{"id":1654,"date":"2015-03-30T11:18:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T17:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=1654"},"modified":"2015-03-30T11:18:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T17:18:27","slug":"the-harper-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/the-harper-promise.html","title":{"rendered":"The “Harper Promise”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the local news is the newly-announced program at the local community college, the \u201cHarper Promise,\u201d which is intended to provide eligible students (beginning with next year\u2019s incoming freshmen, so too late for my firstborn) with free tuition (meeting the gap after any federal financial aid has been received) for students who meet specified criteria. \u00a0Here\u2019s an article from the Tribune<\/a>\u00a0(or access here<\/a> if it\u2019s paywalled), and here\u2019s the description<\/a> of the program itself from the website.<\/p>\n

What do I think?<\/p>\n

I am cautious, to begin with, because I am, after all, a taxpayer. \u00a0They say they\u2019re using \u201csavings\u201d (that is, funds accumulated that could otherwise be spent on general educational programs, offsets to tuition, reducing the need for future tax increase) to fund the program, as well as planned funds from donors. \u00a0Will this be enough? \u00a0They\u2019re estimating their costs based on the number of current students who would be eligible, but aren\u2019t factoring in potential students who\u2019ll be drawn there who would have otherwise attended a 4-year college. \u00a0And according to the Tribune:<\/p>\n

The challenge for any such program is how to pay for it. McHenry County College offered a similar free ride program several years ago using $3.5 million in pledged donations from three donors. But officials said so many students took advantage of it that the college couldn\u2019t afford to continue and dropped the program after one year, spokeswoman Christina Haggerty said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other hand, if they truly can get enough additional funds to make this work, rather than needing to continue to contribute general funds, then, hey, if a donor who would have otherwise funded a showpiece building at a 4-year school somewhere, chooses this program instead for their money, that\u2019s a good thing. \u00a0(I don\u2019t know how likely this is \u2014 major donors want their names attached to buildings, not just pooled with other funds anonymously.)<\/p>\n

And I do like the fact that the demands they are making of students aren\u2019t trivial: \u00a0students have to graduate on time, rather than pulling out a GED afterwards, and, more significantly, students need to place into college-level composition and math, rather than remedial classes. \u00a0(I\u2019ve said before<\/a> that colleges shouldn\u2019t be in the business of remedial classes \u2014 this should be the responsibility of the local secondary school district \u2014 and at any rate, no financial aid should be funding remedial classes.)<\/p>\n

By the way: \u00a0just as a reminder, I encourage you to follow the link over to my facebook page periodically, whether or not you are a regular facebook-er. \u00a0That\u2019s where I save all the random links that I come across, whether of general interest or for potential blog posts.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the local news is the newly-announced program at the local community college, the \u201cHarper Promise,\u201d which is intended to provide eligible students (beginning with next year\u2019s incoming freshmen, so too late for my firstborn) with free tuition (meeting the gap after any federal financial aid has been received) for students who meet specified criteria. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[66,238,100],"class_list":["post-1654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-community-college","tag-harper-college","tag-universities"],"yoast_head":"\nThe "Harper Promise"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the local news is the newly-announced program at the local community college, the "Harper Promise," which is intended to provide eligible students\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/03\/the-harper-promise.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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