Even if there is no tuition, as Milton Friedman once said: “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”

Still, here with the story printed in USA Today is Stephanie Wang of the Indianapolis Star:

Indiana debates free tuition for community college

INDIANAPOLIS — In Tennessee — one of the few states less educated than Indiana — a big move looks to raise college expectations and bolster enrollment:

Free community college tuition.

It’s a buzz-worthy plan that experts expect to change Tennessee’s culture of higher education. Tennessee faces struggles similar to Indiana’s in closing gaps in postsecondary attainment levels — and, consequently, gaps in in-demand workforce skills.

In both states, according to the Lumina Foundation, about two out of every three people don’t have any kind of college degree.

As Indiana looks to reverse that statistic, one of the primary challenges comes from the state’s calculations that small annual increases in college attainment won’t be enough to meet employer demand over the next decade.

By 2025, the state estimates, about half a million additional Hoosiers will need to graduate with certificates or associate degrees.

So the push in Tennessee — No. 42 to Indiana’s No. 41 in the country in college degrees — naturally raises the question: Should Hoosier students get a free ride to the state’s two-year colleges?

“Think how we’d change the state,” said Jeff Terp, Ivy Tech Community College chief operating officer. “We’d have one of the most educated workforces in the country.”


 
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