America's College Promise


America's College Promise was a proposal by the Barack Obama administration to offer all students two free years of community college tuition. It was based on the Tennessee Promise, a similar program for the state of Tennessee. State level programs, like the Tennessee Promise, have faced critique for their ability to fill tangible educational benefits. The bill was referred to committee in July 2015, where it languished. Later that year, Obama announced the College Promise Advisory Board, an independent coalition of American leaders in community college, political, foundation, and business sectors to advocate for the proposal. A criticism of the plan is its lack of focus on existing student loan debt. Senator Tammy Baldwin and Representative Andy Levin re-introduced the bill in July 2019.