this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
796 points (99.0% liked)

News

22625 readers
3712 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer plans to urge state lawmakers to pass legislation that would provide free community college tuition for all high school graduates during her sixth State of the State speech on Wednesday.

Whitmer also prioritized community college access in her annual address last year. State lawmakers responded by temporarily lowering the minimum age for free tuition from 25 to 21 years old. The Democratic governor now wants to expand the program by removing all age requirements for free community college, according to details of her plan provided to The Associated Press by Whitmer’s office.

Whitmer’s administration created the Michigan Reconnect program in 2021, aiming to increase the percentage of the state’s workforce with a postsecondary degree or training from 50.5% to 60% by 2030. It made Michigan residents 25 years and older eligible for free community college tuition.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 96 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Seems like a great idea to me. Invest in the population and it’ll pay off, long term.

One of my greatest regrets is dropping out of college. I’m doing ok, thankfully, but it hasn’t been an easy path.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 7 months ago

You mean requiring a whole population to pay out of pocket for absolutely everything before they can afford it doesn't lead to growth?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 7 months ago

One of my greatest regrets is dropping out of college. I’m doing ok, thankfully, but it hasn’t been an easy path.

This is one of those regrets in life you can actually undo!

I dropped out of Community College after a year there at age 19. I went back to that same Community College at about 34 and finished my Associates Degree at night/weekends while working full time. One really nice thing was all of my credits earned as a teenager were still valid after almost 14 years away. I meant that my time there as a teenager wasn't wasted. I transferred all my credits to University again doing school at night/weekends and finished my Bachelors at age 39. It was one of the best decisions of my life.

Before going back to school I had all kind of anxiety about it. It was much easier as mature adult than as a teenager. I'm happy to share advice or just encouragement if it will help you.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

The Republicans will hate this one trick.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Certainly a much better approach than "I love the poorly educated".

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

As society gets more complex, it’s more important than ever for everyone to be more educated. The death of journalism, rise of online scams, gutting of consumer protections and degeneration of politics makes it more critical for people to learn to think

[–] [email protected] 61 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Calm down Michigan, save some good ideas for the rest of us!

[–] [email protected] 40 points 7 months ago

It’s balanced by our lovely bunch of insurrectionists

[–] [email protected] 49 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Every tax dollar spent on education brings in more than $1 net present value of future income tax.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Yes but what if Lenin comes back from the dead and makes my kids gay?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Then it's $1 net present value of future income tax + Undead Lenin and more gay kids.

I don't see the issue here.

On a different note, Undead Lenin is a kickass band name.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Undead Lenin the Gaymaker

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

The fates can be cruel.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Already in effect in California. :)

[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Surprisingly, in Tennessee now, too. Just wish it had been a thing 20 years ago

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah I agree. Better than never!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

TIL community colleges are not free...

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Definitely cheaper than public/private colleges, but not free. I think my classes came out to ~$1k per semester when I was going to my local community college. It’s still a significant sum for many, but it meant I didn’t need to take out student loans and could pay it off via part time work.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It's a wild comparison. I live in Denmark where you get paid $948 each month for attending college (or any education).

So I assumed that at least it would be free in the US.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

Education and medical is outrageously expensive in America. I have had college text books cost $300. For one book.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oh we decided that even the state schools should cost more than most people can afford. I don't know why.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

US corporations like workers to have debt etc. This gives them more power over employees.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (6 children)

Free college and legal weed? Why do you have to be so cold, Michigan?

See also: Canada.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

There is this theory that cultures that were developing in colder places had less reason to be wary of strangers, due to diseases being less transmittable in the cold, and because of that they turned out more progressive.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago

Oooo, I like this. Free Associates Degree and if you want to go on to get a Bachelor's it now costs 50% less!

Stick it straight to the for-profit college system.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

IIRC New Mexico residents actually get free tuition at all state public universities (including 4 years)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

As a resident in Michigan, this is good news but definitely not something we need to focus on at this point in time.

The state government needs to focus on the basics and by that I mean clean water. Flint still has a water crisis and many cities like Brenton Harbor as well as northern Michigan towns face the same issues.

It is possible they can fix the water infrastructure and provide free community college since they do have a large budget surplus.

https://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/news/michigans-2024-budget-will-spend-all-but-3-of-states-9b-surplus

load more comments
view more: next ›