1/ I wrote about the big new free community college plan announced by the Biden administration today.

It's huge and important and more complicated than it seems. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/upshot/biden-free-community-college.html?smid=tw-share

2/ The plan isn't everything Biden promised. There's big increase in the maximum Pell grant--$1,800--but it doesn't double Pell. Tuition would be free for all community colleges and students from <$125K households at MSIs, but not all public universities. https://joebiden.com/beyondhs/ 

3/That said, there are also huge investments in boosting graduation rates at colleges that serve low-income students and billions in new funding for MSIs. If this is enacted it would be the single biggest new federal investment in higher learning in at least 50 years.

4/ Notably, the plan is silent on forgiving outstanding loans, a subject that is, we are told, still under legal review at the Department of Education. Biden has consistently said he prefers a legislative solution to debt forgiveness, but did not propose one today.

5/ The "more complicated than it seems" part stems from the tensions inherent to treating all students the same in a federated country whose individual states have historically chosen to treat their students very differently.

6/ In short: You can make college free for everyone and screw over states that are already making college free or cheap. Or you can treat states equally and pretty much guarantee that some states won't participate. That's the choice. Biden is endorsing the latter.

7/ Now, as long-time readers know, I think there's a third option, which is to not structure free college as a formal state partnership but rather let individual colleges opt in as they choose. The downside there is less incentive for states to invest new $$$ in higher learning.

8/ I also think any system that depends on rules-based classifications of institutions as eligible or not eligible for free tuition is going to creates complexities and controversies at the margins, which could be avoided by not doing that.

9/ But we shouldn't lose sight of the big picture: If enacted the Biden plan would be an unprecedented investment in making college more accessible and affordable at institutions that have been historically underfunded.