Our View: Obama’s college funding plan deserves bi-partisan support

Our View:

Industrious high school senior Jonathan works tirelessly every week at being a McDonald’s cashier in order to gain any kind of hope for his future.

Unfortunately for him, his job can only give him the best that minimum wage can offer, meaning that he has to work around 17 hours a week if he really wants to go to college. Not only that, but he also needs to balance out  going to school, looking after his family since his mother is always at work and maintaining his already mediocre grades.

With all of the circumstances going on in his life, Jonathan’s dream of going to college only seems to diminish by the day. However, due to one of the president’s most recent proposal’s, there just may be hope for students like Jonathan after all.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama revealed his plans on making the first two years of community college free for any American students under certain conditions. The students have to have at have at least a 2.5 GPA and attend their current schools at least half of the time.

Whether or not you agree with Obama’s politics or not, this should be a time for many students to rejoice over what a progressive idea this is. The tuition prices of going to college have been incredibly high during recent years, with just state colleges having an average tuition of $8,893, which doesn’t include fees, meals and school supplies. With prices like these, it can easily make it immensely more difficult for a student to even attend college, especially if they come from a working, lower-class family.

However, Obama clearly shows that he believes the less financially fortunate still deserve to have an education.

Now, for many, going to a community college might not seem like the ideal pathway to go through after graduating high school, but it does in fact, offer a great number of benefits.

The free tuition will mean that students will be able to get more time to save up money to go a more private, exclusive college. It will also give them plenty of time to think about what career they’ll want, though that surely won’t be a problem since community colleges provide a wide arrange of classes to find something that they’ll enjoy.

This decision might drain out $60 billion from congress’s pocket, but if it means that up to nine million Americans are free to receive an education, then the price is more than worth it.