Community college is already free

My girlfriend - who is a waitress, who makes a wage of $5.05 (her last raise was $0.05! Oh boy! Wow!), and after applyzing for multiple grants was denied all of them.

Also, her father lives thousands of miles away doing everything in his power to not be a father, and her mother is also miles away unable to offer any assistance.

"Governor fee waivers," are also not a federal program whatsoever and differ by state to state.

Also, and I'm asking OP specifically - what grants are to be applied for (and what requirements must be met) in order to have other costs alleviated such as room & board, books, parking, on-campus living, etc etc?

Your entire "college is already free," argument is absolutely ridiculous. OP clearly has an inherent lack of understanding regarding how scholarships and other programs actually operate.

in my state (NY) the first $2,500.00 paid for tuition are refunded to you by the state on your tax return. at a community college that's a semester and a half full time enrollment... that's free enough for me

a reply to: smkymcnugget420

When I later tried University of Phoenix, direct, I got some back on my return. I still owed over $5000 to Sallie Mae and also ditched that college because I was banned from group discussion because I was annoyed that we were having Kindergarten level discussions. Business Administration. Ditched it and decided to start business and make money instead of pay people to have me be PC about a 1984 Jesse Jackson speech which had nothing to do with business. All the rest was learning how to lie and create power point demonstrations, which a 5 year old can do.

Over $8,000 paid that time to learn that, again, cheap education is just a scam. Self motivation and research is infinitely more valuable. Why waste tax payer money for a "free" turd?

a reply to: TarzanBeta

University of Phoenix is a well known scam/profit machine, so are all the "online universities" why do you think they have commercials. the Community College i went to is accredited and has top notch education. most of the professors are adjunct which means they hold professional positions with major companies or the government in the field they teach. i am getting my associates degree in civil engineering now, its a start and someday i can transfer those credits to a 4 year state university for my BS in civil. I've only been taking one semester a year because i work full time, so that makes it basically free. Although i have to pay the money up front it all gets refunded to me come tax season.

a reply to: smkymcnugget420

I did something very similar to you... I attended a community college for 3s year studying mechanical/industrial engineering where I got all of the first two year courses done (calculus, physics, mechanics, programming, etc.). I then transferred to a university to finish off the last two years in order to get a BS in Industrial Engineering.

The community college I went to set me up me VERY well for the university, and I ended up graduating top of my class (and I was the only transfer student... all the others were at the university for all 4 years).

Please don't bash Community Colleges so much TarzanBeta.

OK, this is ridiculous. Does everyone qualify for the Pell grant amount necessary to complete an associates degree? Of course not. Most don't get hardly anything. It's based on household income, so unless you are out on your own, the family income is considered. In most cases we are talking about recent high school graduates, so obviously still living at home. Where as a minimum wage job in the 70's and 80's was enough to pay rent, eat, buy gas, etc. that simply isn't the case anymore, so most 18 year olds are at home.

Is community college expensive? Not in comparison to state schools or private schools, but $700 - 1200 a semester plus books. Not many people can clear that with a Pell grant and complete two years for free. I think we ended up getting our daughter about $500 total on the Pell.

So now you have an associates degree. And? It doesn't really mean much. You still need to go on to an actual university to finish up your college, get the much needed bachelors degree, and major is a field where people are needed. That additional two years? Anywhere from $4k a semester to $20k a semester, depending. Want to go on to a Masters, or maybe law school? Add another $100k to the total.

To be clear, not many businesses are going to be impressed with a two year associates degree, and few will hire someone without a bachelors degree. So, equating a pell grant with "free college education" is a stretch even in the instance where the person qualifies for the maximum benefit of just over $5k. It's a silly response to a growing problem of the cost of higher education.

Do I think everyone should get a free ride through college? No. Are the costs associated with such an education obscene right now? Yes. Can you get an education for free with a Pell grant? No.

Unless we are going to re-establish manufacturing type jobs in America, we must find a way to force our universities to make education affordable without the life long debt of student loans. But that's a different subject entirely.

a reply to: charolais

Went to community college, ACC in Upstate NY. Good ratings.

I remembered elementary school and didn't need a crash course.

If some people need it, fine with me I guess.

And Univ of Phoenix wasn't much worse than community college, to the other poster.

I'm making plenty of money without that piece of paper anyway. No patience for that stuff.

Now if they had put real puzzles in front of me, challenged me, told me things I didn't already know or at least not teach lies, then I might have had more patience.

Thousands of dollars on lack of proper learning or $200 on a small cleaning start up to fund future goals and learning? That's a really hard one.

originally posted by: RomeByFire


Also, and I'm asking OP specifically - what grants are to be applied for (and what requirements must be met) in order to have other costs alleviated such as room & board, books, parking, on-campus living, etc etc?

Typically, your community college would not have on campus room and board or offer any alternative to it. The Pell grant can be used for books and tuition. parking is usually free. I only address community college (a two year school not offering an actual four year degree with a focus study and major/minor) since that was the OP's somewhat flawed argument.

