President Barack Obama has proposed a federal program that will provide free two-year college or technical school tuition to anybody willing to work for it.
Under the proposal, students must be working toward a degree or certification, have a C+ or better average and perform some type of community service to take advantage of the program.
Although there are some differences, Obama’s proposed agenda is partly based off present policies in Tennessee, where all high school graduates are able to receive two free years of education at a community or technical college.
SVSU’s interim Transfer Student Program Specialist Gary Brasseur said the proposed initiative may affect certain aspects of SVSU’s enrollment.
“If it is passed, I don’t think there will be a dramatic shift in the number of freshmen at Saginaw Valley, but the number of transfer students here may increase because students who finish their two-year degree may realize there are more opportunities available and decide to pursue a degree at a four-year university,” Brasseur said.
Brasseur said whether students would enter the workforce or transfer to a four-year institution after completing two years of study will depend on their discipline or technical skill.
He also said he does not believe the initiative would deter students from entering four-year universities directly from high school, but that it would motivate more students to pursue higher education.
“The program would have a greater effect on students who were probably not looking at higher education as an option in the first place,” Brasseur said.
There are still many details that must be sorted out before the proposal can be officially presented to the nation’s lawmakers.
These include the cost of the plan, how the plan would be financed and the percentage of state dollars to be used toward the cost of the plan.
However, Brasseur believes it would be a step in the right direction.
“Anything that promotes education is a positive thing, because there are still too many students in the state of Michigan who don’t see higher education as necessary,” he said.
