On Jan. 8, President Obama unveiled a plan to make community college free for students who maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher and make steady progress in finishing their program. Such a plan would save community-college students on average $3,800 per year and would benefit up to 9 million Americans. Federal funding is intended to cover three-fourths of the cost, with participating states covering the remaining costs.
A few days later, Obama signed a presidential memorandum to direct federal agencies to offer six weeks advanced paid sick leave in the case of a new child or sick family member, while also advocating Congress to pass a more comprehensive sick-leave policy for Americans.
These policies may seem unrelated, but they all seem to point to a goal of Obama’s as he enters his final two years in the presidency. It seems he is trying to make the U.S. more European. Much of Europe is well known for its generous social policies, including long periods of paid parental leave and free or reduced-price higher education. Indeed, the U.S. is the only developed Western country not to have a paid parental leave policy, and higher education has become exorbitantly expensive to students and families, so these actions could become catalysts for more socialist policies in the future.
We agree that Obama is trying to cement his legacy with these moves. Since getting the Affordable Care Act through Congress, he has had few successes in Congress, with notable failures in the realms of gun control and immigration reform. After the midterm elections, where Democrats suffered a massive defeat, even after many Democratic candidates distanced themselves from the president, Obama is seen as even less likely to push his own agenda through Congress. Increasingly, the President has looked to executive actions to implement more progressive policies among federal workers. Such actions include protections for LGBT federal employees from workplace discrimination, establishing a minimum wage for government contractors and providing more resources towards citizenship and greater peace of mind for families of undocumented immigrants. We see this as planting the seed for more progressive and comprehensive policies in the future; if the massive cohort of federal employees believes the policies work, they may be protected even from Republican-led governments and be used as the basis for future policies.
Addressing the community college plan, we believe that such a policy, if well made, could be useful for the enrollment and retention of lower income students. Missouri high schools offer the A+ Program, which, in exchange for service or tutoring hours, offers free tuition to participating community colleges in the area.
While one editor didn’t use this opportunity, their parents greatly valued the presence of this program in Missouri. Several editors remarked that they would have highly considered the option if it were available in their states.
We see Obama as feeling very limited by a sometimes-recalcitrant Congress and expect him to continue to use executive actions and other federal policies to cement his legacy.
