Social policy
The skills provided by community colleges are paramount if we are to meet the threshold required for jobs in the future. These jobs will need an associate degree or more, rather than the current jobs that can be done even without the attainment of a college degree. These associate degrees have a credential of two years thus are less expensive and favor the young people from poor backgrounds (Brand & Xie, 2010). The aim of the free community college is to boost an individual’s income through a solid background in education. Given the declining rates of enrollments in colleges, I saw it fit to develop a policy addressing this concern.
Social welfare is not only influenced by isolated programs including Medicaid or food stamps, but also through the synergy of these programs with the system of taxation. The taxation includes the federal income tax, the dependent care tax credit and local and state income taxes. Forms of interactions include one program’s effect on another, a program’s effect on other programs and the effects of programs that are interacting on the governments that created them (Hout, 2012). These colleges for instance heavily rely on taxes to cater for renovations and expansions. The tuition money does not cover this. With increased enrollments, they have adequately lacked the resources to cover this demand.
Since its inception two years ago, this social policy has failed to successfully achieve its initial goals. This is based on its broad review through cautious and truthful feedback from the parties affected and also via formal research. The policy is not functioning well most importantly because the idea was wrongly targeted. Through the full payment of tuition fees for every community college student, the upper and middle income students also receive huge subsidies. This is regardless of their need for it (Brand & Xie, 2010). Meanwhile, the students who are truly from lower income backgrounds lack money for to cater for non-tuition requirements like transportation and books. This has made community college a challenge financially even with free tuition.
The lack of advancement opportunities is also a problem. Community colleges act like a broken rung since a very low percentage of students who began the two-year college plan have actually graduated. Most will graduate in three years and only about 60% of the students who enrolled will return in the next year for the advancement of their studies. It thus fails in its intended goal of being a low-cost, successful opportunity for attaining a bachelor’s degree in six years. Furthermore, the under matching phenomenon has been unintentionally encouraged. The low-income, well-qualified students fail to apply to competitive colleges and universities and opt for these community colleges since they are free (Taylor et al., 2011). Under matching has a negative impact on graduation rates resulting in economic inequality.
Given the pivotal role of community colleges, it is thus important to improve on their short comings. Instead of the heavy expenditure in trying to provide free tuition to both the poor and the rich, an income test should be recommended. Federal programs that are new should then contribute towards the overall costs (Hout, 2012). The individual states should also be encouraged to chip in even with majority of the contribution coming from the government. In addition, it is wise to assist school districts and states to deliver a wider array of opportunities at college and high school stages. Better still, the president can attempt to lower the higher education cost in an attempt to do away with under matching. The free community college policy can also be improved upon if the Congress is convinced about the provision of funds for the policy. Pell Grant financing that is income based should be encouraged for all options of higher education. This will reduce the number of students seeking enrollment in community colleges thus attempt to decrease the constraints afforded on these institutions. A student from a background that is of low income will therefore be encouraged to go to an elite college and not necessarily apply to a community college.
Community colleges challenges are not only the tuition money but also transportation cost, the cost of supplies, books and even room costs for those not residing at home. Thus had the budgetary constraint been eliminated, I would have assured students that all non-tuition needs will be catered for. This would have encouraged most of them to apply to the colleges. Moreover, some funds would have been allocated to the individual colleges for renovations and expansions because the tuition money does not cover this. This would have enabled the community colleges to tackle the enrollment increases and employ more staff and enough resources.
The initial budget was also meant for creating awareness in the society about their students’ eligibility for financial help. This publicity campaign was to be achieved through the media and newspapers. Most students would consequently have applied to these colleges and even the elite ones. However with the failure to publicize this, most students ultimately did not attend college at all. Under matching was encouraged and community colleges were overwhelmed with enrollments.
Since the priority is to increase enrollments for college education and retention rates, the modification of this policy is paramount (Taylor et al., 2011). Reports on employment rates show the requirement of skill in future employees. Thus community colleges need to be accorded the required funds for their projects while students should be assured of funding even in the elite colleges. The funds must be sufficient to cover their non-tuition needs. Community colleges must partner with four-year colleges for smooth transition.
References
Taylor, P., Parker, K., Fry, R., Cohn, D., Wang, W., Velasco, G., & Dockterman, D. (2011). Is
Hout, M. (2012). Social and economic returns to college education in the United States. Annual
Review of Sociology, 38, 379-400.
Brand, J. E., & Xie, Y. (2010). Who benefits most from college? Evidence for negative selection
in heterogeneous economic returns to higher education. American Sociological Review, 75(2), 273-302.
