President Obama will unveil a proposal to make the first two years of community college free for students during an event Friday in Tennessee previewing his State of the Union address.
White House officials on Friday said the program — which one aide described as “significant” in scope — would cost around $60 billion over 10 years.
Aides had initially refused to estimate the cost for the program, which could provide an estimated 9 million students with tuition.
{mosads}White House officials have cast the proposal as a bold effort to refocus attention on the nation’s higher education system, and said even if the program wasn’t fully realized, it could spur additional, badly needed investment in the community college system.
White House Domestic Policy Council director Cecilia Muñoz noted that after the president’s call in a previous State of the Union address for Congress to provide universal pre-K to low- and moderate-income families, some 30 states moved to expand access.
“This is a proposal with bipartisan appeal,” Muñoz said. “Making sure students have access to higher education and the skills that they need is not a partisan proposal.”