Don’t Dismiss the Value of Free-College Programs. They Do Help Low-Income Students.
“These reports draw attention to one feature of today’s free-college programs — almost all of them award scholarships on a ‘last dollar’ basis, meaning that need-based grant aid is applied to tuition before students can receive money from ‘free college’ funding. In practice, this means most students who are eligible for Pell Grants and who are already enrolled in college do not receive any additional funds. These reports focus too narrowly on this single issue and in doing so overlook not only the many other ways that free-college programs benefit low-income students, but also their value to the larger project of making college affordable.”