Free Tuition Is Not Enough

Three Ways to Improve Outcomes for Community College Students

The “free community college” movement is gaining steam at both the state and the federal level. Led by
Tennessee, several states have already enrolled thousands of students in no-tuition community college
programs, and President Barack Obama has pushed for free tuition throughout 2015.

But many worry the focus on tuition detracts attention away from myriad other reasons why community
college students fail to complete their studies. Difficulty balancing school with personal commitments —
and a lack of understanding about which classes to take — are powerful factors working against student
success. Easing a student’s financial burden can be a tremendous help, but it doesn’t address other
pressing concerns.

Even students who pay no tuition at all may have difficulty making it to the finish line. In Indiana, where
the 21st Century Scholars Program provides tuition-free college to tens of thousands of students each
year, the completion rate for those students attending community college is still only 13 percent.
(source) And this is not a good time for individuals who begin pursuing higher education to drop out.
Associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees are becoming increasingly important. Although 55 million jobs
are predicted to open through 2020, 30 percent of those will require an associate degree, and another
35 percent will require a bachelor’s, according to the Georgetown University Center for Education and
the Workforce.

Institutions of higher learning can do more to help students finish their programs and head out into the
world with the degrees they planned on earning when they enrolled. Here are three ways:

1. Map out guided pathways. Students need to find paths to graduation that aren’t riddled with twists
turns, and surprises every step of the way. Nothing is more discouraging than thinking you’re on the
right track, only to discover that you missed a required course that isn’t offered until the semester after
you were supposed to graduate.

Yet most community colleges offer courses a la carte instead of developing well-defined routes to
degrees. This approach presents countless opportunities for students to make poor choices, get off
track, and waste precious time taking the wrong classes.

Setting up a clear academic plan at the beginning of the journey — and reducing the number of choices
students need to make along the way — makes reaching graduation considerably easier.

2. Practice corequisite remediation. Rather than placing underprepared students in remedial courses,

Studies from around the country have shown that, compared to remedial courses, students in
corequisite courses have had twice the success rate in English and five to six times the success rate in
math.
Tristan Denley from the Tennessee Board of Regents reported that even students with ACT scores as low
as 13 benefited more from corequisite courses. (source) With the right support, students can remain on
their preferred tracks to graduation.

3. Provide student success coaching. Most of the time, students drop out before graduating because
they can’t manage of all of their outside responsibilities on top of school. These can include anything
from caring for a family member to a nonflexible work schedule. Many students aren’t able to put
everything else on hold for a couple of years while they focus solely on their post-secondary education.

The best way to help students overcome this challenge is to provide nonacademic support to assist
them in balancing school and personal responsibilities. This includes making them aware of free or
inexpensive resources like tutoring, helping them hit deadlines, and working with them on goal setting
and time management.

A study from the Stanford University School of Education showed that students who received this kind
of coaching are 10 to 15 percent more likely to stay in college until graduation. (source) More recently,
the Indiana Commission for Higher Education began providing student success coaching to 21st Century
Scholars in their freshman year of college with excellent results. First-year persistence for scholar
students in the Ivy Tech Community College system increased by 8.8 percentage points, a 24 percent
increase over historical retention rates. (source) Free tuition will probably help more students enroll in
community college, but that isn’t enough — they have to finish what they start. We need more
institutions to walk alongside students until graduation in order to benefit our students, our schools, and
our society as a whole.

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Free tuition: Will it really benefit poor students?

A study shows it can also favor the rich

By: Angelica Y. Yang

05:33 AM August 12, 2017

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—ILLUSTRATION BY DON MIKEL FUMAR

While some institutions remain wary of this “free-tuition-for-all” law, many UP students rejoiced
because a huge chunk of their tuition will now be fully covered by the government. (Before this, UP had
a Socialized Tuition System or STS, which provides tuition discount based on the assessment of the
paying capacity of the household to which a student belongs.)

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Victory

“This is a victory for the students who have been exhausting all means to assert their right to free
education,” says UP Journalism student Menchani Tilendo, who is also a member of the League of
Filipino Students (LFS).

“I was overjoyed,” says Francis Natividad, a UP Communication Research major. “Now I can say that the
Philippine government truly listens to its people.”

Jeffrey Beldia, a UP Institute of Biology alumnus, believes it’s a milestone: “I’m very pleased and thankful
to the President… Although there is some disagreement in the legislative branch, there is still enough
support from individual members of the government.”

Beldia adds that the next step of the government is to find sufficient funds to fully implement the law.

Disadvantages

Recently, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) illustrated the disadvantages of free
tuition through infographics. It was based on a policy paper, “Who benefits and loses from an
untargeted tuition subsidy for students in SUCs (state universities and colleges)?”

The infographics showed that giving financial assistance is antipoor because tuition comprises only one
third of college education costs.

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Citing “up-to-date” data (1999-2014) from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the infographics explained
that most students from SUCs were not poor; in fact, rich households are the ones most likely to benefit
from a free tuition law.

It likewise indicated that students from poorer households had a lower chance of getting into SUCs
because of competition and limited slots.

Both the infographics and policy paper drew criticism and flak on social media.
Jazz, a third year UP Sports Science student, thinks the infographics is an excuse to cover up the poorly
managed government budget and corruption allegations. “Free tuition will benefit the rich, but freeing
educational expenses, such as tuition, gives monumental relief to the poor,” he says.

As for the infographics’ view that most students in SUC’s were not poor, Jazz posts a question: “Why not
distribute the subsidy of free education to other educational institutions? Assuming they are well-
managed, the poor will be more qualified for SUCs.”

The PIDS infographics belies a data-driven article published in UP’s campus paper Philippine Collegian,
written by editor in chief Karen Ann Macalalad: “In year three of STS, 1 of 4 student borrowers apply for
100-percent loan.”

The article was based on data from the Office of Scholarships and Student Services.

Richard German Martin, a dentistry student from UP Manila, believes that the free tuition law will help a
lot of students, especially those in the medical sciences. He points out that dental materials—which are
separate from tuition and miscellaneous fees—can cost up to P50,000 per semester.

“This is why some of my classmates took summer jobs,” says Martin.

All campuses under the UP System comprise a small part of SUCs in the country. It’s worthwhile to note
that even before President Duterte signed the free tuition bill into law, other SUCs have been
implementing the policy for quite some time.

A few of these SUCs include the University of Caloocan City and Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

Whether or not free tuition becomes a long-term investment for SUCs, much needs to be done about
the government’s budget, as well as the implementation of educational policies. —CONTRIBUTED

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