the economy. 
• Some programs are criticized for not paying students’ non-tuition expenses, not benefiting students who need assistance most, or steering students toward community college instead of four-year programs.  
• If you want to find out about free programs in your area, the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education has a searchable database. You’ll find the link further down in this article. 

Before diving into the weeds of the free college debate, it's important to note that not all free college programs are alike. Most publicly funded tuition assistance programs are restricted to the first two years of study, typically at community colleges. Free college programs also vary widely in the ways they’re designed, funded, and structured:

• Last-dollar tuition-free programs : These programs cover any remaining tuition after a student has used up other financial aid , such as Pell Grants. Most state-run free college programs fall into this category. However, these programs don’t typically help with room and board or other expenses.
• First-dollar tuition-free programs : These programs pay for students' tuition upfront, although they’re much rarer than last-dollar programs. Any remaining financial aid that a student receives can then be applied to other expenses, such as books and fees. The California College Promise Grant is a first-dollar program because it waives enrollment fees for eligible students.
• Debt-free programs : These programs pay for all of a student's college expenses , including room and board, guaranteeing that they can graduate debt-free. But they’re also much less common, likely due to their expense.  

Proponents often argue that publicly funded college tuition programs eventually pay for themselves, in part by giving students the tools they need to find better jobs and earn higher incomes than they would with a high school education. The anticipated economic impact, they suggest, should help ease concerns about the costs of public financing education. Here’s a closer look at the arguments for free college programs.

A More Educated Workforce Benefits the Economy

Morley Winograd, President of the Campaign for Free College Tuition, points to the economic and tax benefits that result from the higher wages of college grads. "For government, it means more revenue," said Winograd in an interview with The Balance—the more a person earns, the more they will likely pay in taxes . In addition, "the country's economy gets better because the more skilled the workforce this country has, the better [it’s] able to compete globally." Similarly, local economies benefit from a more highly educated, better-paid workforce because higher earners have more to spend. "That's how the economy grows," Winograd explained, “by increasing disposable income."

According to Harris, the return on a government’s investment in free college can be substantial. "The additional finding of our analysis was that these things seem to consistently pass a cost-benefit analysis," he said. "The benefits seem to be at least double the cost in the long run when we look at the increased college attainment and the earnings that go along with that, relative to the cost and the additional funding and resources that go into them." 

Free College Programs Encourage More Students to Attend

Convincing students from underprivileged backgrounds to take a chance on college can be a challenge, particularly when students are worried about overextending themselves financially. But free college programs tend to have more success in persuading students to consider going, said Winograd, in part because they address students' fears that they can't afford higher education . "People who wouldn't otherwise think that they could go to college, or who think the reason they can't is [that] it's too expensive, [will] stop, pay attention, listen, decide it's an opportunity they want to take advantage of, and enroll," he said.

According to Harris, students also appear to like the certainty and simplicity of the free college message. "They didn't want to have to worry that next year they were not going to have enough money to pay their tuition bill," he said. "They don't know what their finances are going to look like a few months down the road, let alone next year, and it takes a while to get a degree. So that matters." 

Free college programs can also help send "a clear and tangible message" to students and their families that a college education is attainable for them, said Michelle Dimino, an Education Director with Third Way. This kind of messaging is especially important to first-generation and low-income students, she said. 

Free College Increases Graduation Rates and Financial Security

Free tuition programs appear to improve students’ chances of completing college. For example, Harris noted that his research found a meaningful link between free college tuition and higher graduation rates. "What we found is that it did increase college graduation at the two-year college level, so more students graduated than otherwise would have." 

Free college tuition programs also give people a better shot at living a richer, more comfortable life, say advocates. "It's almost an economic necessity to have some college education," noted Winograd. Similar to the way a high school diploma was viewed as crucial in the 20th century, employees are now learning that they need at least two years of college to compete in a global, information-driven economy. "Free community college is a way of making that happen quickly, effectively, and essentially," he explained. 

Free community college isn’t a universally popular idea. While many critics point to the potential costs of funding such programs, others identify issues with the effectiveness and fairness of current attempts to cover students’ college tuition. Here’s a closer look at the concerns about free college programs.

It Would Be Too Expensive

The idea of free community college has come under particular fire from critics who worry about the cost of social spending. Since community colleges aren't nearly as expensive as four-year colleges—often costing thousands of dollars a year—critics argue that individuals can often cover their costs using other forms of financial aid . But, they point out, community college costs would quickly add up when paid for in bulk through a free college program: Biden’s proposed free college plan would have cost $49.6 billion in its first year, according to an analysis from Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Some opponents argue that the funds could be put to better use in other ways, particularly by helping students complete their degrees.

Free College Isn't Really Free

One of the most consistent concerns that people have voiced about free college programs is that they don’t go far enough. Even if a program offers free tuition, students will need to find a way to pay for other college-related expenses , such as books, room and board, transportation, high-speed internet, and, potentially, child care. "Messaging is such a key part of this," said Dimino. Students "may apply or enroll in college, understanding it's going to be free, but then face other unexpected charges along the way." 

It's important for policymakers to consider these factors when designing future free college programs. Otherwise, Dimino and other observers fear that students could potentially wind up worse off if they enroll and invest in attending college and then are forced to drop out due to financial pressures. 

Free College Programs Don’t Help the Students Who Need Them Most

Critics point out that many free college programs are limited by a variety of quirks and restrictions, which can unintentionally shut out deserving students or reward wealthier ones. Most state-funded free college programs are last-dollar programs, which don’t kick in until students have applied financial aid to their tuition. That means these programs offer less support to low-income students who qualify for need-based aid—and more support for higher-income students who don’t.

Community College May Not Be the Best Path for All Students

Some critics also worry that all students will be encouraged to attend community college when some would have been better off at a four-year institution. Four-year colleges tend to have more resources than community colleges and can therefore offer more support to high-need students. 

In addition, some research has shown that students at community colleges are less likely to be academically successful than students at four-year colleges, said Dimino. "Statistically, the data show that there are poorer outcomes for students at community colleges […] such as lower graduation rates and sometimes low transfer rates from two- to four-year schools." 

With Congress focused on other priorities, a nationwide free college program is unlikely to happen anytime soon. However, some states and municipalities offer free tuition programs, so students may be able to access some form of free college, depending on where they live. A good resource is the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education’s searchable database of Promise Programs , which lists more than 100 free community college programs, though the majority are limited to California residents.

In the meantime, school leaders and policymakers may shift their focus to other access and equity interventions for low-income students. For example, higher education experts Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel published a book in 2021 titled "Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students." The book argues that policymakers should focus more strongly on college completion, not just college access. "There hasn't been enough laser-focus on how we actually get people to complete their degrees," noted Strempel in an interview with The Balance. 

Rather than just improving access for low-income college students, Strempel and Handel argue that decision-makers should instead look more closely at the social and economic issues that affect students , such as food and housing insecurity, child care, transportation, and personal technology. For example, "If you don't have a computer, you don't have access to your education anymore," said Strempel. "It's like today's pencil."

Saving money on college costs can be challenging, but you can take steps to reduce your cost of living. For example, if you're interested in a college but haven't yet enrolled, pay close attention to where it's located and how much residents typically pay for major expenses, such as housing, utilities, and food. If the college is located in a high-cost area, it could be tough to justify the living expenses you'll incur. Similarly, if you plan to commute, take the time to check gas or public transportation prices and calculate how much you'll likely have to spend per month to go to and from campus several times a week. 

Now that more colleges offer classes online, it may also be worth looking at lower-cost programs in areas that are farther from where you live, particularly if they allow you to graduate without setting foot on campus. Also, check out state and federal financial aid programs that can help you slim down your expenses, or, in some cases, pay for them completely. Finally, look into need-based and merit-based grants and scholarships that can help you cover even more of your expenses. Also, consider applying to no-loan colleges , which promise to help students graduate without going into debt.

Should community college be free?

It’s a big question with varying viewpoints. Supporters of free community college cite the economic contributions of a more educated workforce and the individual benefit of financial security, while critics caution against the potential expense and the inefficiency of last-dollar free college programs. 

What states offer free college?

More than 30 states offer some type of tuition-free college program, including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington State. The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education lists over 100 last-dollar community college programs and 16 first-dollar community college programs, though the majority are limited to California residents.

Is there a free college?

There is no such thing as a truly free college education. But some colleges offer free tuition programs for students, and more than 30 states offer some type of tuition-free college program. In addition, students may also want to check out employer-based programs. A number of big employers now offer to pay for their employees' college tuition . Finally, some students may qualify for enough financial aid or scholarships to cover most of their college costs.

Scholarships360. " Which States Offer Tuition-Free Community College? "

The White House. “ Build Back Better Framework ,” see “Bringing Down Costs, Reducing Inflationary Pressures, and Strengthening the Middle Class.”

The White House. “ Fact Sheet: How the Build Back Better Plan Will Create a Better Future for Young Americans ,” see “Education and Workforce Opportunities.”

Coast Community College District. “ California College Promise Grant .”

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “ The Dollars and Cents of Free College ,” see “Biden’s Free College Plan Would Pay for Itself Within 10 Years.”

Third Way. “ Why Free College Could Increase Inequality .”

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “ The Dollars and Cents of Free College ,” see “Free-College Programs Have Different Effects on Race and Class Equity.”

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. “ College Promise Programs: A Comprehensive Catalog of College Promise Programs in the United States .”

Winter 2024

Why Free College Is Necessary

Higher education can’t solve inequality, but the debate about free college tuition does something extremely valuable. It reintroduces the concept of public good to education discourse.

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Free college is not a new idea, but, with higher education costs (and student loan debt) dominating public perception, it’s one that appeals to more and more people—including me. The national debate about free, public higher education is long overdue. But let’s get a few things out of the way.

College is the domain of the relatively privileged, and will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future, even if tuition is eliminated. As of 2012, over half of the U.S. population has “some college” or postsecondary education. That category includes everything from an auto-mechanics class at a for-profit college to a business degree from Harvard. Even with such a broadly conceived category, we are still talking about just half of all Americans.

Why aren’t more people going to college? One obvious answer would be cost, especially the cost of tuition. But the problem isn’t just that college is expensive. It is also that going to college is complicated. It takes cultural and social, not just economic, capital. It means navigating advanced courses, standardized tests, forms. It means figuring out implicit rules—rules that can change.

Eliminating tuition would probably do very little to untangle the sailor’s knot of inequalities that make it hard for most Americans to go to college. It would not address the cultural and social barriers imposed by unequal K–12 schooling, which puts a select few students on the college pathway at the expense of millions of others. Neither would it address the changing social milieu of higher education, in which the majority are now non-traditional students. (“Non-traditional” students are classified in different ways depending on who is doing the defining, but the best way to understand the category is in contrast to our assumptions of a traditional college student—young, unfettered, and continuing to college straight from high school.) How and why they go to college can depend as much on things like whether a college is within driving distance or provides one-on-one admissions counseling as it does on the price.

Given all of these factors, free college would likely benefit only an outlying group of students who are currently shut out of higher education because of cost—students with the ability and/or some cultural capital but without wealth. In other words, any conversation about college is a pretty elite one even if the word “free” is right there in the descriptor.

The discussion about free college, outside of the Democratic primary race, has also largely been limited to community colleges, with some exceptions by state. Because I am primarily interested in education as an affirmative justice mechanism, I would like all minority-serving and historically black colleges (HBCUs)—almost all of which qualify as four-year degree institutions—to be included. HBCUs disproportionately serve students facing the intersecting effects of wealth inequality, systematic K–12 disparities, and discrimination. For those reasons, any effort to use higher education as a vehicle for greater equality must include support for HBCUs, allowing them to offer accessible degrees with less (or no) debt.

The Obama administration’s free community college plan, expanded in July to include grants that would reduce tuition at HBCUs, is a step in the right direction. Yet this is only the beginning of an educational justice agenda. An educational justice policy must include institutions of higher education but cannot only include institutions of higher education. Educational justice says that schools can and do reproduce inequalities as much as they ameliorate them. Educational justice says one hundred new Universities of Phoenix is not the same as access to high-quality instruction for the maximum number of willing students. And educational justice says that jobs programs that hire for ability over “fit” must be linked to millions of new credentials, no matter what form they take or how much they cost to obtain. Without that, some free college plans could reinforce prestige divisions between different types of schools, leaving the most vulnerable students no better off in the economy than they were before.

Free college plans are also limited by the reality that not everyone wants to go to college. Some people want to work and do not want to go to college forever and ever—for good reason. While the “opportunity costs” of spending four to six years earning a degree instead of working used to be balanced out by the promise of a “good job” after college, that rationale no longer holds, especially for poor students. Free-ninety-nine will not change that.

I am clear about all of that . . . and yet I don’t care. I do not care if free college won’t solve inequality. As an isolated policy, I know that it won’t. I don’t care that it will likely only benefit the high achievers among the statistically unprivileged—those with above-average test scores, know-how, or financial means compared to their cohort. Despite these problems, today’s debate about free college tuition does something extremely valuable. It reintroduces the concept of public good to higher education discourse—a concept that fifty years of individuation, efficiency fetishes, and a rightward drift in politics have nearly pummeled out of higher education altogether. We no longer have a way to talk about public education as a collective good because even we defenders have adopted the language of competition. President Obama justified his free community college plan on the grounds that “Every American . . . should be able to earn the skills and education necessary to compete and win in the twenty-first century economy.” Meanwhile, for-profit boosters claim that their institutions allow “greater access” to college for the public. But access to what kind of education? Those of us who believe in viable, affordable higher ed need a different kind of language. You cannot organize for what you cannot name.

