Image 01 Image 03

Jill Biden Announces That ‘Free’ Community College No Longer in Spending Bill

Jill Biden Announces That ‘Free’ Community College No Longer in Spending Bill

“Congress hasn’t passed the Build Back Better legislation, yet. And free community college is no longer part of that package”

https://youtu.be/C2XKmhyuaT8

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are not going to be happy about this. They were so close to getting their way.

The College Fix reports:

‘Free community college’ is dead, Jill Biden says

First Lady Jill Biden told community college leaders on Monday that the Build Back Better agenda no longer includes complete taxpayer support for an associates degree.

“Congress hasn’t passed the Build Back Better legislation, yet. And free community college is no longer part of that package,” Biden said at the Community College National Legislative Summit.

The First Lady is also an instructor at Northern Virginia Community College where she makes more than $80K per year.

“Like you, I was disappointed, because, like you, these aren’t just bills or budgets to me, to you, right?” Biden said. “We know what they mean for real people, for our students, and it was a real lesson in human nature that some people just don’t get that.”

She said “entire towns can be transformed” when companies work with community colleges.

“We’ve seen how fragile that grasp on middle class life can be, how our students struggle to pay their bills and buy their books,” the First Lady said. She said in her classroom she had to “loan a student a book” because he had not gotten paid yet.

The First Lady said going to college could be easier if taxpayers spent more money on “high-speed Internet,” “affordable prescriptions” or “more Pell grants.”

She also shared the story of a student who could not find reliable childcare while taking one of Biden’s courses, which are all taught remotely.

DONATE

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.

Comments

The Gentle Grizzly | February 10, 2022 at 11:27 am

Why are we not hearing this from a congressman, senator, or the president?

Why the president’s wife? Is Joe back on the banana pudding again?

“She said in her classroom she had to “loan a student a book” because he had not gotten paid yet.”

This story has major flaws. One, most school libraries carry a print edition of the textbook (or should). Even if that’s checked out or otherwise unavaiable, publisher with ebooks will grant free access for a temporary period to allay shipping and payment delays. Three, this student probably qualifies for some kind of assistance that already pays for books…”hasn’t been paid yet” means the assistance money hasn’t arrived yet.

    And if “Dr.” Jill were a caring instructor, she’d use OER (open [read: free] educational resources) so her students didn’t have to buy books. There’s tons of material out there, especially for an intro composition course.

It’s paid for by somebody else it isn’t free. Also, nothing as as expensive as “free”. If community colleges are not restrained by the ability of their students to pay their budgets will skyrocket, as happened with regular universities when Federal grants and loans were offered.

Any student who is poor (and some who aren’t) can get a Pell grant, which more than pays for community college. There’s no reason rich kids should go to college for free. Why–so my mother, who doesn’t have a degree, can pay for other people’s kids to get degrees?

definitely on par with moochelle