How Obama Retooled a Republican Education Idea Along Democratic Lines
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to members of the media during his last news conference of the year in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House December 19, 2014 in Washington, DC.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesPresident Obama's new plan to provide free community college to millions of students across the nation was inspired by a program in Tennessee championed by Republican Governor Bill Haslam, the White House says. But while a GOP imprimatur may be useful in selling the program to Congress, Obama made several changes so that his version delivers much more help to those most in the need.
In its first year, at least 57,000 students applied for Tennessee's program, which amounted to 90 percent of eligible students (many were using it as a kind of safety). Yet certain communities have been highly critical. "The program does nothing for the poorest and most at-risk students at community colleges whatsoever," Bryce McKibben, a former policy analyst at the Association of Community College Trustees, wrote in August about the program known as Tennessee Promise.