Already, the debate about if college should be free has forced us all to consider what higher education is for. We’re dusting off old words like class and race and labor. We are even casting about for new words like “precariat” and “generation debt.” The Debt Collective is a prime example of this. The group of hundreds of students and graduates of (mostly) for-profit colleges are doing the hard work of forming a class-based identity around debt as opposed to work or income. The broader cultural conversation about student debt, to which free college plans are a response, sets the stage for that kind of work. The good of those conversations outweighs for me the limited democratization potential of free college.

Tressie McMillan Cottom is an assistant professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a contributing editor at Dissent . Her book Lower Ed: How For-Profit Colleges Deepen Inequality is forthcoming from the New Press.

This article is part of   Dissent’s special issue of “Arguments on the Left.” Click to read contending arguments from Matt Bruenig and Mike Konczal .

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Free college for all Americans? Yes, but not too much

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July 22, 2019

Promising free college has obvious political attraction for presidential candidates. From my perspective, free college is the right idea, but some of the promises go too far; in fact, exactly twice too far. There is a very strong argument for promising two years “free” at public colleges; the argument for a four-year free ride—not so much.

In a nutshell, my argument is that America has long supported free K-12 education and that two years of college is pretty much what K-12 used to be, with most Americans now obtaining at least some college education. For most people, getting some college is the key to the middle-class—creating a case for public support during the first two years after high school.

Douglas Harris has a great Chalkboard post that will bring you up to date on what candidates have said, and will give you many of the pros and cons for various higher education proposals. Harris also talks about popular support for different proposals in another Chalkboard post . Here, I’m going to stick to the narrower question of why paying for two years of public college is the right goal.

In the picture that follows I present educational attainment numbers for the American population from 1950 through the most current data. I’ve divided the population into those with a high school education or less, colored in red, those with some college but less than four years, blue, and those with four or more years of college, colored in green. (The category “some college” includes vocational training such as certificate programs at community colleges as well as more purely academic courses.

The vertical axis shows the fraction of the population with a given educational attainment—categories are stacked at each point in time to sum to 100%.

You can see that in the early post-war years, most Americans had no more than a high school education. Today the majority has picked up at least some college. I’ve also drawn in a line at the 50% point on the theory that the middle is “middle class.” Up until about 1990, the median American had a high school education or less. That’s fallen to about a third, and the median American now has some college. So “some college” has replaced high school or less as the standard educational attainment. If it made sense in the past to provide free public education through high school, then doing the equivalent today means paying for some level of college. Note that the green (4+ years of college) area is still way, way above the 50% line. Only about 30% of the population currently attains that much education. So such an appeal to the past does not provide an argument for four years of free college.

There are many motivations for increasing education, but probably the strongest is that it leads to better jobs and higher incomes. The next figure links educational attainment to income, plotting median income in each educational group against the overall national income distribution. In “the old days,” the median person in both the high school or less and the some college categories earned near the middle of the national income distribution. That’s still true for “some college.” The middle person with some college education gets to be right in the middle of the national income distribution. But getting to the middle is now much more difficult for those in the “high school or less” category. The middle person in the bottom group reaches just above the bottom third of the national income distribution. So in terms of income, “some college” has replaced “high school or less” as the middle-class norm.

Some presidential candidates propose free community college, others advocate that all public college should be free. One reaction to the latter position is that we shouldn’t be subsidizing college graduates as they typically end up with higher incomes than the rest of the population. Look at the green line in the figure above. Not only does the average person with four or more years of college have a higher income than most people—they have a much higher income. You can argue that the 70th percentile of income is still middle class. (In the United States, it seems that everyone below the top 0.1% thinks of themselves as being in the middle class.) But the fact is that the income in the top educational attainment group is a lot higher.

The argument that “some college” is the new “high school” and should be similarly free makes sense to me, but this logic doesn’t extend to a free ride for four years.

Data from census and American Community Survey from IPUMS USA, University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org.

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What you need to know about the right to education

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that education is a fundamental human right for everyone and this right was further detailed in the Convention against Discrimination in Education. What exactly does that mean?

Why is education a fundamental human right?

The right to education is a human right and indispensable for the exercise of other human rights.

• Quality education aims to ensure the development of a fully-rounded human being.
• It is one of the most powerful tools in lifting socially excluded children and adults out of poverty and into society. UNESCO data shows that if all adults completed secondary education, globally the number of poor people could be reduced by more than half.
• It narrows the gender gap for girls and women. A UN study showed that each year of schooling reduces the probability of infant mortality by 5 to 10 per cent.
• For this human right to work there must be equality of opportunity, universal access, and enforceable and monitored quality standards.

What does the right to education entail?

• Primary education that is free, compulsory and universal
• Secondary education, including technical and vocational, that is generally available, accessible to all and progressively free
• Higher education, accessible to all on the basis of individual capacity and progressively free
• Fundamental education for individuals who have not completed education
• Professional training opportunities
• Equal quality of education through minimum standards
• Quality teaching and supplies for teachers
• Adequate fellowship system and material condition for teaching staff
• Freedom of choice

What is the current situation?

• About 258 million children and youth are out of school, according to UIS data for the school year ending in 2018. The total includes 59 million children of primary school age, 62 million of lower secondary school age and 138 million of upper secondary age.

155 countries legally guarantee 9 years or more of compulsory education

• Only 99 countries legally guarantee at least 12 years of free education
• 8.2% of primary school age children does not go to primary school  Only six in ten young people will be finishing secondary school in 2030 The youth literacy rate (15-24) is of 91.73%, meaning 102 million youth lack basic literacy skills.

  How is the right to education ensured?

The right to education is established by two means - normative international instruments and political commitments by governments. A solid international framework of conventions and treaties exist to protect the right to education and States that sign up to them agree to respect, protect and fulfil this right.

How does UNESCO work to ensure the right to education?

UNESCO develops, monitors and promotes education norms and standards to guarantee the right to education at country level and advance the aims of the Education 2030 Agenda. It works to ensure States' legal obligations are reflected in national legal frameworks and translated into concrete policies.

• Monitoring the implementation of the right to education at country level
• Supporting States to establish solid national frameworks creating the legal foundation and conditions for sustainable quality education for all
• Advocating on the right to education principles and legal obligations through research and studies on key issues
• Maintaining global online tools on the right to education
• Enhancing capacities, reporting mechanisms and awareness on key challenges
• Developing partnerships and networks around key issues

  How is the right to education monitored and enforced by UNESCO?

• UNESCO's Constitution requires Member States to regularly report on measures to implement standard-setting instruments at country level through regular consultations.
• Through collaboration with UN human rights bodies, UNESCO addresses recommendations to countries to improve the situation of the right to education at national level.
• Through the dedicated online Observatory , UNESCO takes stock of the implementation of the right to education in 195 States.
• Through its interactive Atlas , UNESCO monitors the implementation right to education of girls and women in countries
• Based on its monitoring work, UNESCO provides technical assistance and policy advice to Member States that seek to review, develop, improve and reform their legal and policy frameworks.

What happens if States do not fulfil obligations?

• International human rights instruments have established a solid normative framework for the right to education. This is not an empty declaration of intent as its provisions are legally binding. All countries in the world have ratified at least one treaty covering certain aspects of the right to education. This means that all States are held to account, through legal mechanisms.
• Enforcement of the right to education: At international level, human rights' mechanisms are competent to receive individual complaints and have settled right to education breaches this way.
• Justiciability of the right to education: Where their right to education has been violated, citizens must be able to have legal recourse before the law courts or administrative tribunals.

  What are the major challenges to ensure the right to education?

• Providing free and compulsory education to all
• 155 countries legally guarantee 9 years or more of compulsory education.
• Only 99 countries legally guarantee at least 12 years of free education.
• Eliminating inequalities and disparities in education

While only 4% of the poorest youth complete upper secondary school in low-income countries, 36% of the richest do. In lower-middle-income countries, the gap is even wider: while only 14% of the poorest youth complete upper secondary school, 72% of the richest do.

• Migration and displacement

According to a 2019 UNHCR report, of the 7.1 million refugee children of school age, 3.7 million - more than half - do not go to school. 

• Privatization and its impact on the right to education

States need to strike a balance between educational freedom and ensuring everyone receives a quality education.

• Financing of education

The Education 2030 Agenda requires States to allocate at least 4-6 per cent of GDP and/or at least 15-20 per cent of public expenditure to education.

• Quality imperatives and valuing the teaching profession

Two-thirds of the estimated 617 million children and adolescents who cannot read a simple sentence or manage a basic mathematics calculation are in the classroom.

• Say no to discrimination in education! - #RightToEducation campaign

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• Right to education

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HerAtlas: Monitoring the right to education for girls and women HerAtlas: Background, rationale and objectives 12 March 2024

HerAtlas: Monitoring the right to education for girls and women HerAtlas: Disclaimer and terms of use 12 March 2024

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Right Now | Subsidy Shuffle

Could College Be Free?

January-February 2020

Illustration by Adam Niklewicz

Email David Deming 

Visit David Deming's website.

Hear David Deming discuss free college on HKS PolicyCast

etting ahead— or getting by—is increasingly difficult in the United States without a college degree. The demand for college education is at an all-time high, but so is the price tag. David Deming—professor of public policy at the Kennedy School and professor of education and economics at the Graduate School of Education—wants to ease that tension by reallocating government spending on higher education to make public colleges tuition-free. 

Deming’s argument is elegant. Public spending on higher education is unique among social services: it is an investment that pays for itself many times over in higher tax revenue generated by future college graduates, a rare example of an economic “free lunch.” In 2016 (the most recent year for which data are available), the United States spent $91 billion subsidizing access to higher education. According to Deming, that spending isn’t as progressive or effective as it could be. The National Center for Education Statistics indicates that it would cost roughly $79 billion a year to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. So, Deming asks, why not redistribute current funds to make public colleges tuition-free, instead of subsidizing higher education in other, roundabout ways? 

Of the estimated $91 billion the nation spends annually on higher education, $37 billion go to tax credits and tax benefits. These tax programs ease the burden of paying for both public and private colleges, but disproportionately benefit middle-class children who are probably going to college anyway. Instead of lowering costs for those students, Deming points out, a progressive public-education assistance program should probably redirect funds to incentivize students to go to college who wouldn’t otherwise consider it. 

Another $13 billion in federal spending subsidize interest payments on student loans for currently enrolled undergraduates. And the remaining $41 billion go to programs that benefit low-income students and military veterans, including $28.4 billion for Pell Grants and similar programs. Pell Grants are demand-side subsidies: they provide cash directly to those who pay for a service, i.e., students; supply-side subsidies (see below) channel funds to suppliers, such as colleges. Deming asserts that Pell Grant money, which travels with students, voucher-style, is increasingly gobbled up by low-quality, for-profit colleges. These colleges are often better at marketing their services than at graduating students or improving their graduates’ prospects, despite being highly subsidized by taxpayers . “The rise of for-profit colleges has, in some ways, been caused by disinvestment in public higher education. Our public university systems were built for a time when 20 percent of young people attended college,” says Deming. “Now it’s more like 60 percent, and we haven’t responded by devoting more resources to ensuring that young people can afford college and succeed when they get there.” As a result, an expensive, for-profit market has filled the educational shortage that government divestment has caused.

The vast majority of states have continuously divested in public education in recent decades, pushing a higher percentage of the cost burden of schools onto students. Deming believes this state-level divestment is the main reason for the precipitous rise in college tuition, which has outpaced the rest of the Consumer Price Index for 30 consecutive years. (Compounding reasons include rising salaries despite a lack of gains in productivity—a feature of many human-service-focused industries such as education and healthcare.) Against this backdrop, Deming writes, “at least some—and perhaps all—of the cost of universal tuition-free public higher education could be defrayed by redeploying money that the government is already spending.” (The need for some funding programs would remain, however, given the cost of room, board, books, and other college supplies.) 

Redirecting current funding to provide tuition-free public-school degrees is only one part of Deming’s proposal. He knows that making public higher education free could hurt the quality of instruction by inciting a race to the bottom, stretching teacher-student ratios and pinching other academic resources. He therefore argues that any tuition-free plan would need to be paired with increased state and federal investment, and programs focused on getting more students to graduate. Because rates of degree completion strongly correlate with per-student spending, Deming proposes introducing a federal matching grant for the first $5,000 of net per-student spending in states that implement free college. “Luckily,” he says, “spending more money is a policy lever we know how to pull.” 

Deming argues that shifting public funding to supply-side subsidies, channeled directly to public institutions, could nudge states to reinvest in public higher education. Such reinvestment would dampen the demand for low-quality, for-profit schools; increase college attendance in low-income communities; and improve the quality of services that public colleges and universities could offer. Early evidence of these positive effects has surfaced in some of the areas that are piloting free college-tuition programs, including the state of Tennessee and the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

Higher education is an odd market because buyers (students) often don’t have good information about school quality and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime decision. Creating a supply-side subsidy system would take some freedom of choice away from prospective undergraduates who want government funding for private, four-year degrees. But, for Deming, that’s a trade-off worth making, if the state is better able to measure the effectiveness of certain colleges and allocate subsidies accordingly. Education is more than the mere acquisition of facts—which anyone can access freely online—because minds, like markets, learn best through feedback. Quality feedback is difficult to scale well without hiring more teachers and ramping up student-support resources. That’s why Deming thinks it’s high time for the public higher-education market to get a serious injection of cash.

