Community colleges are assisting students to graduate without debt

How Community Colleges & Others Can Help the Cost of Education

Cost of education is skyrocketing unbelievably. As a consequence, more and more people are struggling to deal with their student loan debt. As per the current reports, student loan debt in U.S. has already crossed the $1 trillion limit. In such a circumstance, the Obama government considers it important to find some effective solution to curb the higher cost of education as soon as possible. For that purpose, Obama has recently announced a plan to make college affordable for every student in America. There are basically three proposals in the plan - (a) linking federal student aid to the overall performance of the college that is based on the yet to be developed rankings; (b) evaluating the scorecards of colleges to help people select the right college according to the performance; (c) expanding the eligibility criteria for Pay As You Earn repayment program to assist students in managing debt. All these strategies are quite new and yet to be applied officially. Still, some states have already applied these ideas to increase the education affordability. For instance the community colleges in California follow some of these ideas to assist students to manage the cost of education.

 

Do Community Colleges Truly Help Lessen Costs?

The fees structure of California community colleges has been judged to be a bit ambiguous by many economists. The current rate for a single unit is $46. This is supposed to be a reasonably low rate. But, the combination other costs associated with education like the textbooks, lodging for students and the transportation cost, can increase the overall expense up to $17,000 in a year. The Institute for College Access and Success found this data in their recent research. This much of expense can be difficult for an average student to manage.

To make things more convenient for the students, the Board of Governors of the California Community College formed The Student Success Task Force or the SSTF in the academic year 2011-2012. The 20-member task force came up with 22 recommendations which are similar enough to the president’s plan. Most of the economists feel that the plan Obama has decided to implement may help to make education affordable for all. The community colleges have already taken the initiative to implement the recommendations by SSTF, so it’s easier to assume how the president’s plan may develop in future.

According to the Student Success Act of 2012, students must make satisfactory progress in academics to be eligible to waive the enrollment fees. The provision took effect on 1st January 2013. The standards for academic progress will work in accordance with the other standards compulsory to get financial aid from federal and state government. As a consequence, the community colleges have become more responsible to support students for better academic performance so that they can achieve all their goals without any financial obligation.

The Student Success Scorecard, introduced by the SSTF, provides students with all the needed information about the college rankings. The scorecard offered by the SSTF will provide all the necessary information about a college’s retention rate, transfer rate, overall success rate, graduation rate completion and so on. With the help of this information, students may check the ranking and select the right college with better success rate. This will ensure a better career for students and thus they will be able to live a debt free life.

There is still much more to do to keep student loan debt under control. By following the recommendations by SSTF, community colleges are trying to assists students to get affordable education without much trouble. As student loan debt is still excluded from bankruptcy, it becomes more essential for students to get affordable education to graduate without debt. However, the techniques that community colleges follow must be adapted by every college to make education actually affordable for all.