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.