Add your name here to demand that President Biden and Congress make two years of community college, HBCUs, MSIs and Tribal Colleges tuition-free and support students now.
Fighting for free college is about more than keeping a campaign promise. We need free college tuition to help students who are struggling to survive, workers who need to be retrained, and families who are being crushed by the cost of college. A national free community college plan will create a path for students, frontline workers, and ordinary people to live a better life without taking out tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt. Sign your name onto this petition here if you agree.
Making college accessible and affordable for everyone should be above politics. Free college tuition programs have earned bipartisan support at the state level, and are proven to be an effective tool for students to earn degrees with less debt.
In Michigan, where Rise advocated for the bipartisan Frontline Futures proposal, with two weeks left to apply there were already more than 116,000 applicants for the program, those essential workers who were on the frontlines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last summer, to get a free community college degree. Expanding that program with a national strategy to serve all students can help reverse the declining enrollment at colleges and universities, especially among low-income students and students of color who have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
President Biden and many members of Congress campaigned on tuition-free college. After over a year of living through the pandemic, students’ needs are more dire than ever. Not only have students been pushed out of college during the pandemic, but also current students are struggling: According to the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice at nearly 3 in 5 students have experienced basic needs insecurity such as hunger or homelessness during the pandemic. Students need relief now, so please add your name if you support President Biden and Congress making college free.
