Is Free Community College a Pipe Dream?

The following was written by Joey Gomez, a contributing writer for The Collective Report, Truthout.org, and other sites. He can be reached on Twitter at @homerjoey.

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After getting backlash from both Democrats and Republicans to Obama’s 529 tax plan that would tax college savings — a luxury that’s attributed to the wealthier class — Obama has decided to scrap the plan that would help the lower and middle-income students pay for college.

It’s been recently reported that the 529 tax plan on college savings would have an impact not only on the wealthy, but also the middle and lower classes, seeing as there is a small percentage of people with middle-lower income that use the college savings. But to drop a policy altogether and abandon opportunities that could initially lessen the burden of paying for college is disappointing.

Young, Broke, and Optimistic: Are Twentysomethings Too Confident About Their Finances?

Confidence is great for many a thing. Like when you’re working up the nerve to ask the cute person at the bar to dance, or when you’re about to give a speech to a room of your peers. But overconfidence is best avoided, especially when mixed with ignorance (I’m looking at you, Achilles, and your weak heel). Overconfidence when it comes to your finances? REALLY not good.

LearnVest, a financial planning service, conducted a survey with questions related to how a person’s confidence about their finances affects their saving/spending behavior. In answers from 100,000 users, they found a huge discrepancy in the level of financial confidence between the different age brackets.

Is Graduating in 4 Years a Fantasy?

Numbers show on-time graduation is a pipe dream for most college students

They’re called “4-year universities” for a reason, right? Then why are more and more students finding it takes them five, six, sometimes seven years to earn their bachelor’s degree? Worse, many students aren’t even making it to graduation day.

From the start, students are set on a path to earn their degree in at least five years from the advice of their counselors. Since many financial aid and grant programs only cover the cost of 12 credit hours per semester, it seems like good advice – until you realize students need to be taking a minimum of 15 credits per semester in order to graduate inside of four years. Add in a change of major, a loss of credits from a community college transfer, a scarcity of available classes, a choice to gain a minor or double major, and a graduation date in less than six years becomes a pipe dream.

Education Dept Calls Financial Aid Applicants ‘Poor’

Yesterday, the US Education Department’s Twitter account for financial aid sent out a tweet saying “If this is you, you better fill out your FAFSA” followed by a link to their site and a screenshot from this scene from the movie Bridesmaids, complete with the caption “Help me, I’m poor.”

Why Aren’t College Students More Invested in College Town Politics?

The traditional idea of a college town is one that’s truly built up around the college. These towns have bars and restaurants packed with students. They root for the school’s sports teams, especially the local hotels and motels who fill up with visiting family during games and graduations. The campus is the most identifiable landmark in town. It’s the largest contributor to the local economy. It’s in the identity of the town.

Many of the largest state schools are in these sorts of towns. The students of Arizona State University makes up over a third of the population of Tempe. University of Georgia students a little shy of 30% of Athens’ population. Virginia Tech is in Blacksburg, a city of 42,620. Total number of students at VA Tech? 31,087. Over 70%.

Yet in most cases, the student population is considered essentially transient, and that has a big impact on both the way these towns think about the students as members of the community and the way the students view themselves.