Posted: 5:43 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12, 2015

Cincinnati State president supports Obama’s ambitious idea

By Lot Tan

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

    Local college students and administrators are calling President Barack Obama’s ambitious nationwide plan to offer free tuition at community colleges a “historic” proposal.

    Dr. O’Dell Owens, president of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, said Obama’s idea is more than just about free education for all.

    “Hopefully, we will see a decrease in crime now that these kids have a choice. So many young people today don’t have a tomorrow, and now we’re giving them a tomorrow,” Owens said. “It sends a message to young people that if you work hard to go school everyday, do your job — that is do homework — you can go to college. Money is no longer the issue.”

    Last Friday, Obama announced his idea, which is based on a popular Tennessee program signed into law by that state’s Republican governor.

    However, the idea and its $60 billion federal price tag over 10 years would have to make the grade with a Republican     Congress that is showing little appetite for big new spending programs. Obama, who plans to push the issue in his   Jan. 20 State of the Union address, argued that providing educational opportunity and creating a more skilled U.S. workforce shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

    “Community college should be free for those willing to work for it because, in America, a quality education should not be a privilege that is reserved for a few,” he said in a speech at Pellissippi State Community College. Obama said a high school diploma is no longer enough for American workers to compete in the global economy and that a college degree is “the surest ticket to the middle class.”

    The White House estimated that 9 million students could eventually participate and save an average of $3,800 in tuition per year if they attend full time. Students would qualify if they attend at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 grade point average and make progress toward completing a degree or certificate program. Participating schools would have to meet certain academic requirements.

    Owens said annual tuition at Cincinnati State is $3,800, and that it’s “outstanding” President Obama “recognized the role we (community colleges) play in modern society.”

    “We help to create the middle class, we put people to work,” Owens said.

    Enrollment at Cincinnati State Middletown dropped during the fall 2014 quarter compared to the fall of 2013, but remains near record highs since the school opened two years ago, according to college officials.

    There were 526 students taking classes this past fall, 242 full-time and 284 part-time, according to Jean Manning, spokeswoman at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. She said that number is the highest enrollment since the fall of 2013 when there were 616 students.

    Manning said the 14.6-percent drop from 2013 to this year was expected because of a number of factors: the declining rate of high school graduates, an improved economy, and influx of new jobs into Ohio. She said as the economy continues turning around, there are fewer non-traditional college students needing to make career moves, thus they aren’t seeking different skills.

    The enrollment drop was a trend seen in community colleges across Ohio, according to statistics from the Ohio Board of Regents. The number of students enrolled in the state’s 23 community colleges dropped from 510,794 in the fall of 2013 to 499,755 this year, a decrease of 2 percent. Only four of the community colleges reported higher enrollment from 2013 to 2014.

    At Cincinnati State’s Middletown campus, first-year student Bianca Carroll, 24, was thrilled to hear about the president’s proposed plan.

    “Oh my God, why haven’t they passed this yet?” she said. “That would be a great idea; there would be so many people that’ll apply to school.”

    Carroll is working toward a degree in social work and dreams of operating a youth center that helps teens addicted to drugs. She believes many students don’t go to college because they can’t afford it.

    “It’s a struggle to pay for college, some work one or two jobs,” Carroll said.

The White House said the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the cost and the final quarter would come from states that opt into the program. Spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama will propose new programs to pay for the federal portion in his budget next month.

    Obama is calling the idea America’s College Promise, modeled after Tennessee Promise, which Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed into law last year to provide free community and technical college tuition for two years. It has drawn 58,000 applicants, almost 90 percent of the state’s high school seniors. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former White House chief of staff, has a similar program for students in his city.

    “If a state with Republican leadership is doing this, and a city with Democratic leadership is doing this, how about we all do it,” Obama said.

    Obama brought Tennessee’s two Republican senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, with him on Air Force    One for the event. But both said they thought states, not the federal government, should follow Tennessee’s lead.

    “Creating a federal program to me is not the way to get good things to happen in education,” Corker told reporters from his seat in the third row of the speech. “You’re always better off letting states mimic each other.”

This article contains reporting from The Associated Press and Staff Writer Rick McCrabb.