President Obama's 'Free' Community College Plan Could Cost $34B Per Year

    Previewing an item from his upcoming State of the Union address, President Obama announced a "Free Community College" plan Thursday evening:

    According to Justin Sink of The Hill, Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, declined to put a price tag on the plan during a conference call Thursday evening. Rather Muñoz said details of the plan will be in the president's next budget proposal.
    However, the president's announcement said that the plan could benefit as many as nine million students who could save an average of $3,800 per year. This would put the total cost at a little more than $34 billion.
    In a video accompanying the announcement, the president said that his plan would be "making two years of community college free for anyone who's willing to work for it." At $34 billion per year, taxpayers at least will be working for it, willing or not.

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

President Obama: 'At Some Point You Run Out of Money' [Video]

It's Valentine's Day, and today the Republicans heard President Obama say those three little words they never thought they'd hear: "out of money." While speaking on early childhood education in Decatur, Georgia, the president said, according to the White House transcript:

So we’ve worked to make college more affordable for millions of students and families already through tax credits and grants and loans that go farther than before.  But taxpayers can’t keep subsidizing ever-escalating price tags for higher education.  At some point you run out of money.  So colleges have to do their part.  And colleges that don’t do enough to keep costs in check should get less federal support so that we’re incentivizing colleges to think about how to keep their costs down. 

If "you didn't build that" is any indication, this new quotation from the president could be the gift that keeps on giving.

Here's the video:

"But taxpayers can’t keep subsidizing ever-escalating price tags for higher education.  At some point you run out of money."

Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.