RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE - A CIC Higher Education Summary - IS “FREE COLLEGE” REALLY FREE? - Lessons Learned from Initiatives in Four States

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

A CIC Higher Education summary examines whether “free college” is truly free, and who ultimately bears the costs. It synthesizes lessons from early initiatives across New York, Tennessee, Oregon, and Washington State, evaluating impacts on enrollments, participation, and student choice. Findings indicate limited enrollment effects on private four-year institutions and highlight how program design, eligibility, and grant flexibility shape outcomes for different income groups and institutional sectors.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Research into Practice

Free College Is Not Really Free

State Models and Program Design

Early Findings and Enrollment Effects

A Better Way? Tuition Grants and Cost-Effective Results

RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE A CIC Higher Education Summary IS “FREE COLLEGE” REALLY FREE? Lessons Learned from Initiatives in Four States It’s an essential national goal to help more Americans enroll in college and earn degrees.“Free college” has become a popular catch phrase for a variety of policy proposals intended to support this national priority. Most free college proposals share important goals: to reduce costs to students and families, to increase the number of college graduates, and to help students acquire skills needed in the workforce. But the term “free college” is misleading. Everyone knows higher education isn’t really free—and that it can’t be! The real question is: Who pays for students to go to college and which students do they pay for? Free college proposals typically shift the costs of some forms of higher education from some students and their families to taxpayers. Specific proposals differ on who qualifies, where students can enroll, and how financial support is delivered. Early free college initiatives are underway in several states. CIC commissioned researchers William Zumeta and Nick HuntingtonKlein to assess the effectiveness to date of initiatives in New York, Tennessee, Oregon, and Washington State. (See State “Free College”Programs: Implications for States and Independent Higher Education and Alternative Policy Approaches for their full findings.) Their work offers useful insight into how free college programs are actually working. This study shows that, despite concerns, free college programs have not meaningfully affected enrollments at private fouryear colleges and universities in two states. “In general, we find that the early effects of the Tennessee and Oregon tuition-free community college programs have been to increase community college enrollments significantly.” » See full report for more information. Additional bachelor’s degrees Decreased costs to educate state residents As the authors discuss in this report, additional state grants that students use at private colleges would save states more than they spend on the grants and would also, in most cases, gain additional bachelor’s degrees for their labor force. Models The four models studied have different features: • Tennessee and Oregon are similar. Both states make public twoyear colleges tuition-free for resident undergraduates enrolled in qualified certificate or associate’s degree programs, although eligibility requirements to participate differ. • New York makes both two-year and four-year public colleges and universities tuition-free for eligible resident undergraduates. New York also awards modest “Enhanced Tuition Awards” to eligible residents who enroll in private colleges and universities. The New York program has additional requirements, such as a post-graduation residency requirement. • Washington State provides two forms of assistance. College Bound Scholarships support tuition, required fees, and book grants through funds awarded to qualified low-income resident undergraduates to use at either public or private colleges and universities. In addition, College Grants, which are also available to students in both public and private sectors, were recently enhanced to provide more needbased aid and to serve a broader income range of students. Early findings Experience to date in these four states suggests some important considerations: • Making community college free delivered more benefits to higher-income Promise recipients than to lower-income recipientsin Oregon. About 30% of students in the Oregon Promise program were in the top quintile of family income, while 8% were in the bottom quintile. • Complex and stringent program requirements depressed overall participation in the case of New York State. Initial projections were that 940,000 New York State families would qualify for free college; by 2018–2019 the actual number was only projected to reach 30,000 . Who is using Oregon P

FAQs

Why is the term “free college” considered misleading in the summary?

It is misleading because higher education isn’t actually free; someone pays for it. The key issue is which students benefit and which taxpayers fund the programs.

What does the study find about private four-year colleges in two states?

The summary states that free college programs have not meaningfully affected enrollments at private four-year colleges and universities in two states.

How do tuition grant models compare with free college models for cost-effectiveness?

The researchers suggest strong, flexible tuition grant programs can be more cost-effective than free college models limited to the public sector, as they increase completion, reduce taxpayer costs, and support student choice.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob