In Wisconsin, community college leaders generally like President Barack Obama’s proposal to make the first two years of school free, but they’re waiting to hear how the program would be funded.
Morna Foy, the president of the Wisconsin Technical College System, pointed out that the cost of college goes well beyond tuition and books.
“Students who get financial aid now use it for a variety of things in addition to tuition — child care, transportation costs. And those would have to be dealt with outside this particular proposal, as I understand it,” said Foy.
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The president will start offering details during the State of the Union speech.
Free community college is not a new idea. Foy said technical college was tuition-free in Wisconsin until the mid-1970s.
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