Obama's proposal on Community Colleges and free tuition

Recently in the news, Obama has been proposing to offer free tuition to community college students for the first two years.  How this will be funded is uncertain.  The bones of the proposal is that the Federal government will fund 75% and the States will foot 25%.  It is largely based upon the Tennessee system.

The New York Times reports:

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Thursday that he would propose a new program to waive tuition for many community college students, an ambitious plan that would expand educational opportunities for millions of Americans.

The initiative, which the president plans to officially announce on Friday at a Tennessee community college, is another attempt by Mr. Obama to address the growing income inequality that has persisted in the United States despite the economic rebound.

The plan would be funded by the federal government and participating states, but White House officials declined to discuss how much it would cost. It is bound to be expensive and likely a tough sell to a Republican Congress not eager spend money, especially on a proposal from the White House.

The LA Times reports:

“What I’d like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who is willing to work for it,” Obama said in a video filmed on Air Force One and posted Thursday on Facebook, ahead of his planned visit Friday to a community college and technical center in Knoxville, Tenn., as part of a trip designed to preview his policy plans for 2015.
White House advisors declined to say how much the proposal would cost or how the administration planned to pay for it, but experts said such a venture could cost the federal government tens of billions of dollars.