Posted: 5:43 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 12, 2015
Cincinnati State president supports Obama’s ambitious idea
By
Lot Tan
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
Local college students and administrators
are calling President Barack Obama’s ambitious nationwide plan to offer free
tuition at community colleges a “historic” proposal.
Dr. O’Dell Owens, president of Cincinnati
State Technical and Community College, said Obama’s idea is more than just
about free education for all.
“Hopefully, we will see a decrease in crime
now that these kids have a choice. So many young people today don’t have a
tomorrow, and now we’re giving them a tomorrow,” Owens said. “It sends a
message to young people that if you work hard to go school everyday, do your
job — that is do homework — you can go to college. Money is no longer the
issue.”
Last Friday, Obama announced his idea,
which is based on a popular Tennessee
program signed into law by that state’s Republican governor.
However, the idea and its $60 billion
federal price tag over 10 years would have to make the grade with a Republican Congress that is showing little appetite
for big new spending programs. Obama, who plans to push the issue in his Jan. 20 State of the Union address, argued
that providing educational opportunity and creating a more skilled U.S.
workforce shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
“Community college should be free for those
willing to work for it because, in America,
a quality education should not be a privilege that is reserved for a few,” he
said in a speech at Pellissippi
State Community
College. Obama said a high school diploma is no
longer enough for American workers to compete in the global economy and that a
college degree is “the surest ticket to the middle class.”
The White House estimated that 9 million
students could eventually participate and save an average of $3,800 in tuition
per year if they attend full time. Students would qualify if they attend at
least half-time, maintain a 2.5 grade point average and make progress toward
completing a degree or certificate program. Participating schools would have to
meet certain academic requirements.
Owens said annual tuition at Cincinnati State is $3,800, and that it’s
“outstanding” President Obama “recognized the role we (community colleges) play
in modern society.”
“We help to create the middle class, we put
people to work,” Owens said.
Enrollment at Cincinnati State Middletown
dropped during the fall 2014 quarter compared to the fall of 2013, but remains
near record highs since the school opened two years ago, according to college
officials.
There were 526 students taking classes this
past fall, 242 full-time and 284 part-time, according to Jean Manning,
spokeswoman at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. She said that
number is the highest enrollment since the fall of 2013 when there were 616
students.
Manning said the 14.6-percent drop from
2013 to this year was expected because of a number of factors: the declining
rate of high school graduates, an improved economy, and influx of new jobs into
Ohio. She
said as the economy continues turning around, there are fewer non-traditional
college students needing to make career moves, thus they aren’t seeking
different skills.
The enrollment drop was a trend seen in
community colleges across Ohio,
according to statistics from the Ohio Board of Regents. The number of students
enrolled in the state’s 23 community colleges dropped from 510,794 in the fall
of 2013 to 499,755 this year, a decrease of 2 percent. Only four of the
community colleges reported higher enrollment from 2013 to 2014.
At Cincinnati
State’s Middletown campus, first-year student Bianca
Carroll, 24, was thrilled to hear about the president’s proposed plan.
“Oh my God, why haven’t they passed this
yet?” she said. “That would be a great idea; there would be so many people
that’ll apply to school.”
Carroll is working toward a degree in
social work and dreams of operating a youth center that helps teens addicted to
drugs. She believes many students don’t go to college because they can’t afford
it.
“It’s a struggle to pay for college, some
work one or two jobs,” Carroll said.
The
White House said the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the cost
and the final quarter would come from states that opt into the program.
Spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama will propose new programs to pay for the
federal portion in his budget next month.
Obama is calling the idea America’s
College Promise, modeled after Tennessee Promise, which Republican Gov. Bill
Haslam signed into law last year to provide free community and technical
college tuition for two years. It has drawn 58,000 applicants, almost 90
percent of the state’s high school seniors. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s
former White House chief of staff, has a similar program for students in his
city.
“If a state with Republican leadership is
doing this, and a city with Democratic leadership is doing this, how about we
all do it,” Obama said.
Obama brought Tennessee’s two Republican senators, Bob
Corker and Lamar Alexander, with him on Air Force One for the event. But both said they
thought states, not the federal government, should follow Tennessee’s lead.
“Creating a federal program to me is not
the way to get good things to happen in education,” Corker told reporters from
his seat in the third row of the speech. “You’re always better off letting
states mimic each other.”
This article contains reporting from The Associated Press and
Staff Writer Rick McCrabb.
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