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College & Careers

Tuition-free college is critical to our economy

Morley Winograd and Max Lubin

November 2, 2020, 13 comments.

To rebuild America’s economy in a way that offers everyone an equal chance to get ahead, federal support for free college tuition should be a priority in any economic recovery plan in 2021.

Research shows that the private and public economic benefit of free community college tuition would outweigh the cost. That’s why half of the states in the country already have some form of free college tuition.

The Democratic Party 2020 platform calls for making two years of community college tuition free for all students with a federal/state partnership similar to the Obama administration’s 2015 plan .

It envisions a program as universal and free as K-12 education is today, with all the sustainable benefits such programs (including Social Security and Medicare) enjoy. It also calls for making four years of public college tuition free, again in partnership with states, for students from families making less than $125,000 per year.

The Republican Party didn’t adopt a platform for the 2020 election, deferring to President Trump’s policies, which among other things, stand in opposition to free college. Congressional Republicans, unlike many of their state counterparts, also have not supported free college tuition in the past.

However, it should be noted that the very first state free college tuition program was initiated in 2015 by former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican. Subsequently, such deep red states with Republican majorities in their state legislature such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas have adopted similar programs.

Establishing free college tuition benefits for more Americans would be the 21st-century equivalent of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration initiative.

That program not only created immediate work for the unemployed, but also offered skills training for nearly 8 million unskilled workers in the 1930s. Just as we did in the 20th century, by laying the foundation for our current system of universal free high school education and rewarding our World War II veterans with free college tuition to help ease their way back into the workforce, the 21st century system of higher education we build must include the opportunity to attend college tuition-free.

California already has taken big steps to make its community college system, the largest in the nation, tuition free by fully funding its California Promise grant program. But community college is not yet free to all students. Tuition costs — just more than $1,500 for a full course load — are waived for low-income students. Colleges don’t have to spend the Promise funds to cover tuition costs for other students so, at many colleges, students still have to pay tuition.

At the state’s four-year universities, about 60% of students at the California State University and the same share of in-state undergraduates at the 10-campus University of California, attend tuition-free as well, as a result of Cal grants , federal Pell grants and other forms of financial aid.

But making the CSU and UC systems tuition-free for even more students will require funding on a scale that only the federal government is capable of supporting, even if the benefit is only available to students from families that makes less than $125,000 a year.

It is estimated that even without this family income limitation, eliminating tuition for four years at all public colleges and universities for all students would cost taxpayers $79 billion a year, according to U.S. Department of Education data . Consider, however, that the federal government  spent $91 billion  in 2016 on policies that subsidized college attendance. At least some of that could be used to help make public higher education institutions tuition-free in partnership with the states.

Free college tuition programs have proved effective in helping mitigate the system’s current inequities by increasing college enrollment, lowering dependence on student loan debt and improving completion rates , especially among students of color and lower-income students who are often the first in their family to attend college.

In the first year of the TN Promise , community college enrollment in Tennessee increased by 24.7%, causing 4,000 more students to enroll. The percentage of Black students in that state’s community college population increased from 14% to 19% and the proportion of Hispanic students increased from 4% to 5%.

Students who attend community college tuition-free also graduate at higher rates. Tennessee’s first Promise student cohort had a 52.6% success rate compared to only a 38.9% success rate for their non-Promise peers. After two years of free college tuition, Rhode Island’s college-promise program saw its community college graduation rate triple and the graduation rate among students of color increase ninefold.

The impact on student debt is more obvious. Tennessee, for instance, saw its applications for student loans decrease by 17% in the first year of its program, with loan amounts decreasing by 12%. At the same time, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications soared, with 40% of the entire nation’s increase in applications originating in that state in the first year of their Promise program.

Wage inequality by education, already dreadful before the pandemic, is getting worse. In May, the unemployment rate among workers without a high school diploma was nearly triple the rate of workers with a bachelor’s degree. No matter what Congress does to provide support to those affected by the pandemic and the ensuing recession, employment prospects for far too many people in our workforce will remain bleak after the pandemic recedes. Today, the fastest growing sectors of the economy are in health care, computers and information technology. To have a real shot at a job in those sectors, workers need a college credential of some form such as an industry-recognized skills certificate or an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

The surest way to make the proven benefits of higher education available to everyone is to make college tuition-free for low and middle-income students at public colleges, and the federal government should help make that happen.

Morley Winograd is president of the Campaign for Free College Tuition . Max Lubin is CEO of Rise , a student-led nonprofit organization advocating for free college.  

The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. Commentaries published on EdSource represent diverse viewpoints about California’s public education systems. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our  guidelines  and  contact us .

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Genia Curtsinger 2 years ago 2 years ago

Making community college free to those who meet the admission requirements would help many people. First of all, it would make it easy for students and families, for instance; you go to college and have to pay thousands of dollars to get a college education, but if community college is free it would help so you could be saving money and get a college education for free, with no cost at all. It would make … Read More

Making community college free to those who meet the admission requirements would help many people. First of all, it would make it easy for students and families, for instance; you go to college and have to pay thousands of dollars to get a college education, but if community college is free it would help so you could be saving money and get a college education for free, with no cost at all. It would make it more affordable to the student and their families.

Therefore I think people should have free education for those who meet the admission requirements.

nothing 2 years ago 2 years ago

I feel like colleges shouldn’t be completely free, but a lot more affordable for people so everyone can have a chance to have a good college education.

Jaden Wendover 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think all colleges should be free, because why would you pay to learn?

Samantha Cole 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think college should be free because there are a lot of people that want to go to college but they can’t pay for it so they don’t go and end up in jail or working as a waitress or in a convenience store. I know I want to go to college but I can’t because my family doesn’t make enough money to send me to college but my family makes too much for financial aid.

Nick Gurrs 2 years ago 2 years ago

I feel like this subject has a lot of answers, For me personally, I believe tuition and college, in general, should be free because it will help students get out of debt and not have debt, and because it will help people who are struggling in life to get a job and make a living off a job.

NO 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think college tuition should be free. A lot of adults want to go to college and finish their education but can’t partly because they can’t afford to. Some teens need to work at a young age just so they can save money for college which I feel they shouldn’t have to. If people don’t want to go to college then they just can work and go on with their lives.

Not saying my name 3 years ago 3 years ago

I think college tuition should be free because people drop out because they can’t pay the tuition to get into college and then they can’t graduate and live a good life and they won’t get a job because it says they dropped out of school. So it would be harder to get a job and if the tuition wasn’t a thing, people would live an awesome life because of this.

Brisa 3 years ago 3 years ago

I’m not understanding. Are we not agreeing that college should be free, or are we?

m 2 years ago 2 years ago

it shouldnt

Trevor Everhart 3 years ago 3 years ago

What do you mean by there is no such thing as free tuition?

Olga Snichernacs 3 years ago 3 years ago

Nice! I enjoyed reading.

Anonymous Cat 3 years ago 3 years ago

Tuition-Free: Free tuition, or sometimes tuition free is a phrase you have heard probably a good number of times. … Therefore, free tuition to put it simply is the opportunity provide to students by select universities around the world to received a degree from their institution without paying any sum of money for the teaching.

Mister B 3 years ago 3 years ago

There is no such thing as tuition free.

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Why Education Should Be Free: Exploring the Benefits for a Progressive Society

Written by Dan

Last updated February 13, 2024

The question of whether education, particularly higher education, should be free is a continuing debate marked by a multitude of opinions and perspectives.

Education stands as one of the most powerful tools for personal and societal advancement, and making it accessible to all could have profound impacts on a nation’s economic growth and social fabric.

Proponents of tuition-free education argue that it could create a better-educated workforce, improve the livelihoods of individuals, and contribute to overall economic prosperity.

However, the implementation of such a system carries complexity and considerations that spark considerable discourse among policymakers, educators, and the public.

Related : For more, check out our article on  The #1 Problem In Education  here.

Within the debate on free education lies a range of considerations, including the significant economic benefits it might confer.

A well-educated populace can be the driving force behind innovation, entrepreneurship, and a competitive global stance, according to research.

Moreover, social and cultural benefits are also cited by advocates, who see free higher education as a stepping stone towards greater societal well-being and equality.

Nevertheless, the challenges in implementing free higher education often center around fiscal sustainability, the potential for increased taxes, and the restructuring of existing educational frameworks.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

• Free higher education could serve as a critical driver of economic growth and innovation.
• It may contribute to social equality and cultural enrichment across communities.
• Implementation of tuition-free higher education requires careful consideration of economic and structural challenges.

Related : For more, check out our article on  AI In Education  here.

The Economic Benefits of Free Education

Free education carries the potential for significant economic impact, notably by fostering a more qualified workforce and alleviating financial strains associated with higher education.

Boosting the Workforce with Skilled Workers

Free education initiatives can lead to a rise in college enrollment and graduation rates, as seen in various studies and practical implementations.

This translates into a larger pool of skilled workers entering the workforce, which is critical for the sustained growth of the economy. With more educated individuals, industries can innovate faster and remain competitive on a global scale.

The subsequent increase in productivity and creative problem-solving bolsters the country’s economic profile.

Reducing Student Loan Debt and Financial Insecurity

One of the most immediate effects of tuition-free education is the reduction of student loan debt . Students who graduate without the burden of debt have more financial freedom and security, enabling them to contribute economically through higher consumer spending and investments.

This financial relief also means that graduates can potentially enter the housing market earlier and save for retirement, both of which are beneficial for long-term economic stability.

Reducing this financial insecurity not only benefits individual lives but also creates a positive ripple effect throughout the economy.

Related : For more, check out our article on  Teaching For Understanding  here.

Social and Cultural Impacts

Free education stands as a cornerstone for a more equitable society, providing a foundation for individuals to reach their full potential without the barrier of cost.

It fosters an inclusive culture where access to knowledge and the ability to contribute meaningfully to society are viewed as inalienable rights.

Creating Equality and Expanding Choices

Free education mitigates the socioeconomic disparities that often dictate the quality and level of education one can attain.

When tuition fees are eliminated, individuals from lower-income families are afforded the same educational opportunities as their wealthier counterparts, leading to a more level playing field .

Expanding educational access enables all members of society to pursue a wider array of careers and life paths, broadening personal choices and promoting a diverse workforce.

Free Education as a Human Right

Recognizing education as a human right underpins the movement for free education. Human Rights Watch emphasizes that all children should have access to a quality, inclusive, and free education.

This aligns with international agreements and the belief that education is not a privilege but a right that should be safeguarded for all, regardless of one’s socioeconomic status.

Redistributions within society can function to finance the institutions necessary to uphold this right, leading to long-term cultural and social benefits.

Challenges and Considerations for Implementation

Implementing free education systems presents a complex interplay of economic and academic factors. Policymakers must confront these critical issues to develop sustainable and effective programs.

Balancing Funding and Taxpayer Impact

Funding for free education programs primarily depends on the allocation of government resources, which often requires tax adjustments .

Legislators need to strike a balance between providing sufficient funding for education and maintaining a level of taxation that does not overburden the taxpayers .

Studies like those from The Balance provide insight into the economic implications, indicating a need for careful analysis to avoid unintended financial consequences.

Ensuring Quality in Free Higher Education Programs

Merit and quality assurance become paramount in free college programs to ensure that the value of education does not diminish. Programs need structured oversight and performance metrics to maintain high academic standards.

Free college systems, by extending access, may risk over-enrollment, which can strain resources and reduce educational quality if not managed correctly.

Global Perspectives and Trends in Free Education

In the realm of education, several countries have adopted policies to make learning accessible at no cost to the student. These efforts often aim to enhance social mobility and create a more educated workforce.

Case Studies: Argentina and Sweden

Argentina has long upheld the principle of free university education for its citizens. Public universities in Argentina do not charge tuition fees for undergraduate courses, emphasizing the country’s commitment to accessible education.

This policy supports a key tenet of social justice, allowing a wide range of individuals to pursue higher education regardless of their financial situation.

In comparison, Sweden represents a prime example of advanced free education within Europe. Swedish universities offer free education not only to Swedish students but also to those from other countries within the European Union (EU).

For Swedes, this extends to include secondary education, which is also offered at no cost. Sweden’s approach exemplifies a commitment to educational equality and a well-informed citizenry.

International Approaches to Tuition-Free College

Examining the broader international landscape , there are diverse approaches to implementing tuition-free higher education.

For instance, some European countries like Spain have not entirely eliminated tuition fees but have kept them relatively low compared to the global average. These measures still align with the overarching goal of making education more accessible.

In contrast, there have been discussions and proposals in the United States about adopting tuition-free college programs, reflecting a growing global trend.

While the United States has not federally mandated free college education, there are initiatives, such as the Promise Programs, that offer tuition-free community college to eligible students in certain states, showcasing a step towards more inclusive educational opportunities.

Policy and Politics of Tuition-Free Education

The debate surrounding tuition-free education encompasses a complex interplay of bipartisan support and legislative efforts, with community colleges frequently at the policy’s epicenter.

Both ideological and financial considerations shape the trajectory of higher education policy in this context.

