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TexasTowelie

(111,292 posts)
Thu Jan 31, 2019, 12:24 PM Jan 2019

Free college? It would be possible under new Pennsylvania Promise legislation

Pennsylvania legislators are again pitching a proposal to make college free for many low- and middle-income students.

On Wednesday, lawmakers reintroduced the Pennsylvania Promise Act, which would create a grant program to cover up to four years of tuition at a state-owned or state-related university or a community college for students with a household income of $110,000 or less. For students whose families earn $48,000 or less, room and board also would be included.

It would also provide need-based aid for adult learners seeking a higher education degree or certificate.

“We cannot continue to allow the government to break the promise to our young people,” state Rep. Jordan Harris, a Philadelphia Democrat and Millersville University graduate, said during a news conference Tuesday in Harrisburg.

Read more: https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/free-college-it-would-be-possible-under-new-pennsylvania-promise/article_a507e678-24c6-11e9-9dfb-ab6837c58583.html

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Free college? It would be possible under new Pennsylvania Promise legislation (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jan 2019 OP
Nothing is free. Somebody is paying for it. democratisphere Jan 2019 #1
Trade schools have (rightly) been pointed out as additional options... Moostache Jan 2019 #2

democratisphere

(17,235 posts)
1. Nothing is free. Somebody is paying for it.
Thu Jan 31, 2019, 12:40 PM
Jan 2019

The biggest problem with higher education, like healthcare, is the outrageous price gouging cost.

Moostache

(9,895 posts)
2. Trade schools have (rightly) been pointed out as additional options...
Thu Jan 31, 2019, 01:03 PM
Jan 2019

Bottom line is this:

In the 1950's and earlier, people without high school diplomas worked as laborers or in assembly and manufacturing plants. They earned a livable wage and could support a family - usually on a single income.

In the present, a non-HS diploma worker is damn near unemployable in anything outside of minimum wage service roles and cannot possibly raise a family on that income, they can barely survive.

At the same time, my father attended 4 years at Purdue University in the early 60's for a total cost of LESS THAN $1,000 TOTAL....I attended Indiana University in the early 90's for a total cost of ABOUT $10,000 (with some generous tuition rebates and scholarships)...my daughter was accepted to Indiana University (as an out of state enrollee) and had to pass on attending because even with $25,000 a year in financial aid and grants, she would be looking at $100,000 in accumulated loans for the same degree I got for $10,000 and my father got for $1,000. This kind of exponential generational increase in the cost of a Bachelor's of Science undergraduate degree was always untenable...but now it is truly an avalanche of debt crushing an entire generation.

(BTW for in-state students at Indiana, the cost is still some $25,000 a year which is not as bad as the more than $50,000 a year out-of-state, but still incredibly steep overall.)

As a society, we either recognize that educated, skill citizens are a net benefit to us all or we persist in allowing special interests control the narrative and who goes where and why. In a world more and more dependent on technology by the year, it is national suicide to NOT invest in training as many of our people as possible in STEM fields (Science, Tech, Math) while at the same time recognizing that tech school training is a viable and necessary option for those who cannot or do not wish to go to college.

We need a multi-faceted approach, but whatever that looks like, I guarantee you that is does not look like my grandchildren trying to scrape up $1,000,000 for an undergraduate degree in 2040!!!

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