President Barrack Obama unveiled the America’s College Promise proposal last week, which would make two years of community college free to responsible students.
Kenai Peninsula College Director Gary Turner stated that obviously it’s a long ways off since it has only just been proposed but the next step would only take place if the U.S. Congress supported it.
Turner: “The next question is how do they define what a community college is? The state of Alaska doesn’t have any community colleges, we became community campuses with the merger with the University of Alaska back in 1987, so a lot of it’s in the details and the definitions as to whether they would consider University of Alaska community campuses a community college.”
He said another big question would be if the Alaska State Legislature would support funding it due to the current financial situation.
Turner: “If it were to all come about and Congress approves it, our legislature were to say yes we’ll fund, I think it’s a third of the cost or a fourth of the cost, then the question becomes, can the community campuses in the University of Alaska system support a major increase in enrollment? Some can, some might not because you’re sort of bound by the size of your facility and if you can actually hire qualified faculty to take on this increased enrollment.”
According to a White House press release the proposal could save a full-time community college student and average of $3,800 in tuition per year.