San Francisco Brings Back Tuition-Free College

[Milchshake]

Old-timers remember when California was the center of a national battle over the idea — championed by Governor Ronald Reagan — ending fulling subsidized tuition at state schools. Reagan, who was not at all reluctant to accompany his arguments for tuition with robust hippie-bashing, never succeeded in charging tuition at the state’s higher-ed facilities. By the time a new batch of conservative politicians and fiscal hard times arrived in the early 1980s, so too did free college tuition in California, until today.

City College of San Francisco will be free of charge to all city residents under a deal announced Monday by Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Jane Kim that college trustees hope will lead to an enrollment jolt and more state funding for the school. Under the agreement, which is expected to take effect in the fall, the city will pay $5.4 million a year to buy out the $46-a-credit fee usually paid by students.

The funding source for the San Francisco free community college is perhaps its most interesting feature: last November’s successful Proposition W ballot initiative, which imposed a new tax on the sale of properties costing more than $5 million. In a city with insane top-end real-estate prices and some of the worst inequality in the country, there’s a lot of justice in this particular form of wealth redistribution.

[Gutpile]

The funding source for the San Francisco free community college is perhaps its most interesting feature: last November’s successful Proposition W ballot initiative, which imposed a new tax on the sale of properties costing more than $5 million. In a city with insane top-end real-estate prices and some of the worst inequality in the country, there’s a lot of justice in this particular form of wealth redistribution.

So it's not free.

Man, liberals love other people's money.

[Wyrt]

It's a small start, but it's good.

So it's not free.

Man, liberals love other people's money.

OMG using tax money to benefit society! The horror!

[Kaleredar]

So it's not free.

Man, liberals love other people's money.

And you like using roads other people paid for and water, gas, and power lines subsidized by the government.

[Gutpile]

Every fucking thread. Like a clockwork.

I know, right? People claiming things are free when they're really not.

[Wells]

Good for them. We've spend centuries expanding what the base level of education required to function well as society has advanced. There's no reason to stop doing that now.

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I know, right? People claiming things are free when they're really not.

Pedantry is super fucking boring.

[sarahtasher]

So it's not free.

Man, liberals love other people's money.

Some people love even harder jets that can't fly and carriers that can't launch them.

- - - Updated - - -

I know, right? People claiming things are free when they're really not.

In the entire world, outside the mind of imaginary liberals of Breitbart, no one call healthcare or education ''free''. They are called ''public''.

[Garnier Fructis]

So it's not free.

Man, liberals love other people's money.

Yeah, lots of shit sounds stupid when you purposely ignore connotations and take literal readings. Good job, you're not the first and you won't be the last to think you've stumbled upon the silver bullet by simply not understanding what people actually mean.

[Milchshake]

Pedantry is super fucking boring.

Ya its shame all those English and Writing classes are wasted on some people. Their parents wasted tuition money....

Anyways, It's really interesting to see SF generate a new revenue stream, and earmark it for the greater good. Also how the program might grow, since their inventory of 5+ million properties will presumably expand as all properties trend upwards.

[Independent voter]

I'm heading to San Francisco to get a second degree. It's only 250 miles or so from here. I'll have to live in a cardboard box and dumpster dive for food. They'll probably want proof that I'm a resident though.

[Direpenguin]

Yeah, lots of shit sounds stupid when you purposely ignore connotations and take literal readings. Good job, you're not the first and you won't be the last to think you've stumbled upon the silver bullet by simply not understanding what people actually mean.

So if he has it wrong, please explain what "funding source for the San Francisco free community college is perhaps its most interesting feature: last November’s successful Proposition W ballot initiative, which imposed a new tax on the sale of properties costing more than $5 million" actually means. Because if it's free, then that additional tax shouldn't be needed.

[Belize]

And you like using roads other people paid for and water, gas, and power lines subsidized by the government.

Don't forget walls

[Garnier Fructis]

So if he has it wrong, please explain what "funding source for the San Francisco free community college is perhaps its most interesting feature: last November’s successful Proposition W ballot initiative, which imposed a new tax on the sale of properties costing more than $5 million" actually means. Because if it's free, then that additional tax shouldn't be needed.

Jesus.

I'm saying that taking 'free' to be literally free here is idiotic, and you basically reply with 'but then why isn't it literally free tho?'

[TITAN308]

Hopefully they limit free college to actual degrees that will have a good return on investment, like mechanical engineering or medicine for example.

If they are allowing people free tuition to get playground management and gender studies degrees then its a waste of resources.

Our country needs 10,000 more welders, not 10,000 more philosophers.

[Dreknar20]

there is no such thing as free college

[Steve French]

It's a small start, but it's good.



OMG using tax money to benefit society! The horror!

Stealing money from people who have lots because you want free things, such a heroic thing to do! Whats the point in earning things when you can just cry til' you get what you want, right?

[Garnier Fructis]

Language is a vehicle for communicating ideas. That's why language is ever evolving in that words gain meanings, words lose meanings, new words are added, old words are lost, etc.

It's not a sequence of strictly defined terms; we don't talk to each other with mathematical precision, it's completely unnatural. And yet, some of you are absolutely intent on ignoring the idea being communicated, in favor of pedantic reading of words. Some of you could seriously use this free education.

[Kujako]

Stealing money from people who have lots because you want free things, such a heroic thing to do! Whats the point in earning things when you can just cry til' you get what you want, right?

How much did you pay to have your private internet installed? Or are you using the filthy socialist one that everyone else paid for?

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Why are people against this? It leads to less crime, among other things.

[Annoying]

So it's not free.

Man, liberals love other people's money.

there is no such thing as free college

Please. The suffix "-free" is not the same as the word "free".
Gluten-free food doesn't cost nothing.
Smoke-free restaurants don't serve food for no money.

Saying a subset of colleges are going tuition-free doesn't mean that those colleges are free. It means that they are a college that doesn't have tuition. Just like gluten-free food is food that doesn't have gluten, and smoke-free restaurants are restaurants that don't allow smoking.

Just like the words "free-of-charge" don't mean "it doesn't cost anyone anything." It means "we aren't charging people who attend the school."

FFS, the first sentence of the post has the word "subsidized" in it.