If you’re going to offer free college, meaning taxpayer funded college, at least make it worth the public’s investment.
Colorado Public Radio reports:
Free college in Colorado? It’s covered if you’re interested in teaching, firefighting, law enforcement, construction or forestryColorado has such dire workforce shortages in early childhood education, education, firefighting, law enforcement, construction and forestry that if you want a job in those fields, the state will pay for your college education to get a job.Gov. Jared Polis officially launched the program “Career Advance Colorado” on Tuesday. It will provide tuition, fees and course materials to students on those specific career training paths.“We’re excited to save Coloradans money and train people for good-paying jobs by offering free community college education for in-demand positions at the state’s 19 community and technical colleges,” Polis said.Most of those fields pay more — some significantly more — than unskilled jobs, and officials say one big advantage would be graduating work-ready with little or no debt.The goal of the program is to help fill significant shortages in certain areas of the state’s economy. The state currently has two job openings for every available worker. Colorado sees 3,700 openings for elementary and secondary educators every year. Construction jobs are also projected to increase by 20 percent over the next decade.Colleges will target everyone from newly graduated high school students to people who’ve been in the workforce and are looking for a career change. Students who’ve “stopped out” of college, or have some college but no degree, are another target.
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