Bipartisan Support and Political Challenges

Bipartisan support for tuition-free education emerges from a recognition of community colleges as vital access points for higher education, particularly for lower-income families.

Initiatives such as the College Promise campaign reflect this shared commitment to removing economic barriers to education. However, political challenges persist, with Republicans often skeptical about the long-term feasibility and impact on the federal budget.

Such divisions underscore the politicized nature of the education discourse, situating it as a central issue in policy-making endeavors.

Legislative Framework and Higher Education Policy

The legislative framework for tuition-free education gained momentum under President Biden with the introduction of the American Families Plan .

This plan proposed substantial investments in higher education, particularly aimed at bolstering the role of community colleges. Central to this policy is the pledge to cover up to two years of tuition for eligible students.

The proposal reflects a significant step in reimagining higher education policy, though it requires navigating the intricacies of legislative procedures and fiscally conservative opposition to translate into actionable policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section addresses common queries regarding the prospect of free college education, its impact, and practical considerations for implementation.

What are the most compelling arguments for making college education free?

The most compelling arguments for tuition-free college highlight the removal of financial barriers, potential to increase social mobility, and a long-term investment in a more educated workforce , which can lead to economic growth.

How could the government implement free education policies without sacrificing quality?

To implement free education without compromising quality, governments need to ensure sustainable funding, invest in faculty, and enable effective administration. Such measures aim to maintain high standards while extending access.

In countries with free college education, what has been the impact on their economies and societies?

Countries with free college education have observed various impacts, including a more educated populace , increased rates of innovation, and in some instances, stronger economic growth due to a skilled workforce.

How does free education affect the accessibility and inclusivity of higher education?

Free education enhances accessibility and inclusivity by leveling the educational playing field, allowing students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue higher education regardless of their financial capability.

What potential downsides exist to providing free college education to all students?

Potential downsides include the strain on governmental budgets, the risk of oversaturating certain job markets, and the possibility that the value of a degree may diminish if too many people obtain one without a corresponding increase in jobs requiring higher education.

How might free education be funded, and what are the financial implications for taxpayers?

Free education would likely be funded through taxation, and its financial implications for taxpayers could range from increased taxes to reprioritization of existing budget funds. The scale of any potential tax increase would depend on the cost of the education programs and the economic benefits they’re anticipated to produce.

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About The Author

I'm Dan Higgins, one of the faces behind The Teaching Couple. With 15 years in the education sector and a decade as a teacher, I've witnessed the highs and lows of school life. Over the years, my passion for supporting fellow teachers and making school more bearable has grown. The Teaching Couple is my platform to share strategies, tips, and insights from my journey. Together, we can shape a better school experience for all.

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According to international human rights law, primary education shall be compulsory and free of charge. Secondary and higher education shall be made progressively free of charge.

Free primary education is fundamental in guaranteeing everyone has access to education. However, in many developing countries, families often cannot afford to send their children to school, leaving millions of children of school-age deprived of education. Despite international obligations, some states keep on imposing fees to access primary education. In addition, there are often indirect costs associated with education, such as for school books, uniform or travel, that prevent children from low-income families accessing school.

Financial difficulties states may face cannot relieve them of their obligation to guarantee free primary education. If a state is unable to secure compulsory primary education, free of charge, when it ratifies the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), it still has the immediate obligation, within two years, to work out and adopt a detailed plan of action for its progressive implementation, within a reasonable numbers of years, to be fixed in the plan (ICESCR, Article 14). For more information, see General Comment 11  (1999) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

'Progressive introduction of free education' means that while states must prioritise the provision of free primary education, they also have an obligation to take concrete steps towards achieving free secondary and higher education ( General Comment 13 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1999: Para. 14).

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948, Article 26)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966, Articles 13 and 14)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child  (1982, Article 28)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women  (1979, Article 10)
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006, Article 24)
• UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education  (1960, Articles 4)
• ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999, Preamble, Articles 7 and 8)
• African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990, Article 11)
• African Youth Charter (2006, Articles 13 and 16)
• Charter of the Organisation of American States (1967, Article 49)
• Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights, Protocol of San Salvador (1988, Article 13)
• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union  (2000, Article 14)
• European Social Charter  (revised) (1996, Articles 10 and 17)
• Arab Charter on Human Rights  (2004, Article 41)
• ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (2012, Article 31)

For more details, see International Instruments - Free and Compulsory Education

The following case-law on free education includes decisions of national, regional and international courts as well as decisions from national administrative bodies, national human rights institutions and international human rights bodies.

Claim of unconstitutionality against article 183 of the General Education Law (Colombia Constitutional Court; 2010)

Other issues.

• Higher Education

Don’t Ruin College by Making It Free

The 2020 Democratic primary has changed the debate on higher education in the United States. When Senator Bernie Sanders first proposed making public college free during his 2016 campaign, most commentators, myself included, dismissed the idea as radical and unrealistic, along with his candidacy.

Just four years later, Sanders is a serious contender for the nomination and many of the other Democrats also propose some form of “free college.” The idea has taken hold more quickly than many expected—but will it work? My answer: yes. But not well. In fact, free college could be the fastest way to destroy precisely what makes higher education in this country exceptional. And there are better ways to achieve its goal of removing the economic barriers to college.

The appeal of free college is clear. Americans have long embraced the college degree as an important mechanism for social mobility, but the price tag has increasingly put higher education out of reach for many. Making public college free would ensure that everyone could afford this ticket to prosperity, and in that sense, would deliver a piece of the American dream. Frankly, it’s hard to argue that this would be a bad thing.

But college is already free to the lowest-income students, who benefit from generous state and federal grants, as well as private scholarships from their college or university. According to a recent Urban Institute report , around 27% of students who are currently enrolled in college do not face any cost for tuition or fees. Additional spending to make college universally free will necessarily flow to more well-off students who weren’t already benefiting from the existing means-tested programs.

Despite the drawbacks of this seemingly unprogressive approach, “universality” does also offer some distinct advantages relative to means-tested aid. First, the administration of a means-tested financial aid program is expensive, both for individual students proving their eligibility and for the government offices that exist solely to review reams of paperwork and disburse aid. Doing away with means testing could generate savings in administrative costs, which would offset at least some of the revenue lost from eliminating tuition.

Another, and less obvious, benefit of free college is that it could potentially eliminate the information barrier that currently keeps many disadvantaged students from even applying to college. Despite the fact that nearly one-third of students already attend college for “free,” many assume that higher education is out of reach. These potential college students are victims of the opaque structure of our college application and pricing system. Students considering college generally need to apply, then wait months before learning how much they’ll receive in aid. The message that “college is free” would encourage more people to apply than would have otherwise, bringing down the economic barrier to education—and that’s a good thing.

But do these benefits outweigh the tremendous cost? Many on the right worry about the economic weight of a free-college regime. It’s difficult to estimate how much it would cost, but according to Sanders , even just to replace the current revenue collected from public college tuition, we’d need to come up with $70 billion per year. The real cost would undoubtedly be higher due to increased enrollment. To put that in perspective, the same $70 billion would allow the U.S. to double our current spending on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and related programs aimed at eliminating hunger.

While the financial burden should be taken seriously, we stand to lose far more than money in implementing free college. In fact, the fiscal cost pales in comparison to the threats to quality and innovation.

In the current system, colleges operate in a market of sorts, albeit a highly regulated and subsidized one. Colleges are competing for students and the tuition dollars that come with them. As a result, we’ve seen the introduction of services like online coursework, competency-based education, which appeals to working adults, and even dramatic alternatives like coding bootcamps. The result of these changes is that higher education is more diverse than ever before. These innovations have expanded access to college to populations that weren’t served, or weren’t served well, by the traditional college model.

Some innovations, like the rise of for-profit colleges, haven’t served all students well. But we shouldn’t write off all innovation to protect against potential abuses. Better to embrace smart oversight while maintaining the incentives for colleges to innovate.

A free college regime would dampen the market forces that encouraged these innovations. The pull of “free” would divert students away from private colleges and training programs and into the public options.

Institutions in the public sector generally have less incentive to innovate because they have less to gain by improvements in quality and less to lose from falling short. For example, private colleges that don’t deliver for their students will have to close their doors. That’s a risk that public colleges just don’t face. The public colleges thus don’t have the same need to think of new ways to deliver education more effectively or efficiently. Sure, some public colleges consolidate campuses, and others innovate (think of Arizona State University), but those are exceptions.

Even the most generous free college regime couldn’t avoid these problems, because they are not a question of funding. The shift in incentives inherent in a public takeover would necessarily threaten innovation and quality.

Just because free college would cause more harm than good, though, doesn’t mean the status quo is the best way forward. The status quo was designed to deliver the most aid to the neediest students. That’s hard to beat—but there is room for improvement.

Tuition isn’t the only, or even the most important, barrier to enrollment for low-income students. The rest of life’s expenses—food, clothing, housing, transportation—for oneself, and often a family, are what stand in the way between many young people and a degree. For them, free college isn’t enough. Rather than make college free for all, those funds should be spent to offset these non-tuition costs for the poorest students through expanded Pell Grants, the federal need-based grant program.

For those worried about the growing burden of student debt, a subtle change in that same program could be a game-changer. By moving grant eligibility up earlier in the course of college enrollment, we could substantially reduce the risk of attending college. Those who struggle most with unaffordable student loans are those who take on debt but don’t achieve a degree. By moving grant-based support into the early years of college, we would allow students at all income levels to try college with less financial risk.

Simply adding more money won’t eliminate the information barrier that stands between many low-income students and college enrollment. A better idea would be to automate the process of federal financial aid so that grant awards and loan eligibility can be retrieved from a website, perhaps hosted by the IRS, at any time. This might require some tweaks in how eligibility is determined, but would be worth the cost to ensure that every potential college student understands exactly what they can expect to spend on a degree. Some students would be surprised to find that “free college” has been true for them all along.

Yes, free college would work, insofar as it would make college free. While this has its merits, its laudable goals are ultimately outweighed by the harm it would do to higher education in the U.S. We should aim to reduce the economic barriers to college while maintaining the market structure that drives the quality and innovation that make our system exceptional.

Beth Akers is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and co-author of Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt .

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Those Who Preach Free Speech Need to Practice It

Too many leaders, on campus and in government, are failing to uphold the First Amendment rights they claim to champion.

Updated at 9:35 a.m. ET on April 30, 2024

Say you’re a college senior, just a few weeks from graduation. For as long as you can remember—even back in high school, before you set foot on campus—older people have talked about free speech. More specifically, older people have talked about free speech and you : whether your generation understands it, whether you believe in it, whether you can handle it.

After watching some of those same people order crackdowns on campus protests over the past few days, you might have a few questions for them.

Last week, from New York to Texas, cops stormed college campuses clad in riot gear. They weren’t there to confront active shooters, thank goodness, or answer bomb threats. Instead, they were there to conduct mass arrests of students protesting the war in Gaza.

As the legal director of a First Amendment advocacy nonprofit, I teach students across the country that the government can’t silence speakers because of their beliefs, even—and perhaps especially—if those beliefs are unpopular or cause offense. That’s a foundational principle of free-speech law. But many of the crackdowns appear to be a direct reaction to the protesters’ views about Israel.

After sending a phalanx of state law-enforcement officers into the University of Texas at Austin campus, for example, Governor Greg Abbott announced on X that students “joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”

Erwin Chemerinsky: No one has a right to protest in my home

But no First Amendment exception exists for “hate-filled” speech. And for good reason: In our pluralistic democracy, everyone has their own subjective idea of what, if any, speech is too “hateful” to hear, making an objective definition impossible. And empowering the government to draw that line will inevitably silence dissent.

At UT, the officers arrested scores of protesters for “ trespassing .” But the students don’t appear to have violated school rules. And you can’t trespass on a place where you have the right to be, as students at the public universities they attend clearly do. Even a cameraman for a local news station was tackled and arrested . The next day, the Travis County attorney’s office dropped all of the trespassing charges for lack of probable cause—a telling indicator of the disturbingly authoritarian response. (Shockingly, the cameraman does face a felony charge , for allegedly assaulting a police officer—an allegation difficult to square with video of his arrest.) The government can’t throw Americans in jail for exercising their First Amendment right to peaceful protest.

Governor Abbott’s illiberal show of force has no place in a free country. It’s especially galling given the governor’s previous posture as a stalwart defender of campus free speech: In June 2019, he signed a law prohibiting Texas’s public colleges and universities from shutting down campus speakers because of their ideology. So much for that.

Governor Abbott isn’t alone. During her congressional testimony earlier this month, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik pledged investigations of students and faculty who voiced allegedly anti-Semitic criticism of Israel and Zionism, and agreed—on the fly—to remove a professor from his position as a committee chair because of his speech.

Michael Powell: The unreality of Columbia’s ‘liberated zone’

Columbia is a private institution, so it isn’t bound by the First Amendment. But the university promises freedom of expression to its students and faculty—and Shafik’s willingness to sacrifice faculty and student rights to appease hostile members of Congress betrays those promises.

If such things had happened only at UT and Columbia, that would be bad enough—but the problem is spreading. At Emory University, in Atlanta, police officers reportedly used tear gas and Tasers against protesters. State troopers with rifles directed toward protesters stood watch on a rooftop at Ohio State University. At Indiana University, administrators rushed out a last-minute, overnight policy change to justify a similar show of force from law enforcement, resulting in 34 arrests. It’s hard to keep up.

