http://www.wpclipart.com/holiday/Veterans_Day/large_vertical_US_flag.png

As a taxpaying American citizen, I for one am *very* interested to know where the money for this is going to come from.

taxes

inb4 canadians saying their country is better.

http://i.imgur.com/2QcEDMO.jpg

Tennessee started a program that did this, and it seriously helped some people I knew about that went to my high school. I think every kid that is willing to put forth the effort to learn should have that opportunity. It's really stupid when certain factors beyond people's control reduce their ability to better themselves.

Good move, America. It's about time.

Idk, maybe, uhhh, from taxes?

With how much community colleges are already subsidized, it doesn't seem like it's that big of a step to make them completely free. Educating people is probably the best investment a government can make in their citizens, it pays for itself faster than any other kind of economic stimulation.

Also

http://puu.sh/eggBb/e435af0743.jpg

Making education easier to access seems like common sense to me. Besides, I don't think parents would mind spending extra money through taxes if the reward is getting rid of something so financially stressful as college. I only see this as progress IMO

but hey im just an idiot

rofl who pays for college

Western Michigan University gives a free ride to students that graduate from the Kalamazoo School system.
It's pretty cool, but funded privately. It is entirely possible to fund this kind of stuff without jacking up taxes.

it would be good in the long run
UC tuition is gonna hike in the next 5 years so it would be pretty cool i guess

You should probably fix your elementary and high school education systems before you start handing out free college tuition.

This is only questionable because I don't know how other community colleges are like when it comes to education. My community college specialized in STEM and English and was a really scholastically-focused college but it all depends on individual campuses, and I got both years completely free from my financial aid. Realistically though, some colleges will have curriculum that sucks absolute DICK and it'll make a great arguing point both for and against this.

Honestly, we need this a whole lot more than anyone knows and it's gonna be hell for the States if we don't fix our education system first and foremost soon.

As long as it doesn't go to for-profit colleges. Not that it makes a difference at the rate of tuition hikes.

I'm considering the US secondary education system a write-off at this point tbh

having seen the inside workings of it (albeit in one of the worst education states in the country) there's no fixing something that broken.

With something of this scale, there would either have to be a jump in taxes or a reallocation of funds (like away from the massive amount of money we spend on the military).

There's a really interesting post on reddit about this:

https://np.reddit.com/r/teaching/comments/2rj1r1/i_really_want_to_be_a_teacher_but_im_afraid_of/cngetgc

Education should be free. There are countries in the world who have post-secondary education available for free for their citizens (and some for non-citizens, ex germany)

free health care is hard to beat, honestly

University of New Haven (located in West Haven) gives half off tuition (18k off, so tuition itself with no scholarships or subtractions of any sorts is 36k this year) to those who graduate from the (only) public highschool in West Haven, in an attempt to give kids more incentive to stay in-state because like 50% of people in CT would rather live somewhere else, and that's exactly what tons of college/university bound kids do. There's probably a lot of these programs around the nation.

wow i'm no longer special for being tennessean
fuck

but i'm really happy this is starting everywhere. the more options, the better usually

Teaching critical analysis and thinking skills, epistemology, and syllogistic logic so that we could be better problem solvers, and understand our world better would be a great start.

I think that free education would motivate students towards success. Students could passionately follow what they would like to achieve without the worry of expenses that could financially trouble them for many years, and have much further time free to study not having (in some cases) to work to pay tuition fees.

Progress is in the air, hopefully it stays there.

I really like the idea: a chance to educate a larger population, a chance to explore classes before fully committing to a major/career path, paying for itself quickly. I would consider this option only if the student had to pay for the community college, but the "free" part would be a tax credit if they reached a GPA above, say a 3.2 or something. So it stimulates the economy by the person getting a job, they get an education, and the gov't offers relief in the form of a tax credit. Three birds with one stone b0om

You can argue over all manner of shit in terms what you think the government should and shouldn't subsidize/run, but there's literally no larger and more important investment than the education of society and allowing ease of access to higher learning in the modern era.

If you think otherwise you are totally and unequivocally wrong.

The problem with this is that I have a feeling that with this new Republican congress, this proposal will be fought harder than a dangerous disease

This was exactly my first thought too

http://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/536254665629925328/C2A4BEC04806AECD13B2A12BB6387A8CBA6148E2/

turn up

or, and follow me on this, Civil service/ military service in exchange for the education.
Seems like a good call.

The US military budget is rather unnecessary -- it would be best in a competitive-capitalist economy to reallocate funds to academics so that students can push the nation forward in multiple fields (eg, science and technology). The US should refocus on academia to better equip students with skills necessary to succeed, and to provide opportunities for all to pursue without cost that can create troublesome debt. It would be more productive in the US economy to push for more highly educated citizens which can advance the nation on multiple fronts than have a massive military budget which far exceeds the requirements to keep current, and many unnecessary operations running successfully.

To provide opportunities and skills without (or at a less) significant financial cost at the loss of a false sense of "necessary securities" from our military and police in an eerily-secure nation - and to hopefully make people realize how rather secure the US is in the process; to give confidence - would be beneficial to the US economy, and individual living conditions and happiness over time.

In the event taxes would be raised, potentially with or without a budget reallocation towards academics the benefits still outweigh the losses.

This doesn't address what you discussed, Ploxo -- civil and military service, but rather it's just some 'food for thought.'