By 1944 Americans could at least visualize a time of no war, still almost a year away. Some could also remember the short, sharp recession at the end of World War I - many veterans returned to America to face unemployment and homelessness. This memory, the national unity born of patriotism and sacrifice, and perhaps the momentum of the New Deal made this time an especially fertile chance for passing the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, known famously forever after as the GI Bill.
The original GI Bill offered veterans up to $500 a year for college tuition and other educational costs—ample funding at the time. An unmarried veteran also received a $50-a-month allowance for each month spent in uniform; a married veteran received slightly more. Other benefits included mortgage subsidies, enabling veterans to purchase homes with relative ease.
...having spent a large part of their youth engaged in battle, World War II veterans were highly motivated. GIs in their late twenties and early thirties returned to the United States in droves, anxious to catch up with their nonmilitary peers, marry, settle down, and support a family. The benefits provided by the GI Bill facilitated these goals.
Veterans were not the only beneficiaries of the GI Bill. Colleges, with increased enrollments, received years of financial security following its enactment. Veterans demanded more practical college course work, and this need led to a changed concept of higher education, with more emphasis on degree programs like business and engineering.
The lines of race, class, and religion blurred as higher education became attainable for all veterans. No longer was a college degree—and the higher paying jobs that normally follow it—limited to members of the upper class. Federal income increased as the average income of taxpayers in the United States increased, and as the veterans graduated from colleges, women and members of minorities enrolled to fill the gaps they left.
The GI Bill's mortgage subsidies led to an escalated demand for housing and the development of suburbs. One-fifth of all the single family homes built in the 20 years following World War II were financed with help from the GI Bill's loan guarantee program, symbolizing the emergence of a new middle class.
Time marches on and now our landscape is considerably less fertile for sustaining such rich opportunities on such a broad front. Still a refuge from unemployment, millions of students are going to school. Most of them are financing school with loans. Millions will be hobbled, well into their working years, by net income lost to debt service, default, bad credit, home foreclosure, bankruptcy - the full range of personal financial threats and catastrophes. There are, however, noticeable bright spots. Maybe these will blossom into greater opportunities for everyone if the mighty pendulum starts swinging the other way.
The military services offer impressive college support through a broad array of programs that may include 100% subsidized tuition, generous loan repayment plans, living and supply stipends, or tech support (free laptops!). The tradeoff is and has always been in exchange for a commitment to a time of military service - a potentially lethal risk. It’s not for everyone. It’s an incredible boon for those whose limited choices leave military service as one of their best options.
In 2014, there were 23 colleges or universities in the United States with endowments of $4 billion dollars or more: including Harvard with $35.9 billion down to Vanderbilt University with $4.09 billion. Unsurprisingly, this list corresponds very closely with lists by Forbes or US News and World Report of the very best colleges. Sitting on that kind of money, colleges can - and some do - simply offer free tuition to excellent students from families of limited means. At least 11 prestigious colleges offer such programs. There are at least nine colleges - all reportedly excellent - who traditionally offer free tuition to all enrolled students. They are Deep Springs College, Cooper Union, Curtis Institute of Music, College of the Ozarks, Berea College, Webb Institute, Macaulay Honors College at City University of New York (CUNY), Alice Lloyd College and Barclay College.
At his State of the Union address given by President Obama on January 20, he proposed a federal program to guarantee free attendance at a community college.
... the plan would provide tuition-free classes for students going to school at least half time who maintain a GPA of 2.5 or higher and are making steady progress toward a degree or transferring to a four-year institution.
“Forty percent of our college students choose community college,” Mr. Obama said. “Some are young and starting out. Some are older and looking for a better job. Some are veterans and single parents trying to transition back into the job market. Whoever you are, this plan is your chance to graduate ready for the new economy, without a load of debt.”
The plan is modelled after an existing program in Tennessee.
Like Obama’s executive action raising the minimum wage to $10.10 for federal contractors, it matters that initiative comes from the President. The idea becomes a focus or a goal that puts tremendous pressure on state and national legislators to match it or explain why not. With that cat officially out of the bag, numerous high profile politicians have started their next campaign early and are crafting similar or expanded plans to the one proposed by Obama. Since January 20, Alaska Pacific University has announced a program to reduce tuition costs practically to $0.
Proposals have been floated at many other schools since the State of the Union Address. There are a handful of such programs already being developed in states like Tennessee, Indiana and Hawaii.
We have endured at least 20 years of ferocious disinvestment in public schools under relentless assaults by corporatists and charter school advocates. The sudden interest in institutionalizing universal access to higher ed has to be a signal of a change in political will or public attitudes about support for public education, kindergarten through college. Don’tcha think? No - that’s wishful thinking. There are no imperatives in any of this. We are presented with an opportunity - a spark - that needs to be protected and fanned.
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