Last month, Dr. Elizabeth Bell, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Miami University of Ohio, indicated in a blog post that “program design is an important predictor of public support for tuition-free college, with universal policies with minimum academic requirements commanding the broadest base of support.” We agree!
Read moreThe Campaign for Free College Tuition realizes that now is a time when elected officials and future candidates are focused on ensuring the safety and health of their families and their supporters. That is as it should be. But we also know that the country will get through this current crisis and will be looking for leaders with good ideas on how to help people rebuild their lives when the crisis eases.
In anticipation of that happening, hopefully sooner rather than later, we just released our candidate guidebook, Free Tuition for the Win: How Candidates Can Run and Win on Free College Tuition in 2020.
Read moreAcross the political aisle, extraordinary momentum has been building on the issue of tuition-free college. Overall 70% of the public supports the adoption of tuition-free public college, and policymakers in 19 states and nearly 300 cities have taken up the gauntlet and adopted a program. At this point, we know the idea of tuition-free public college is politically popular (see the map for a breakdown of this support across the states), but the burning question on the minds of policymakers is what program design engenders the most political support—what version of tuition-free college will reward them at the ballot box?
Read moreThis week, Vox’s The Impact podcast analyzed the successes — and the limitations — of the Kalamazoo Promise. Click here to listen to the full podcast.
Read moreOn Friday, February 7, POLITICO hosted a series of conversations with governors from across the country, focusing on innovative approaches their states have taken to address complex problems.
On December 13 in Detroit, Michigan, the Campaign for Free College Tuition (CFCT) hosted our annual workshop for state leaders on making college tuition free. Public officials, experts, and innovators from around the country shared examples of proven best-practices and actionable strategies for policy creation, funding, and building political support.
Read moreThe mission of the Campaign for Free College Tuition is to make two- and four-year public colleges tuition free in all 50 states. Since we started the organization five years ago, we have experienced increasing momentum across the country toward that goal, particularly with regard to community colleges. Today, twenty-one states have some type of free college tuition program, thirteen of which are sufficiently robust to be checked off as milestone achievements on our way to our celebration of mission accomplished.
Read moreThose of us who were present at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. in 2014 when we first announced our campaign to make college tuition free in all 50 states are constantly amazed at how much we have accomplished in such a short time. The idea of making public colleges tuition free has gone from what was considered a crazy idea back then to one that has been enacted into law in red, blue, and purple states in every part of the county.
Read more
Recently CFCT president, Morley Winograd, and Executive Vice President of PSB Research Jack MacKenzie, sat down to talk about the Campaign for Free College Tuition with Frank News, a website that focused all of its May coverage on the issue of free college tuition. The in-depth, 60 Minutes style interview provided an opportunity to talk not only about why momentum for free college tuition continues to build in states across the country but how essential accomplishing our mission is in addressing economic inequality in American and strengthening our democracy.
Read moreMSNBC recently featured the positive impact of the Tennesse Promise, a free college tuition program with strong bipartisan support.
Read moreOur goal is to make higher education a possibility for every American, without regard to their financial circumstances.
We have a lot to do and not much time to do it, so your support is critical for our campaign to succeed. It’s with your investment that we can fundamentally reform how higher education is financed in this country, opening the doors to a more equitable society.
If you agree with our goal, our plan, and the urgency of the problem, we ask that you give what you can to help us write the next chapter in our nation’s history of continuously expanding access to universal, free education.
