Campaign for Free College Tuition

FACT SHEET
May 2020
April Polling Results
The Campaign for Free College Tuition in partnership with PSB Research surveyed 900 Americans
aged 18+ in April 2020. Key findings of interest can be found below.

Support of Free College is Stable and Strong

In the 13 times CFCT polled on free college since December 2016, overall support of state programs
making public colleges tuition-free has ranged from 70 percent to 81 percent. In polling conducted in
April 2020 during COVID-19 lockdowns, 70 percent of Americans wanted their state to provide free
tuition at public colleges or universities to any academically qualified student.

Question About Free College?

Please contact us at pressinquiries@freecollegenow.org or by phone at (202) 579-9193.

2
Free College is Embraced by All Political Groups
In April’s poll, 81 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Independents
support their state providing free college tuition to academically qualified students.

Younger Generations are Driving Support for Free College

Americans under aged 54 are the strongest supporters of free college tuition. Over 83 percent of those
under 45 years of age supported their state providing free college tuition to anyone who is
academically qualified. Those between ages 45 to 54 indicated 77 percent support.

For additional polling information, please visit https://www.freecollegenow.org/polling.

Question About Free College?

Please contact us at pressinquiries@freecollegenow.org or by phone at (202) 579-9193.

3
About Our Movement
About the Campaign for Free
College Tuition
The Campaign for Free College Tuition (CFCT) is
a bipartisan, inter-generational coalition which
believes today's economy requires the country
to make higher education affordable for
everyone if we are going to have a workforce
with the skills needed to compete in the global
marketplace. Established as a 501(c)(3) non-
profit in 2014, CFCT has been at the forefront of
the free college tuition movement since its
inception. Additional information about CFCT
can be found at www.freecollegenow.org
About Free College
25 States have enacted free college programs
– 16 of which are sufficiently universal to be
recognized by CFCT. At the time the programs were enacted, five states were considered red, eight
were blue, and three were purple with the legislature and governor being from opposite parties.
“Through the Tennessee Promise, we are fighting
the rising cost of higher education, and we are
raising our expectations as a state. We are
committed to making a clear statement to
families that education beyond high school is a
priority in the state of Tennessee.” - Tennessee
Governor Bill Haslam (R, 2011 - 2018) announcing
the Tennessee Promise in his 2014 State of the
State Address
“Two years ago, we took a historic step and made
community college tuition-free for every high
school graduate. Since then, the percentage of
students on-track to graduate on time has nearly
quadrupled. Enrollment has doubled. And I can't
go a week without meeting a parent or a student
who stops me to say that the Rhode Island
Promise scholarship has changed their family's
lives.” - Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D)
in her 2019 State of the State Address

Six state legislatures – California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Mexico, Virginia, and West Virginia –
passed bills in 2019 or 2020 establishing or expanding tuition-free community college.

The Century Foundation estimates that state free college programs – known as Promise Programs –
comprised nearly one-quarter of the growth in state public student aid since 2015.

Question About Free College?

Please contact us at pressinquiries@freecollegenow.org or by phone at (202) 579-9193.

4
The Case for Making College Tuition Free
College Affordability is a Barrier
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, annual published tuition at four-year public
colleges has risen 36 percent between the 2008 and 2018 school years. In 20 states, it’s risen by
more than 40 percent; in seven states, it’s risen by more than 60 percent. The average state spent
$1,502 (16 percent) less per student in 2018 than in 2008.

Student Loan Debt Impacts Americans

According to the Institute for College Access & Success, about two-thirds (65 percent) of college
seniors who graduated from public and private nonprofit colleges in 2018 had student loan debt.
These borrowers owed an average of $29,000.

Research suggests that college debt drives college graduates away from low-paying and public-sector
jobs, delays retirement saving, and has a negative impact on small business development.

America’s Historic Commitment to Free Education

In every era, beginning with the Northwest Ordinance setting aside land for one room schoolhouses,
to the institution of mandatory education through the establishment of free primary education in all
states at the time of the Civil War, the country has made educational opportunity a lynchpin of
American society. In the 20th Century, the expansion of educational opportunities continued as our
growing Industrial Age economy required workers with a high school education for our factories and
offices. Government funds in every state and community were set aside to provide a free, public high
school education for young men and women to respond to these new demands. Later in the century,
the GI Bill of Rights and then the Higher Education Act of 1965 were enacted to further encourage
college enrollment, thereby establishing the educational foundation for our rapidly expanding middle
class.

The New Economic Reality

Almost all (11.5 million of 11.6 million) of the new jobs added after the Great Recession and
before the Covid-19 pandemic shut the economy down went to workers with at least some post-
secondary education, while jobs for high school graduates barely grew at all.

Promise Programs Work

An examination of the first cohort of Tennessee Promise students shows a 56.2 percent success rate in
terms of their college career. This compares to only a 38.9 percent success rate for their non-Promise
peers.

The first cohort of Rhode Island’s Promise increased first-time full-time enrollment straight from high
school at the Community College of Rhode Island by 43 percent. These Promise scholars had a 62
percent retention rate between their first and second year of college.

Question About Free College?

Please contact us at pressinquiries@freecollegenow.org or by phone at (202) 579-9193.