Yesterday, I wrote about the Michigan Community College Guarantee. The State of Michigan plans to invest as much as $86M into the program, which could help 18,000 recent high school graduates attend community colleges for free.
Much is made about the cost of college attendance, and there is no doubt that when the first two years of college are free, there’s good incentive to complete additional coursework. But here’s the rub: community colleges have lost their appeal to students.
Sure, they’re inexpensive – which should make them a great bargain. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do with a two-year degree right now. Two-year degrees don’t have the same income potential that four-year degrees have. University students are willing to go into debt – deep debt – to earn a four-year degree precisely because they believe they will earn enough to pay off their student loans.
So, why is a student willing to go into deep debt for a four year degree but won’t accept a two-year degree that’s absolutely free? Simply put, in both cases, it’s the income potential.
Community colleges have largely failed their communities by not maintaining and updating existing programs, and creating new programs that enable students to make enough to live comfortably. Compounding this is the notion that community college degrees have an “expiration date.” Some of the skills they teach have a shelf life.
Community college administrators haven’t paid close attention to the earning potential of their degree programs. In times of low, steady inflation, people don’t necessarily notice starting salaries. When inflation takes large month-over-month or year-over-year leaps, though, people see immediately that the earning potential of a degree hasn’t kept up with the local cost of living. When the starting salary is too low to get by, there is no point in earning the degree.
Tuition program should have placed limits on community colleges
The free college program should have been limited to community college degrees that allow students to earn at least $50,000 as a starting salary. The state could have provided funds to enable community colleges to develop these degrees as an incentive to schools to update their course catalogs. (But then again, shouldn’t steady enrollment be enough of an incentive to do this anyway?)
With one exception, the State of Michigan should not pay for students to earn degrees in fields that will not allow graduates to earn at least the state’s median wage. (The one exception is a high school diploma or an equivalent credential. The State should always be willing to pay for that.)
Community college classrooms would be crammed full if the administrators had continuously upgraded their degree programs. If they had invested money in developing new programs to foster economic development and meet emerging needs, there would be no need for free college programs.
Instead, they have wasted the money that should have been spent developing new programs on hiring more administrators and constructing new buildings. That’s why this free program, which should attract tens of thousands more students, will only produce a few thousand graduates.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Brooks, via Flickr
