In the LA Times, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block pens a piece endorsing President Obama's plan to make community colleges free. At the federal level, given the current political configuration in Congress, such a plan is likely to be DOA. At the state level, no such plan is likely to be enacted, despite the Democratic majority in the legislature.
President Obama's bold proposal to make two years of community college
virtually free is the most encouraging idea for higher education to
emerge from Washington in years. Just like the 1862 Morrill Act, which
donated land on which to establish great public universities, and the GI
Bill, which helped World War II veterans attend college, the
president's plan is a game changer, potentially adding two years of
college onto every young person's education...
Full op ed at http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-block-community-college-plan-20150120-story.html
The op ed is not an entirely selfless endorsement of a plan that wouldn't - if implemented - directly benefit UC. It goes on to note:
...At the very moment economists are predicting a shortage of 1 million
highly skilled workers in California by 2020, the state's disinvestment
of public higher education — at the community college, state university
and UC levels — has resulted in diminished access for many Californians... More students could and should be using community college as a pathway
to UC. In fall 2013, UC enrolled more than 15,500 community college
transfer students...
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