It was three and a half years ago that the community college Board of Trustees set aside $6.75 million to make college "free". Of course, very little in life is "free" and unless we are talking about a scenic view or a walk on the beach, being "free" can often diminish the self-perceived value of something as well as one's commitment to apply oneself. And then there are the perceptions of "fairness". "You don't have to pay the $50 per credit?" Here is a look back to 2021 for the origin of "free college".
One also wonders how much advertising is needed for something that is "free"? Just in the last week, my X feed is absolutely overwhelmed by "CSM is free" ads. There must be at least a dozen different ones, and they just keep coming. I'm sure they are not expensive to produce, and the X cost is probably not huge to run them. The same cannot be said for the glossy mailer that arrived in mailboxes yesterday. I wonder how much taxpayer money went to print it and mail it? In the really fine print one reads "Enrollment fee waiver for qualifying San Mateo County residents pursuing a degree certification." One wonders if the advertising costs exceed the waiver costs?
Some administrator somewhere that is making $150K plus benefits to administer the program is feeling exposed and needs to justify their job. Betcha twenty bucks.
Posted by: Phinancier | November 23, 2024 at 08:06 PM
My husband and I both have degrees from a CSU. We attended tuition free in the 1970’s. We both lived at home and worked. The fees were about $250 a semester. A few years after graduation. I went to CCSF for a degree in nursing. That was totally free with no fees.
We paid for our kids to go away to college. It was free for them.
One went to a CSU and one to a UC, so the tuition was a lot less than a private school. They had a lot more fun than we did. We all ended up with good careers and debt free at graduation.
I remember the hundreds of glossy mailers my kids got from colleges all over the country during their junior and senior year of high school.
Posted by: Margie | November 24, 2024 at 07:41 AM
Partially subsidized and free are two different things.
Posted by: Phinancier | November 25, 2024 at 01:16 PM