Students nationwide are watching how the adults who professed to care about free speech are responding under pressure. And they are learning that those adults don’t really mean what they say about the First Amendment. That’s a dangerous lesson. Our schools and universities could still teach the country a better one.

“Free Speech 101” starts here: The First Amendment protects an enormous amount of speech, including speech that some, many, perhaps most Americans would find deeply offensive. You may not like pro-Palestine speech; you may not like pro-Israel speech. You may think some of it veers into bigotry. The answer is to ignore it, mock it, debate it, even counterprotest it. But don’t call in the SWAT team.

George Packer: The campus-left occupation that broke higher education

Granted, free speech is not without carefully designated exceptions, and these exceptions are important but narrow. True threats and intimidation, properly defined, are not protected by the First Amendment. Neither is discriminatory harassment. Violence is never protected.

And public universities can maintain reasonable “time, place, and manner” restrictions on speech. That means, for example, that for the authorities to place a ban on playing heavily amplified sound right outside the dorms at 2 a.m. likely does not violate the First Amendment. A prohibition on camping overnight in the quad probably doesn’t either. And taking over a campus building, as Columbia students did early this morning , is not protected.

But the enforcement of these rules must be evenhanded and proportionate. The use of force should be a last resort. Students must be given clear notice about what conduct crosses a line. And any student facing punishment for an alleged infringement should receive a fair hearing. Consistency counts. Our leaders—in government, in university administration—must demonstrate their commitment to free expression in both word and deed.

Students are protesting on campuses nationwide, and they’re watching the reaction of university presidents and elected officials closely. The current moment presents a generational challenge: Do older people and people in authority really mean what they say about the First Amendment? Do they believe in free speech—and can they handle it? Right now, too many leaders are failing the test.

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College is hard enough — try doing it while raising kids

From Hechinger Report

Hannah Allen attends Hudson County Community College and is the mother of three children. "First you put your kids," she says. "Then you put your jobs, then you put your school. And last, you put yourself." Yunuen Bonaparte/The Hechinger Report hide caption

Hannah Allen attends Hudson County Community College and is the mother of three children. "First you put your kids," she says. "Then you put your jobs, then you put your school. And last, you put yourself."

When Keischa Taylor sees fellow students who are also parents around her campus, she pulls them aside and gives them a hug.

"I tell them, 'Don't stop. You've got this. You didn't come this far to stop. You're not going to give up on yourself.' "

Taylor is exceedingly well qualified to offer this advice. She began her college education in her early 20s, balancing it with raising two sons and working retail jobs in northern New Jersey. And she just finished her bachelor's degree last semester — at 53.

It's a rare success story. There are more than 5 million student parents attending U.S. colleges and universities. Yet they are disproportionately less likely to reach the finish line. Fewer than 4 in 10 graduate with a degree within six years, compared with more than 6 in 10 other students.

Many have long had to rely on themselves and each other, as Taylor did, to make it through.

4 tips for parents and caregivers who want to go to college

Now, however, student parents are beginning to get more attention. A rule that took effect in California in July, for example, gives priority course registration at public colleges and universities to student parents, who often need more scheduling flexibility than their classmates.

New York State in September expanded the capacity of child care centers at community colleges by 200 spots. Its campus child care facilities previously handled a total of 4,500 children, though most of those slots — as at many institutions with child care on campus, nationwide — went to faculty and staff.

For Taylor, child care was a huge issue. She first attended Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, N.J., and later moved on to Rutgers University. While she was in community college, she put her sons in a Salvation Army day care center.

"It's a matter of paying for college, paying for the babysitter or sneaking them into class," Taylor recalled. Even though the community college is among the few that have improved its services for student parents, she remembered asking herself back then, "How am I going to do this?"

Keischa Taylor began her college education in her 20s, balanced it with raising two sons and working retail jobs. She recently finished her bachelor's degree at age 53. Yunuen Bonaparte/The Hechinger Report hide caption

Keischa Taylor began her college education in her 20s, balanced it with raising two sons and working retail jobs. She recently finished her bachelor's degree at age 53.

Experts say there are several factors driving the new efforts to serve student parents:

• They are a huge potential market for colleges and universities looking for ways to make up for the plummeting number of 18- to 24-year-olds. "If you want to serve adult learners, which colleges see as their solution to enrollment decline, you have to serve student parents," said Su Jin Jez, CEO of California Competes, a nonpartisan research organization that focuses on education and workforce policies.
• They offer a potential solution to the need in many states for workers to fill jobs requiring a college education.
• Many parents already have some college credits. More than a third of the 40.4 million adults who have gone to college, but never finished, have children under age 18, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, or IWPR.
• Another reason student parents are more visible now: The COVID-19 pandemic reminded Americans how hard it is to be a parent generally, never mind one who is juggling school on top of work and children.
• A new body of research has also drawn attention to the benefits for children of having parents who go to college. "The greatest impact on a child's likelihood to be successful is the education of their parents," said Teresa Eckrich Sommer, a research professor at Northwestern University's Institute for Policy Research.

For parents struggling to juggle courses, study time and raising a child, the conflicting demands can seem overwhelming.

Tayla Easterla was enrolled at a community college near Sacramento, Calif., when her daughter was born prematurely four years ago; she took her midterms and finals in the neonatal intensive care unit. "I just found that motherly drive somewhere deep inside," she recalls.

The new kids on campus? Toddlers, courtesy of Head Start

Now 27, Easterla is majoring in business administration at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Krystle Pale is about to get her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz. When she looks at her children who live with her, who are 5, 7, 12 and 13, she chokes up. "I want better for them," she says. "I just want them to have a better life."

Sydney Riester of Rochester, Minn., who is about to earn her dental assistant associate degree, also said her children — ages 3, 6 and 7 — were foremost in her planning: "These kids need me, and I need to get this done for them."

There's a surprising lack of information about students in college who have dependent children.

"Ask community college presidents what percentage of their students are parents, and they'll say, 'That's a really good question. I'll get back to you,' " said Marjorie Sims, managing director of Ascend at the Aspen Institute, one of a growing number of research, policy and advocacy organizations focusing on student parents.

This is slowly changing. California, Michigan, Oregon and Illinois have passed legislation since 2020 requiring that public colleges and universities track whether their students are also parents. A similar federal measure is pending in Congress.

Broader national data compiled by the Urban Institute show that nearly 1 in 4 undergraduates, and nearly 1 in 3 graduate students, are parents. That's more than 5.4 million people . More than half have children under age 6 , according to the IWPR.

Women make up more than 70% of student parents. Just over half (51%) are Black, Hispanic or Native American. Student mothers are more likely to be single, while student fathers are more likely to be married.

Student parents face huge financial obstacles

Among student parents who go to college but drop out, cost and conflicts with work are the most-stated reasons, various research shows. Seventy percent have trouble affording food and housing , according to the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University.

Most financial aid is based on an estimated cost of attendance that includes tuition, fees, books, supplies, transportation and living expenses – but not expenses related to raising a child.

Hannah Allen, who attends Hudson County Community College, gets up at 5 a.m. to get her three kids ready for the day. Yunuen Bonaparte/The Hechinger Report hide caption

Hannah Allen, who attends Hudson County Community College, gets up at 5 a.m. to get her three kids ready for the day.

The out-of-pocket cost of attending a public college or university for a low-income parent can be two to five times higher than for a low-income student without children, according to the advocacy group The Education Trust.

A student parent would have to work 52 hours a week, on average, to cover both child care and tuition at a public university or college, EdTrust says. A separate analysis by California Competes found that students in that state who have children pay $7,592 per child a year more for their education and related expenses than their classmates who don't have kids.

But "when they apply for financial aid, they get financial aid packages as if they don't have children," said Jez, at California Competes. "It's ludicrous."

Forty-five percent of student parents who dropped out cited their need to provide child care as a significant cause, a survey released in February found. Yet the number of colleges and universities with on-campus child care has been dropping steadily, from 1,115 in 2012 to 824 today, federal data shows.

Fewer than 4 in 10 public colleges and universities, and fewer than 1 in 10 private institutions have on-campus child care for students , an analysis by the think tank New America found. Other research shows long waiting lists for those centers, while other students don't bother because they can't afford the cost.

"Colleges and universities that enroll student parents should be committed to serving their needs," said Christopher Nellum, executive director at EdTrust-West. Nellum is himself the son of a student-mother, who ultimately dropped out and enlisted in the military, concluding that it was easier to be a parent there than at a community college. "It's almost willful neglect," he says, "to be accepting their tuition dollars and financial aid dollars and not helping them succeed."

Even where child care is available and spots are open, it's often too expensive for students to manage. More than two-thirds of student parents in Washington State said they couldn't afford child care, a state survey last year found. About half of student parents nationwide rely entirely on relatives for child care.

Hannah Allen, who attends Hudson County Community College, gets up at 5 a.m. to get her three kids ready for the day — first the 4-year-old, then the 6-year-old, then the 8-year-old. "I go down the line," she said. Her schedule is so tight, she has a calendar on her refrigerator and another on the wall.

She can't drop off her children at school or day care earlier than 8:30, or pick them up later than 5. "When my kids are in school is when I do as much as I can." She calls her school days "first shift," while her time at home at night is "second shift."

"First you put your kids. Then you put your jobs, then you put your school. And last, you put yourself," Allen explains. "You have to push yourself," she adds, starting to cry softly. "Sometimes you think, 'I can't do it.' "

Limited sources of assistance

There is a little-noticed federal grant program to help low-income student parents pay for child care: Child Care Access Means Parents in School, or CCAMPIS, which last year received $84 million in funding.

The Government Accountability Office found that student parents who got CCAMPIS's subsidies were more likely to stay in school than students generally . But there were more students on the waiting list for it than received aid. A Democratic proposal in the Senate to significantly expand the program has gone nowhere.

The Association of Community College Trustees, or ACCT, is pressing member colleges to make cheap or free space available for Head Start centers on their campuses in the next five years. Fewer than 100 of the nation's 1,303 two-year colleges — where more than 40% of student parents go — have them now, the ACCT says.

These efforts are a start, but more is needed, said Chastity Lord, president and CEO of the Jeremiah Program, which provides students who are single mothers with coaching, child care and housing. "When your child is sick, what are you going to do with them? It becomes insurmountable. Imagine if we had emergency funding for backup child care."

Challenges on top of challenges

Just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, Hudson County Community College, or HCCC, has steadily added programs to support the parents among its 20,000 students.

It has set aside "family-friendly" spaces in libraries and lounges and holds events for parents with kids, including movie nights, barbecues, trick-or-treating and a holiday tree-lighting ceremony. There's a food pantry with meals prepared by the students in the college's culinary program.

The food pantry on the campus at Hudson County Community College. Yunuen Bonaparte/The Hechinger Report hide caption

The food pantry on the campus at Hudson County Community College.

Student parents get to register first for courses. College staff help with applications to public benefit programs. Lactation rooms are planned. And there are longer-range conversations about putting a child care center in a new 11-story campus building scheduled to open in 2026.

The college's 20,000 students are largely poor and many are the first in their families to go to college, said Christopher Reber, HCCC's president. Many are not native English speakers, and 94% qualify for financial aid . Having children, Reber said, "adds insurmountable challenges to that list of insurmountable challenges."

Those challenges can make it extremely difficult for students to earn a degree. HCCC graduates only 17% of students, even within three years, which is among the lowest proportions in the state.

"If a student doesn't know where their next meal is coming from, it doesn't matter how much academic support you offer — the student is not going to succeed," said Reber, in his office overlooking downtown Jersey City.

With a grant it got in January from the Aspen Institute's Ascend, HCCC is expanding its work with the housing authority in Jersey City to help student parents there enroll in, and complete, job-focused certificate programs in fields such as bookkeeping and data analytics. The grant allowed the college to hire a coordinator to work with student parents, and to appoint an advisory committee made up of those students.

Hudson Community College keeps a supply of clothing for students to wear to internships, job interviews, and in other professional situations. Yunuen Bonaparte/The Hechinger Report hide caption

Hudson Community College keeps a supply of clothing for students to wear to internships, job interviews, and in other professional situations.

A new program will reward student parents with financial stipends for doing things such as registering early, and researching child care options, said Lisa Dougherty, the college's senior vice president for student affairs and enrollment.

A few other colleges and universities have programs designed for student parents. Misericordia University in Dallas, Penn., provides free housing for up to four years for as many as 18 single mothers, who also get academic support and tutoring, priority for on-campus jobs, and access to a children's library and sports facilities.

At Wilson College in Pennsylvania, up to 12 single parents annually are awarded grants for on-campus housing and for child care , and their children can eat in the campus dining hall for free.

St. Catherine University in Minnesota subsidizes child care for eligible student parents , and has child-friendly study rooms.

And Howard Community College in Howard County, Md., whose president, Daria Willis, was once a student-paren t, provides mentorship, peer support, career counseling, financial assistance and a family study room in the library.

"That may not seem like a big deal, but those are the messages that say, 'You belong here, too,' " said Chastity Lord of the Jeremiah Program.

Some of the obstacles for student parents are hard to measure, says Jessica Pelton, who finished community college after having a daughter at age 20. She ultimately graduated from the University of Michigan, where her husband also was enrolled.

"You're typically isolated and alone," Pelton said. "I just kind of stuck to myself."

She would often miss out on nighttime study groups with classmates who lived on campus. "Their priorities are not to go home, make dinner and put their kid to bed." Student parents, she added, "don't have the option to go party. We're not here on our parents' money. We're paying our own way."

