Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam unveiled a plan to offer high school graduates two years of free community college education in his State of the State address last week — but higher education analysts are skeptical that a similar program would work in North Carolina.
Haslam, a Republican, dubbed the initiative the Tennessee Promise, which he said could be paid for via state lottery money.
“We are fighting the rising cost of higher education, and we are raising our expectations as a state,” Haslam said. “We are committed to making a clear statement to families that education beyond high school is a priority in the state of Tennessee.”
But N.C. education analysts said the promise might not be all that it seems.
George Leef, the director of research for the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, a right-leaning nonprofit in Raleigh, said a plan for free community college would not be a good idea in North Carolina, Tennessee or anywhere else.
“The problem with making education free is that people are apt to value it less, take it less seriously, if they don’t have something of their own at stake in it,” Leef said. “We shouldn’t artificially encourage people.”
Warren Nichols, the vice chancellor of community colleges for the Tennessee Board of Regents, said he was excited about the governor’s proposal. He said the plan is an opportunity for more students to attend community or technical colleges, which he said most high schoolers in the state deem unaffordable at $4,000 a year.
“They just don’t have that kind of resources or money,” he said.
Still, Nichols said the plan is not just “free money.” While any graduating high school senior can apply for the program, he said each student must work with a mentor to maintain successful academic standing in community colleges and complete a minimum of eight community service hours each semester.
