US President Barrack Obama (Photo : Reuters/Kevin Lamarque )
President Barrack Obamaformally announced two years of free community college program for all serious students on Jan. 9, Friday . The proposed plan is likely to cost the government approximately $60 billion.
Obama shared his plan of providing free community college program during his visit to the Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee. The crowd cheered and clapped as Obama said, "I want to make it free."
The White House had on Thursday posted a preview of the proposed message on Facebook. The video was shot while the president was aboard Air Force One.
Obama, during his visit to the college, said that access to quality education is a "right" for all those "who are willing to work for it," and requested the Congress to support him in his "ambitious" effort to bring down the college cost to zero, according to Fox News.
Obama said that apart from kids, it is necessary to ensure a better future for everybody willing to learn and lead a better life.
"We also have to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to constantly train themselves for better jobs, better wages, better benefits," said Obama, as per ABC News.
The program, if it materializes, is expected to benefit at least nine million students, saving approximately $3,800 in tuition each year for a full-time student, as per the White House.
The proposed plan will cost millions of dollars. The White House said that while the federal government would bear 75 percent of the cost, the last quarter would be sponsored by the states choosing the program.
However, the administrative officials are vague about where exactly the funding will come from. They only said that the figures would be revealed later with the president's budget.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said that this proposed program will most likely cost the federal government a whooping $60 billion over a period of ten years.