Some faculty offered to let her bring her daughter to class, she said, which "really meant a lot to me, because it made me feel like a part of campus."

Finding fellow classmates who are parents helps, too, said Omonie Richardson, 22, who is going to college online to become a midwife, while raising her 1-year-old son and working as a chiropractic assistant 35 hours a week in Fargo, N.D.

"I felt very isolated before I found a group of other single moms," she said. "If we had the understanding and support in place, a lot more parents would be ready to pursue their educations and not feel like it's unattainable."

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

Correction April 20, 2024

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the university affiliation of Teresa Eckrich Sommer. She is with Northwestern University, not Northeastern.

JONATHAN TURLEY

Come for the education, stay for the amputation: iran offers free scholarships to u.s. students.

Mohammad Moazzeni, head of Shiraz University told media that “students and even professors who have been expelled or threatened with expulsion can continue their studies at Shiraz University and I think that other universities in Shiraz as well as Fars Province are also prepared [to provide the conditions].”

This could be the single most transformative educational experience of their lives. Of course, Iran is better known for floggings than free speech .

Iran is particularly prone to such contradictions like  executing homosexuals while denying that there are any homosexuals  in Iran or  objecting to the treatment of protesters in the West while jailing, beating and killing protesters .

Warning: vegan meals are not available at Iranian protests. Instead, it has ordered the arrest and killing of writers and artists while holding such fun events as a cartoon competition on the Holocaust.

While expungements are not a common feature of the criminal justice system, it does have unique elements like judicially ordered blindings . Likewise, where else can you go where a criminal defendant was ordered to be executed by being tied into a burlap bag and thrown down a cliff with sharp rocks?

Some universities clearly have space after students were arrested for protesting the death sentence given a rapper. That includes Shiraz University where the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) arrested students  for protests.

The good thing is that U.S. students are already covering up their faces. Iranian women have faced arrest for being photographed without hijabs.

Students like Khymani James , the Columbia organizer declaring that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” have the right viewpoint but may find that the Iranian officials are less supportive in other respects.

Just a year studying abroad in Iran is worth a lifetime of education.

So Iranian universities are making the ultimate pitch to come for the free education and stay for the free amputations.

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150 thoughts on “come for the education, stay for the amputation: iran offers free scholarships to u.s. students”.

Showing contempt, and disrespect, for Prof. Turley in these pages of his blog…..there’s just no call for it. Even if you truly believe Turley is provided his viewpoints by the folks at Fox news, without strong back-up, do you expect those of us who read Turley’s blog every day to give you any credence? The American media landscape could benefit from a lot more Turleys, be they well thought-out perspectives from the liberal side of the aisle or the conservative side of the aisle.

“Students protesting on our campuses . . .”

Those protests are a marriage made in hell.

They are a union of the ideology of militant Islam (think Iranian theocracy and 9/11) and the radical Left (BLM, Antifa). (Plus, of course, the useful idiots and appeasers).

Their common bond is a virulent hatred of American values (individualism and freedom) and a barbaric conviction that violence makes right.

Socialists, non-students, activists emerge as leaders of anti-Israel protests on campuses https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/socialists-non-students-emerge-leaders-anti-israel-protests-campuses

“. . . U.S. protesters can now go to Iran for their education.”

Why bother? They can get the same anti-American propaganda right here at home.

You think we’re so innocent? We’ve killed more civilians around the world than Iran ever has.

Christ is innocence, and if you love Christ you must love the innocent. And if hate Christ then you do what America has and does do. Do you love the innocent Mr, Mohammed? I do.

Dueling douches^^^^^^

Since you like following Trump’s finances.

DJT stock closed today at 48.6 Almost the highest it has been. In addition Trump earned a 1.8B stock options bonus – because the stock stayed above 17.5 for 30 consecutive days after it opened. Short Sellers are taking a bath.

Trumps Net Worth is now 8B that is now HIGHER than the Billionaire running the bonding company that you think Bailed Trump out. In more Trump news – Trump after his Rallies in the Rust belt went to a New York Fire Station to deliver Pizza where he was ecstatically received by fire fighters.

This is in addition to the earlier Bodega Stop and the Construction site visit.

Trump says he is closing his eyes and listening attentively at the farce of a trial – not sleeping – but only loons on the left care as Pretty sure that those at the Fire Station Construction site and Bodega as well as the rust belt rallies, Saw a lively energetic sharp president – not the farce that the WH rolled out today to muddle his way through dancing arround over violent and hateful protests.

Several in the MSM are comparing these student riots to J6 – before catching themselves, Several are starting to condemn these students. Regardless in UCLA alone most students were arrested than the entirety of J6 – and the protestors are promising to come back.

And the video – no it does not compare to J6 – it is MUCH WORSE.

Contra left wing nuts – J6 protestors treated the capitol with Respect. While these student protestors have cause massive amounts of damage to the places they live and go to school.

Even wild animals do not s$hit in their own nests.

So far no protestors had guns – but that is pretty much the only weapons they did NOT have. They had riot gear, knives, paint balloons, frozen water bottles. barricades, baseball bats, LOTS of zip cuffs – who is it that these protestors planned on taking prisoner ?

Video of Biden condemning the protestors at Charlotesville – that would be pleal who were engaging in free speech – got a permit to protest, were beaten all the way to the park because the police were called away by the governor, and then all the ay back because the governor revoked their permit because of the violence being done to them.

Biden spoke eloquently and animatedly attacking actually peaceful alt-right protestors with a parade permit being attacked byt lawless counter protestors.

Biden has condemned Trump for the “good people on both sides” comment – but repeated over and over his own version of the same claim.

This week economic data showed inflation holding strong, the economy slowing.

At the University of Alabama pro-israel and pro-hamas protestors chanted back and forth -until they amazingly found common ground and chanted back and forth “F#$K Jue Biden”

Bad Day for Biden

Andrew MacCarthy said that Trump should just right Merchan a check for $10,000 and give it to him at the start of court every Monday for the Gag order violations he is going to do during the week.

MacCarthy noted that while Merchan could jail Trump for up to 30 days, that nothing could possibly be better for Trump than for Merchan to do so, that As I have said here repeatedly – Trump has the upper hand – because Merchan can jail Trump, but that could be the end of the election for Biden and probably the end of the Trial for Merchan.

Trump has Rope-a-doped Merchan and Brag.

In Trial adjacent news – Former Trump Prosecutor and NY DA Pomerantz – who wrote the book that claimed that Trump was prosecutable is being deposed and he took the 5th amendment REPEATEDLY, including simple questions like – did you violate the law during your investigations of Trump.

John Say, Awesome break down of current events our leftist friends do not want to discuss. I did note the DJT stock had gone up, and all of a sudden our leftists friends went silent on the topic. How will stocks preform is a gamble. Who would of ever thought Boeing would be doing not so good right now.

I know you are sincere Big Jon, but the sarcasm may scare off some highly qualified and deserving protestors. In fact, let’s pay for their one way tickets to Paradise.

Turley– “Just a year studying abroad in Iran is worth a lifetime of education.” +++

I expect it would be a short lifetime but would feel like forever.

This is just plain silly. Anyone who pays attention to the lunacy of the Iran regime needs to consult a good psychiatrist.

This piece is nothing more than propaganda supplied by Turley’s handlers at Fox, provided to him as a means to rile up the dimwit MAGA morons who infest this blog.

Does anyone seriously believe that Turley writes this garbage? Why the hell would any serious person pay attention what spews out of a corrupt Iranian regime?

How does he find the time to research and write this nonsense?

Speaking as a retired professor I can tell you that this time of year is the busiest in the academic schedule. It is finals time. Any decent professor will offer greatly extended office hours for students who need help or clarification before finals. Grading papers is very time consuming (assuming of course that Turley really puts in the effort). There is a very short time frame for professors to get papers graded for graduating students, and get the grades to the Registrar.

If Turley is really spending his time on this nonsense, then the Administration needs to know about it.

But of course the reality is that he doesn’t write any of this. It is provided to him by Fox.

If Turley is so wrong – then students should go to Iran for an education. I doubt it would take more than one semester for them to long for the freedom here.

Regardless, Turley is actually pointing out the Silliness of the current uber elite student protestors. Whether it is Iran – or Gaza – the ONLY value protestors share with the nations and peoples they are protesting in favor of is hatred of jews. That is it.

You talk about what Professors SHOULD be doing right now.

That is NOT what they are doing in the most elite colleges in this country.

You are quite simply proving my point.

If you think that this nonsense about Iran is worthy of any serious consideration and thought, then there is something seriously wrong with you.

You obviously fit the profile of a typical MAGA cult follower. That is, a poorly educated white male with a chip on your shoulder about perceived persecution that has denied you a meaningful life.

What makes you think that any significant number of professors are participating in these ridiculous protests? I know, you heard it on the Fox Fantasy Channel, so it must be true.

The actual number of campuses and students participating in these protests is a miniscule proportion of the total student population of the country, but unfortunately you are incapable of realizing that fact. You simply listen to the sensationalized Fox propaganda, and conclude that the entire student population of the country is out in the streets protesting.

You really need to get some sort of life.

“Who are you gong to believe? Me or your lying eyes?”

Is that seriously what you are going to stand on?

“You are quite simply proving my point.” You have no point.

“If you think that this nonsense about Iran is worthy of any serious consideration and thought, then there is something seriously wrong with you.”

Yes, we should just ignore a country on the verge of having nuclear weapons that already has IRBM’s and that has vowed to exterminate jews, that murders its own people when they protest, that is possibly the most mysoginyst and homophobic country in the world, and that is the worlds most significant exporter of terrorism.

Being concerned about Iran is just silly.

Nothing to see there – lets normalize relations with them, and send them billions of dollars.

Sounds like an excellent idea, with the best of intentions – what could possibly go wrong.

You do not have a point but I do – you are a clueless idiot.

“You obviously fit the profile of a typical MAGA cult follower.” AGAIN, Libertarian, not republican Never voted for Trump.

Really really not a follower of ANYONE., or anything. But I was born with a working brain and excellent logic and reasoning skills. I think for myself. And Though I am not some follower of Bill Barr either – he has it absolutely right. What ever you think about Trump – Biden and his handlers are a danger to themselves and all the rest of us.

“That is, a poorly educated white male with a chip on your shoulder about perceived persecution that has denied you a meaningful life.” Hillarious!! You know me so well – NOT! Do you like making a fool of yourself ?

I am perfectly happy, I have a pretty good life, a wife that I love and have for the past 40 years, two wonderful kinds and I am doing very well considering the idiotic efforts of the left to destroy everything they touch. I am not tooting my own horn beyond that – except to say that you are ridiculously off base., I have excellent credentials – if that is what matters to you. But what matters is that I stick to FACTS and what can be derived from actual facts using logic and reason.

It does not matter if I have been successful in multiple fields, highly educated at the top schools in the country before they went woke, Published and respected in many fields, Or if I am just some poor schmoe that plunges toilets for a living.

What matters is whether my facts are correct and my arguments are logically valid.

“What makes you think that any significant number of professors are participating in these ridiculous protests?” I do not recall saying that. I have no idea how many professors are participating – aside from the specific ones that openly take their places on the bully pulpit.

Frankly, I do not really know that the people destroying these campuses are even students. Does that matter ? They are young, they are stupid, they are filled with hatred, and they are pretty violent, and whether they are students or not, they got filled with hatred and violence by the ideology taught at the institutions they are trying to destroy. My own Alma mater has not made the news so far – but I would guess this nonsense is going on their too. I graduated from one of the best engineering schools in the country.

Nor do I need Fox to tell me that – the MSM is begging these students to stop. Why ? Because these students priority is the destruction of Jews, while the MSM’s priority is the destruction of Trump, and the conduct of the students is burning the hopes of the rest of the left to the ground.

It is NOT Fox hosts that are begging these protestors to stop the violence, to stop the destruction of their campuses, to stop destroying college education for those people NOT engaging in these riots and property destruction, and blackmail, and F#$King things over for other students that actually want an education.

“I know, you heard it on the Fox Fantasy Channel, so it must be true.” You left wing nuts seem to know only one note. You rant about MAGA as a cult – but your the ones that show zero evidence of being able to think for your self.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Maga, Maga, Maga, Fox, Fox Fox – are YOU able to think for yourself. Regardless my sources of information as well as ideas, thought, … are with near certainty far more diverse than yours. Have you read Susan Brownmiller or Kant or Kiekegard, or Neitche or Marx, or Hayek of Keynes or Coase ? I have read these and thousands more. Have you debated Lawrence Tribe, or Robert Riech ? You probably do not even know who they are.

“The actual number of campuses and students participating in these protests is a miniscule proportion of the total student population of the country,” It is – did I say otherwise ? You are the one keeps claiming I have said things I have not. My son is in his senior year in college right now. His college is perfectly peaceful. I suspect there are some protests – what would a college be without protests. But no one is spewing hatred or taking over buildings, or thwarting the ability of other students to get an education.

Last night 1000 were arrested at UCLA. Before that maybe 2000 more. Many of those were non-violent and did not engage in property damage, but they did impeded the ability of others to get the education they are paying for.

Regardless, the most virulent form of this idiotic woke mind virus is confined to the most elite schools in this country. While the rest lean too far left for their own good – I thought the left thought diversity was a good thing ? Aparently only SOME forms of diversity.