Depending on the circumstances, other grants are out there based on income, and may be available for any expense reimbursement.

a reply to: onequestion

Psst....

My family made under 50K. I did not get the Pell grant

My wife's family made less than us. She did not get the Pell grant

a good friend who was reasonably poor DID get the Pell grant....all 1,000 USD of it

also...sorry OQ, i've been making threads since 2008

The federal Pell grant paid for 100% of my two year degree and police academy tuition.

I also received a cost of living allowance of about $1000 a semester (not during my police academy though).

You do have to qualify for the grant financially. My mother was a waitress and single parent that made about $20-25k (USD) a year.

One is essentially correct, there is already a "free" two year college program available for those that have financial hardship.

Obviously the money comes from taxes, but that would be no different as to where Sanders would source the funding for his program from.

Although the program exists, there are still people that qualify yet refuse to take advantage of it. That is nothing but pure laziness on their part.

Here is more info on who is eligible/requirements etc.

www2.ed.gov...

a reply to: onequestion

I'm saying Pell Grants aren't free. The money comes form the taxpayer. So the taxpayer is not only paying for their kids schooling they are paying for other peoples kids schooling.

Hey sorry guys was have a few last night may have been some illogical posting here.

a reply to: onequestion

Forgiven.

a reply to: onequestion

originally posted by: onequestion
Hey all let me clear up the bull# about college and excuse my language but I can't let a bunch of 22 year olds control our narrative.

PEL grants are available for everyone and anyone can get paid to go to school for an associates degree if done right.

I'm sick of hearing about the bs.

A Federal Pell Grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid.

www2.ed.gov...

So what the hell is Sanders talking about when he's claiming we need free college when we already have it?

I'm so sick of the idiocy.

Pell grants aren't designed to fully pay for college, even a community college. They have a maximum eligibility of X semesters (typically enough for an Associates but not always) and they're means tested. If your income is low enough you can get about $5500/year out of them right now. However, if you're below 25 your parents income counts against you (this may have changed, but it was the case for me) and the allotments drop off rather quickly.

Plus, you're ignoring the biggest problem of all. Associates Degrees are COMPLETELY worthless in the job market. Most employers look on them as being worse than having no degree at all.

Speaking as someone who has an AD, they're just not practical for good paying jobs, the typical AD takes between 60 and 80 credit hours. With the necessity for gen ed classes there just aren't enough credit hours to learn something indepth. The main point of CC's is that you can take some classes for less money and then go on to get a real degree afterwards. But even that cost savings is up for debate because not everything will transfer properly, and you'll usually end up with 2 years CC, 3 years university, for the same amount of total money spent, but a 1 year delay.

originally posted by: onequestion
I got a 1500$ check for 12 credit hours and a governments board of fee waivers so I pocket the whole thing.

Deny stupid.

How much are your credit hours, at the CC's around here people used to get refunds but that ended once the government figured out people were registering for classes, dropping after 6 weeks for a 50% refund, and pocketing the aid.

You should be getting about a $2800 disbursement per semester, if you got $1200 back that would mean $1600 was spent on classes which would be a cost of $133/credit hour. After various administration fees I would put it around $120/credit hour? Is that correct? You're at a rather cheap school then, the average CC tuition in California for a year is $4,988 which would leave you with a refund of about $500 or $250 per semester, which if you're smart goes to travel costs to/from school and books.

a reply to: onequestion

That may be your experience but it's not the experience of literally thousands of other people. I just went two years of Community College and I had to pay out of pocket for the whole thing. I didn't qualify for any grants or anything. The other people I was in school with had the same experience as I did. Also an associate's degree barely means anything anymore you need a full four-year degree for many jobs. So frankly I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

a reply to: onequestion


Can you explain this further please I still have two years of college and I would love for it to be free. I have checked all avenues and I do not see a free Avenue for college. However if this option is available I want to know exactly how to do it and how I fill out my forms right to get it paid for.

originally posted by: onequestion
Everyone in this thread who denies that the PEL grant pays for 2 years of college is totally and completely ignorant.

Period.

Many states even offer the board of governors fee waiver which means you don't have to pay tuitions fees and you still get the PEL grants.

Dent ignorance.

I deny because I didn't qualify and it wouldn't pay for mine. I guess because I wasn't eligible for the grant that I must be completely ignorant?



This is a very strange thread. The OP is refusing to see any other point of view but his own very narrow one. It's really not that hard to understand. Just because you had a certain experience that went a certain way for you, does not mean that everyone else in America will have the same experience. You are currently speaking to someone who had an opposite experience from what you had. No community colleges are free. No college is not free.

Community college is nearly "free" for the attendees. It is anything but "free" for the taxpayers in the communities served. The cost is usually embedded in property owners' annual county tax bills. I pay about $500 per year for community college operation and bond service. I don't attend community college and nobody in my family does either. My hair stands up when I hear people say it's "free".

a reply to: Detergent

Oh here we go with this bs.