Obama’s Community College Plan Is Nothing But Politics

Today, President Santa Clause announced that he wants make two-year community colleges free for all.

 Much of the media reporting has concentrated on the supposed “free” aspect of Obama’s latest pipe dream. But nothing is free. And Obama’s community college gambit is going to cost you billions.

At least $70 billion, in fact, according to USA Today:

But the White House expects 9 million students to participate and save up to $3,800 a year for two years. That would place the cost at nearly $70 billion, though there are questions about building capacity at the nation’s 1,100 community colleges.

The federal government would pay three quarters of the cost, at least initially.

In order for students to qualify for “free” education, they must maintain a 2.5 grade point average and be working toward a degree.

This is clearly a political ploy, another ridiculous stunt from Obama aimed at millennials.

The president knows his poll numbers are in the gutter among young Americans. Sure, Obama isn’t running for office ever again. But he doesn’t want to be seen leaving office with a 30 or 40 percent approval rating from a group of people that voted for him by a margin of nearly 3-1.

More importantly, the idea of “free college” is stupid. But as a political tool, it’s just dumb enough to work.

Obama can’t pass this plan without a GOP-controlled Congress passing a bill that he can sign into law. Republicans will likely never pass the bill that Obama wants–especially since they’ve been given a mandate to shrink government, not grow it.

So in turn, Democrats will call Republicans racist haters who don’t want to see young people succeed at anything in life.

Republicans will be caught off guard. The meaningless molehill hill will morph into an election year mountain of political pain for the eventual GOP presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, the moral hazard of incentivizing mediocrity will be lost (make no mistake, a 2.5 GPA as the minimum standard is mediocre). The notion that government should insert itself into higher education will be accepted as legitimate, and won’t be beat back with truth and facts.

Hopefully, Obama’s newest wet dream doesn’t see the light of day. Hopefully.

Read more at http://dailysurge.com/2015/01/obamas-community-college-plan-nothing-politics/