“but unfortunately you are incapable of realizing that fact.” You keep making a fool of yourself by making false presumptions about me.

” You simply listen to the sensationalized Fox propaganda, and conclude that the entire student population of the country is out in the streets protesting.” Do you think misrepresenting others reflects well on you ? One of the tests of ones ability to overcome your own biases is to accurately represent – without spin the views of those you disagree with. If you can not do that – your critical thinking is far too poor to engage in a logical argument.

I am insulting the crap out of you – but I am doing so correctly – I do not know what you think about everything, and I have not tried to make claims about your specific views on anything – beyond those you have expressed.

You have made specific claims about me, and they are laughably wrong – they would be defamatory – except that I really do not care – beyond laughing at you for your foolish false assumptions.

You attacked me – for assumptions – that I did not make or express. While yourself drowning in false assumptions about me.

Why should anyone trust you about anything – if your constantly making claims that have no foundation in fact.

As I said before It does not matter if I am a dishwasher or a published scientist. It does not matter if I have read Sartre or Seuss What matters is whether the facts I have ACTUALLY asserted are correct, and the arguments that follow them are logical.

When you pretent that you know me or anyone else – you make a fool of yourself.

I am not making you into a fool – you did that to yourself. I am merely using your own remarks to point that out.

“You really need to get some sort of life.”

I have a very good one, and all I ask of you and everyone else is to leave me to make my own choices, live my own life. And stop trying to use the FORCE of government to shove YOUR values down my throat.

John Say, Great comment. As you point out, non-thinking leftists cannot think for themselves and just repeat the MSM narrative they are told about anyone who is not a leftist Democrat. They are the ones inside a cult.

WOW!!!! Calm down my friend. Take a deep breath. Take a Valium.

Unfortunately, once again your ranting proves my point. However your MAGA mind is incapable of grasping that point. Let me spell it out for you.

1. These campus protests are ridiculous.

2. Only a very small number of campuses and students are involved. (There are 5,999 colleges in this country with 19 million students.)

3. MAGA world, along with Fox and their minions such as Turley, are painting a broad-brush picture implying that the entire student population and their liberal professors are attempting to destroy the fabric of this country.

4. The Iranian offer is simply a provocation from a corrupt regime designed to rile up dimwits like you, and unfortunately you fell for it.

5. The silliness that I speak of, is the silly reaction of MAGA world to this provocation.

6. The Iranian offer should be treated with the contempt it deserves, and should be totally ignored by everyone. Instead, MAGA world, Fox and Turley are wasting time elevating this craziness, which is exactly what the Iranians intended. You are simply playing into their hands.

As a side note, you claim to be a libertarian. This is the most dangerous philosophy we face today. The idea that everything will be just hunky-dory if everyone simply acts rationally in their own best interest is patently absurd, for the simple reason that it assumes that everyone is rational. You have to realize that 50% of the population is below average intelligence, and that a large proportion of the population is totally incapable of rational thought.

turly-u got your head stuck in your behind. you dont know what in the hell you’re mumbling about.

How does he find the time to research and write this nonsense? Turley is the Author of all his posts on this blog.

You are free to present evidence to the support your lie.

I, for one, am willing to pay for the airfare of several of the hate filled anti-Semites who blindly follow Iranian supported terrorists … to get out of the USA! If they believe the “Palestinians” are worth their participation in hateful, vandalizing, terrorist mobs .. go to the middle east and fight with Hamas.

Lets start a go fund me for one way tickets to Tehran, or Kabul or Gaza or Islamabad, or … most anywhere in the mideast.

If your pro nouns are anything but he or she and if they do not match your chromosomes – the ONLY place you are save in the mideast is Israel, the place you seem to hate the most.

Muslims hate trans people. MAGA hates trans people. Muslims hate communists. MAGA hates communists. Muslims hate globalists. MAGA hates globalists. Muslims hate Hollywood. MAGA hates Hollywood. Muslims hate Jews. MAGA hates Jews.

Idiot hates himself^^^^^

The best you could do? Well, you avoided refuting it because it’s true.

Feminists hate trans/neogendered people. Trans/homosexuals hate trans/neogendered people. Levine dreams of Herr Mengele and progressive profits. #HateLovesAbortion

You really think this ?

Not seeing a bunch of Rednecks on the Quad at Columbia shouting “From the River to the see”.

Hitler was a well known dog lover. I love my and most dogs too. Does that make me a NAZI?

Only if you shoot it in a gravel pit.

I do not hate trans people. As long as they do not try to groom children. I do not hate Muslims. As long as they are not trying to kill gay people or Jews. Never met a globalist so I cannot say I hate them. Hollywood? As long as they are not trying to rape children, women I dont hate them. I do not hate Jews. I have several Jewish friends. I stand with Israel. So, your assertions are nothing more than leftist zealot talking points.

It’s time to play “Guess Who The Jew Is”

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Police make arrests at Columbia amid wave of university protests

This live coverage has ended. For the latest updates, please go here . | Dozens of New York police officers in riot gear entered Columbia University’s campus Tuesday night after issuing a dispersal order to protesters gathered outside one of the school’s entrances. Officers breached a building occupied by protesters and removed students from the campus with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. A police spokesman said multiple people had been arrested. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have demanded for weeks that universities divest from Israeli-linked companies more than six months into Israel’s war with Hamas.

• House committee to grill more university presidents in May
• Brown to consider divesting from Israeli-linked funds
• Columbia says it will expel students occupying Hamilton Hall

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32 Questions to Ask on a College Visit

Students should feel free to ask questions during an information session or on tour.

Questions to Ask on a College Visit

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Prospective students should conduct at least basic research to facilitate questions to ask during the information session or on tour, experts say.

Key Takeaways

• Before a campus visit, students should do basic research on the school.
• Students and their families have various opportunities to ask questions.
• No question is dumb.

College visits, whether in person or virtual, can help give prospective students a better feel of campus life.

Contrary to popular belief, however, students don’t need to have that “a-ha” moment when they eventually find the campus where they belong, says Thyra Briggs, vice president for admission and financial aid at Harvey Mudd College in California.

“I just don't think that happens for most students,” she says. “I don't want students to walk away from a visit where that didn't happen thinking, ‘Oh, this is not the place for me.’ This is a long-term relationship. It's not necessarily love at first sight. … In this age of instant gratification, I think it's an important thing to give a school a chance to affect you in a different way.”

For an in-person visit, families should prepare ahead of time by checking the weather and dressing comfortably as tours are mostly held outside.

"Leave plenty of time at an individual campus and allow yourself to enjoy the experience, be present in the moment and (don't) feel rushed because that could also skew your perception of things," says Bryan Gross, vice president for enrollment management at Hartwick College in New York.

It’s also important, experts say, to conduct at least basic research on the institution – even if it’s just looking at their social media accounts – to help facilitate questions to ask during the information session or on tour.

"We know that for some of you, this may be the first time you are going through this," Briggs says. "For others, it's a different student (going through the process) than the student you had who's older. So there’s no bad questions. ... I would hope that any college would welcome any question a student would ask.”

Here are 32 example questions, collected from college admissions and enrollment professions, that students don't always think to ask on college visits. These questions – edited for length or clarity – were provided by Briggs, Gross and Brian Lindeman, assistant vice president of admissions and financial aid at Macalester College  in Minnesota.

Questions About Admissions

• Does this school consider demonstrated interest?
• Is there an opportunity for prospective students to sit in on a class to experience a real lecture?
• Are there options to receive a lunch or dinner pass at the dining hall to try the food?

Questions About Academics

• Where do students typically study?
• How does advising work?
• What are the academic strengths of this school?
• What opportunities are there for study abroad and exchange programs?
• If available, are these global programs directly run by this school – where faculty members travel with students – or are these study abroad programs outsourced to a third-party company?
• Are these study abroad experiences built into the tuition or are there additional fees to participate?

Questions About Financial Aid

• What is this school's average financial aid package?
• What is the average net cost when students enroll?
• What is the current level of funding with endowed scholarships – how much are donors contributing to scholarships?
• Do you offer merit aid ? If so, what are you looking for in a candidate?

Questions About Campus Housing and Community

• What are the housing options?
• What are the fee structures for these different options?
• Are students required to live on campus ?
• How does your campus define diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging?

Questions to Ask Your Tour Guide to Gauge Campus Life

• What surprised you about this school? What's something you didn't expect?
• What keeps you coming back to this school each year?
• Have we seen your favorite place on campus?
• What event on campus gets the biggest turnout every year?
• If you were struggling with an issue, would you know who to turn to? Who would that be?

Questions About Work and Research Opportunities

• What are the opportunities for undergraduate research on campus?
• How do those research opportunities give students valuable hands-on experiences that enhance their resumes?
• What are some specific ways this school helps students gain hands-on experience through internships ?

Questions About Student and Career Outcomes

• What is the retention rate from freshman to sophomore year?
• What is the five-year graduation rate?
• What is the job-attainment rate of graduates within six months of graduating?
• What percent of students are going on to graduate school ?
• What percent of students are intentionally taking time off post-graduation compared to those who are not able to find jobs?
• What size is the alumni network?
• How are alumni actively engaging with recent graduates to help connect them specifically to opportunities in their fields?

Searching for a college? Get our  complete rankings  of Best Colleges.

Unique College Campus Visits

Tags: colleges , education , campus life , college applications , students

Ask an Alum: Making the Most Out of College

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Watch CBS News

Pro-Palestinian protests spread, get more heated as schools' reactions differ

Updated on: April 30, 2024 / 11:38 PM EDT / CBS/AP

In an extraordinary scene, New York City police officers  entered the Columbia University campus Tuesday night after dozens of protesters took over a campus building  in New York, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses nationwide.

Officers in riot gear began moving in around 9 p.m. ET after receiving permission from the school to enter. A massive police presence had built up outside the school before officers moved in.  

Several dozen protesters were arrested, police told CBS New York. Flash bangs were used to disorient the protesters as officers made their way inside, but according to police, no tear gas was used.

"We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions," the university said in a statement Tuesday night. "After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice."

The school added that it believes "the group that broke into and occupied the building is led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university."

The NYPD operation drew the ire of Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who said in a statement he was "outraged by the level of police presence called upon nonviolent student protestors on Columbia and CCNY's campuses."

In a letter to the NYPD requesting the operation, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik asked that the police department "retain a presence on campus through at least May 17" in order "to maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished."

Early Tuesday morning, video footage showed protesters on Columbia's Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early Tuesday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest on the campus. Posts on an Instagram page for protest organizers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall.

"An autonomous group reclaimed Hind's Hall, previously known as 'Hamilton Hall,' in honor of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old," CU Apartheid Divest posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, early Tuesday.

The student radio station, WKCR-FM, broadcasted a play-by-play of the hall's takeover, which occurred nearly 12 hours after Monday's 2 p.m. deadline for the protesters to leave an encampment of around 120 tents or face suspension.

In the X post , protesters said they planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the CUAD's three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.

In a statement Tuesday evening prior to the NYPD operation, Columbia University spokesperson Ben Chang said that "students occupying the building face expulsion."

And in a news conference  earlier Tuesday night, New York City Mayor Eric Adams had urged protesters to "leave the area now."

"If you're a parent of a student, please call your child and urge them to leave the area before the situation escalates in any way," he added. "This is for their own safety, and the safety of others."

Columbia junior Jessica Schwalb described the campus to CBS News as "lawless. Utter ancarchy." She said demonstrators in Hamilton Hall "zip-tied the doorhandles together and then broke the windows, bashed the windows with hammers and put these metal bike locks around the door handles. They put the bike lock on the first set of doors is what I saw and then they were bringing tables, the heavy black metal tables from the eating area that's right in front of Hamilton Hall, and had a group of people push them up against the door handles as a barricade and then people were also bringing furniture from Hamilton Hall to barricade inside."

Columbia issued an advisory overnight  saying in part: "Early this morning, a group of protesters occupied Hamilton Hall on the Morningside campus. In light of the protest activity on campus, members of the University community who can avoid coming to the Morningside campus today (Tuesday, April 30) should do so; essential personnel should report to work according to university policy."

Hours later, the school it was limiting access to that campus to students who live there and employees who provide essential services to the campus.

Columbia said Tuesday  that students who occupied the building overnight face expulsion, and said that "disruptions on campus" had created a "threatening environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching, learning, and preparing for final exams, and contributes to a hostile environment in violation of Title VI." 

Other protesters who did not occupy the building but remained on the school's encampment are facing suspension and are restricted from "all academic and recreational spaces," while senior-year students "will be ineligible to graduate," the school said. 

"We made it very clear yesterday that the work of the University cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules. Continuing to do so will be met with clear consequences," the school said in a statement. "Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation - vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances - and we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday."

The big picture

Universities across the U.S. are grappling with how to clear out encampments as commencement ceremonies approach, with some continuing negotiations and others turning to force and ultimatums that have resulted in clashes with police.

Dozens of people were arrested Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah and Virginia, while Columbia said hours before the takeover of Hamilton Hall that it had started suspending students.

Demonstrators are sparring over the Israel-Hamas war and its mounting death toll, and the number of arrests at campuses nationwide is approaching 1,000 as the final days of class wrap up. The outcry is forcing colleges to reckon with their financial ties to Israel as well as their support for free speech. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.

The plight of students who have been arrested has become a central part of protests, with the students and a growing number of faculty demanding amnesty for protesters. At issue is whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students through their adult lives.

Schools taking various approaches

On Tuesday morning, arrests were reported at several schools. Christopher Ludwig Eisgruber, the president of Princeton University, said in a letter to students that 13 people had been arrested on Tuesday following "an incident at Clio Hall." Students had attempted a sit-in at the building, according to the school's alumni publication . 

Eisgruber said that those arrested included five undergraduates, six graduate students, a postdoctoral researcher and "one person not affiliated with the University." All 13 have "received summonses for trespassing" and have been banned from campus, Eisgruber said. The students will face university discipline, he said, which may "extend to suspension or expulsion." 

At UNC Chapel Hill, a total of 36 people were detained Tuesday morning, the school said in a statement. Thirty of those — including 10 students and 20 people "not affiliated with the university" — were cited at the scene for trespassing and released. The other six were transported to the Orange County Magistrates Office, where they were also charged with trespassing.  

The move came after university officials told protesters they must leave their encampment by 6 a.m. All 30 people had refused to leave, and they "attempted to block the UNC Police vehicles by standing in front of them and throwing items at officers," according to a statement from the university. Protesters also attempted to "forcibly enter" a building by "pushing officers and refusing to comply with requests" from campus police and facility managers. 

Meanwhile, nine people were arrested at the University of Florida, according to campus officials. It's not clear what charges those people face. 

"This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they'll face the consequences," said university spokesman Steve Orlando, emphasizing that protesters had been warned multiple times that they could exercise free speech and free assembly but could not engage in "clearly prohibited activities." 

That follows a series of arrests on Monday as colleges struggle with how to respond to the swell of protests on campuses nationwide. The University of Texas at Austin said in a statement Tuesday that 79 people were arrested Monday, 45 of which "had no affiliation with UT Austin."

The confrontation was an escalation on the 53,000-student campus in the state's capital, where more than 50 protesters were arrested last week.

The school said that the arrest numbers "validate our concern that much of the disruption on campus over the past week has been orchestrated by people from outside the university, including groups with ties to escalating protests at other universities around the country."

Guns, large rocks, bricks, steel-enforced wood planks, mallets and chains are among the objects that have been seized from protesters, the school said. 

"Staff have been physically assaulted and threatened, and police have been headbutted and hit with horse excrement, while their police cars have had tires slashed with knives," the statement said. 

Also on Monday, dozens of officers in riot gear at the University of Utah sought to break up an encampment outside the university president's office that went up in the afternoon. Police dragged students off by their hands and feet, snapping the poles holding up tents and zip-tying those who refused to disperse. Seventeen people were arrested. The university says it's against code to camp overnight on school property and that the students were given several warnings to disperse before police were called in.

These protests and others - including in Canada and Europe - grew out of Columbia's early demonstrations that have continued. 

On Monday, student activists at Columbia defied the 2 p.m. deadline to leave their encampment. Instead, hundreds of protesters remained. A handful of counter-demonstrators waved Israeli flags, and one held a sign reading, "Where are the anti-Hamas chants?"

While the university didn't call police to roust the demonstrators, school spokesperson Ben Chang said suspensions had started but could provide few details. Protest organizers said they were not aware of any suspensions as of Monday evening.

Columbia's handling of the demonstrations also has prompted federal complaints. A class-action lawsuit on behalf of Jewish students alleges a breach of contract by Columbia, claiming the university failed to maintain a safe learning environment, despite policies and promises. It also challenges the move away from in-person classes and seeks quick court action requiring Columbia to provide security for the students.

Meanwhile, a legal group representing pro-Palestinian students is urging the U.S. Department of Education's civil rights office to investigate Columbia's compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for how they have been treated.

A university spokesperson declined to comment on the complaints.

Not all universities have responded to the protests with arrests.    

In a rare case, Northwestern University said it reached an agreement with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus near Chicago. It allows peaceful demonstrations through the June 1 end of spring classes and in exchange, requires removal of all tents except one for aid, and restricts the demonstration area to allow only students, faculty and staff unless the university approves otherwise.

At the University of Southern California, organizers of a large encampment sat down with university President Carol Folt for about 90 minutes on Monday. Folt declined to discuss details but said she heard the concerns of protesters and talks would continue Tuesday. 

Protests at USC have also been spurred by the university's decision to refuse to allow the valedictorian , who has publicly supported Palestinians, to make a commencement speech, citing nonspecific security concerns for their rare decision. Administrators then scrapped the keynote speech by filmmaker Jon M. Chu, who is an alumnus, and declined to award any honorary degrees. The university has since canceled its main graduation event. 

In a social media post Tuesday night, Folt said that a swastika had been found "drawn on our campus."

"I condemn any antisemitic symbols, or any form of hate speech against anyone," Folt said. "Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community." 

Folt said the swastika had been removed and an investigation was underway. 

Security was tightened Tuesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, a day after UCLA officials said there were "physical altercations" between dueling factions of protesters.

Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a Tuesday statement that anyone involved in blocking classroom access could face expulsion or suspension.

A weeklong occupation of the administration building at the California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, ended about 3 a.m. Tuesday, when dozens of police officers wearing helmets and wielding batons cleared protesters from campus. The university said 32 people were arrested, including 13 students, one faculty member and 18 non-students.

A group of demonstrators showed up at the jail later Tuesday, waving Palestinian flags as they rallied for their release.

Administrators elsewhere tried to salvage their commencements and several have ordered the clearing of encampments in recent days. When those efforts have failed, officials threatened discipline, including suspension, and possible arrest.

The University of Connecticut initially attempted to work with protest organizers, the school said in a statement, including sharing guidelines with organizers about what behavior was and was not permissible. Some at the school's protests "violated those guidelines by erecting tents" and using amplified sound, the school said. About 20 tents had been erected on the campus as of Monday. The group was warned "multiple times over a period of days" that the tents had to be taken down, the school said, though protestors could continue to "be in the space and exercise their free speech rights." 

UConn police addressed the protesters four times on Tuesday morning, the university said. The group "again repeatedly ignored directives." Police then "entered the site to remove the tents and tarps, and to arrest those who refused compliance," the university said. The school sadi more information, including on the number of arrests and charges, would be provided later. 

Students have dug in their heels at other high-profile universities, with standoffs continuing at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale and others.

Police in riot gear at Virginia Commonwealth University sought to break up an encampment there late Monday and clashed with protesters.

CBS New Orelans affiliate WWL-TV reports that a few hundred demonstrators marched in the city before skirmishes started with police from several different jurisdictions as some demonstrators tried to pitch tents on the Tulane campus. Six people were arrested.

CBS New York says Rutgers University students set up an encampment at the school's New Brunswick, New Jersey campus on Monday after first holding a rally and then marching to the location.

Students and community members marched into the University of New Mexico Student Union building and set up tents on the second floor — the latest in a multi-day protest held on the campus, according to CBS Albuquerque affiliate KRQE-TV . The station's crew on site said protesters graffitied the inside of the building. New Mexico State Police said they were assisting campus police in handling the demonstration.

And hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters set up a new tent encampment Monday at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus after staging a march on the campus, the StarTribune reports , as the demonstration there entered its second week Earlier in the day, the university said it would close 12 buildings in anticipation of the protest.

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Guest Essay

Community College Should Be More Than Just Free

By David L. Kirp

Mr. Kirp is a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author, most recently, of “The College Dropout Scandal.”

Free community college for everyone is the centerpiece of President Biden’s $302 billion, 10-year investment in expanding access to higher education. Though it has been hailed as a revolutionary proposal, this walking-through-the-door access doesn’t solve higher education’s biggest challenge — boosting the number of community college students who graduate or transfer to a four-year school.

As one undergraduate said: “Anyone can get into college. The challenge is staying in college.”

The data tells an abysmal tale. Only four in 10 community college students earn a degree or transfer to a university within six years. Eighty percent of community college freshmen aspire to a bachelor’s degree or higher, but fewer than a sixth of them reach their goal.

Those who would benefit the most from an associate degree fare especially badly. Just 36 percent of Latino students and 28 percent of Black students graduate. Students from low-income families do worse. Among those with family incomes below $30,000, fewer than one in six earn a degree.

Never underestimate the power of “free.” Students who grow up in poverty are acutely price-sensitive — justifiably so, since they are often perpetually on the brink of going broke — and they’re more likely to earn an associate degree if tuition is eliminated. Tennessee became the first state to make community college free, in 2015, and the graduation rate has increased to 25 percent from 22 percent since then. But zero-tuition community college will discourage these students from enrolling in an open-admissions university like Middle Tennessee State, where half of the students earn a bachelor’s degree.

Let’s be clear — I’m a critical friend, not a basher, of community colleges. For more than a century, these schools have been a portal to higher learning for millions of students who otherwise would have settled for a high school diploma. They admit African-Americans, Latinos and immigrants at about the same rate as these groups’ representation in the United States. That’s a substantially higher rate than their representation in four-year schools.

After visiting some of these schools, I came to appreciate how the best of them truly serve as engines of mobility. For example, thousands more students have graduated from Valencia College, in Orlando, Fla., since the school created a seamless path to the University of Central Florida across town.

At the City University of New York, more than half the community college students enrolled in ASAP (Accelerated Study in Associate Programs) — a model that combines comprehensive financial support with “I-have-your-back counseling” and course schedules that take into account the demands of family and work — graduate in three years. That’s more than double the percentage of CUNY community college students who earn a degree in the same amount of time.

Nationwide, if the community college graduation rate is going to rise, data-driven strategies like these need to be replicated.

Here’s what else has been shown to move the needle.

Telling students how to find schools that match their interests, with information about those colleges’ academic offerings and graduation rates, as well estimates of the cost, leads them to choose better schools.

Personalized text-message nudges can prod students into getting to and staying in college.

Parsing the voluminous amount of student information that an institution collects enables it to spot signs of trouble, like receiving a failing grade on a midterm or missing classes, before they ripen into crises. Those students are quickly connected to invaluable academic and counseling support.

A brief experience for college freshmen, designed by social psychologists to promote a sense of belonging, concentrates on rebutting a core belief of many students that “I am an impostor.” As a result, students become more tenacious when confronted with academic and social challenges.

These strategies work equally well at universities. When John Jay College, ranked 67th among “regional universities-north” by U.S. News & World Report, tested the ASAP model, nearly 60 percent of the students in its first cohort in 2015 graduated in four years. That’s about twice the school’s overall graduation rate and considerably higher than the nationwide average. At the University of Texas, the “belonging” experience halved the difference between the percent of Black and white students who completed their freshman year requirements.

But President Biden’s American Family Plan leaves four-year colleges and universities out in the cold. Their students get no help with tuition, and the schools receive little if any of the $650 billion the plan designates for colleges’ student success initiatives. While the cost of subsidizing these students was doubtlessly a factor, the omission is a mistake. Not only is the graduation rate of these institutions 50 percent higher than that of community colleges, the financial situation of their low-income students is just as shaky.

Instead of making community college free for everyone, four-year schools should be on the same financial footing as two-year schools. Lower tuition and fees on a sliding scale, with free college for those whose families earn up to $100,000 and subsidies for families earning up to $150,000.

President Biden’s plan wisely allocates $600 million for historically Black colleges and universities. Don’t other private, nonprofit colleges that educate substantial numbers of low-income, minority and first-generation students deserve to be treated just as well?

David L. Kirp ( @DavidKirp ) is a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author, most recently, of “The College Dropout Scandal.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

Local News | Massachusetts Education Secretary: Students…

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Local News | Massachusetts Education Secretary: Students should complete FAFSA ‘as soon as possible’ amid federal chaos

“In Massachusetts I should say that this is a time probably more so than ever where there’s lots of financial aid available in the Commonwealth,” said Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler said at the Tuesday morning meeting. “And so we want to make sure that students can access that aid.”

The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education pushed back the priority deadline for the state’s largest financial aid program from May 1 to July 1, following the Biden administration’s recommendations for states. The extension allows students attending Massachusetts private and public higher education institutions more time to fill out the form to receive state financial aid through the MASSGrant program.

FAFSA applications have become incredibly complicated for families and schools this year with the disastrous rollout of federal changes to the form. The changes aimed to update the form and allow 600,000 more students to qualify for Pell Grants, but the new application was mired with issues causing families difficulty accessing, submitting and correcting forms.

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday the form was riddled with “delays and challenges” but the department expected it to be fixed for the application cycle beginning next October.

The under secretary of education told reporters Tuesday the department had only received over 8.4 million FAFSA submissions so far this year, compared to an average of 17 million in a typical year, the New York Times reported .

By filling out the form by the July 1 deadline in Massachusetts, eligible students will qualify for MASSGrant awards automatically. The state extended the MASSGrant program in November to allow all Pell Grant eligible students free tuition to Massachusetts public colleges and universities. The extension also cuts tuition and fees in half for students whose families make between $73,000 and $100,000 annually.

Massachusetts education officials highlighted a new initiative Tuesday to boost the number of students filling out FAFSA. The initiative includes nearly $600,000 in grants to over 100 public schools for FAFSA completion events, awards and other incentives.

“We understand that there has been a delay on the federal level by the implementation of the new FASFA,” said Massachusetts Acting Education Commissioner Russell Johnston. “However, just building on Secretary Tutwiler’s words, there is definitely still time for college bound students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, and apply for college this fall.”

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