Foothill to offer free tuition to first-generation students

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Given how inexpensive CC courses are now--heavily subsidized by the taxpayers .. why would the CC want to make these courses free? Why not defer the costs until the students are working, at some time in the future.

Too many people in the education industry are all too free with other people's money. It's one thing to possibly open a door for some people that might not know how to open that door, but another to just give away the taxpayer's money without conveying to those students that everything in life has a price--and they need to pay for what they get, be it in school, or later in life.

The above comments can be summed up quickly and simply: "I got mine, you can go to ****."

Funny how those who have seem to have, have no problem denying to those who have not.

> Funny how those who have seem to have, have no problem denying
> to those who have not.

And just how did those who "have" end up with what they "have"? Was it given to then on a silver spoon? For most who "have", it's because they worked hard, had a vision, and kept their eye on their goals.

Those objecting to this approach to life would seem to suggest that giving away what others have earned is better than earning what you want yourself.

There is no intention to deny anyone anything--just that everyone work for what they want because they want it enough to understand how things of value are not free.

although well intentioned I'm not sure the message this program sends to the community.

there are plenty of second, third, fourth, fifth... generation US citizens that would love this opportunity as well, and as a taxpayer who is paying for all of this i would think i would have the right to express my opinion. Scary that someone like "good grief" above opines that all of us "locals" are somehow entitled to everything we get versus hard work, sacrifice and perseverance. This is exactly that lost Hillary the election. Oh the deplorables !!!!!!!

i understand some of the classes are very difficult to get into at Foothill because of high demand

So a straight question. Are these students given priority over other students for class registration?. And if so why?

I can't believe all the Trumpers see "first-generation" in this article's title and automatically assume it is an attack on Trump's anti-immigrant policies. If you actually read the article, you will see that it has nothing to do with immigration. "First-generation" means the student is the first in their family to graduate from high school. American-born students can also participate in this program.

If Foothill needs more classes to meet the needs of these students, then add more classes. I would rather see my tax money going to students like this than to some of the adult hobby classes that Foothill offers.

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If I am not mistaken, there is already a government program to provide free tuition. It is called the GI Bill.

"And just how did those who "have" end up with what they "have"? Was it given to then on a silver spoon?"

For many, yes, like our current president. Life is sweet if you choose your parents right.

Where is my free ride?

My sister and I were the first college students in our family and got support to do so. We still worked all the way through and lived at home to save $$.

Each of us went on to get a Ph.D. and contribute to society (SO much more than the money those scholarships invested in us)..

Foothill's program sounds absolutely GREAT.

This is a terrific program. To be clear, this is offered to High School students that are not your typical college bound students to encourage them to go to college and enable them to graduate high school with college credits. The students receive high school credit for the classes also and a college semester is worth a year of high school credit-wise.

@sanctimonious city, When my son was there, Foothill had a program to provide free textbooks to Vets. Textbooks often cost as much as tuition.

" there are plenty of second, third, fourth, fifth... generation US citizens..."

Read the article or have it read to you. "First-generation" plainly refers to first in family to finish high school,. Being born in the USA is a different topic.


"This is exactly that lost Hillary the election."

Yep. Too many zero-generationers out there. This program will help fix that, which is very bad news for the Republican party.

I'll just point out to the grousers that community colleges in California used to offer free tuition and, because of this, were a way for many people to climb out of poverty and into the middle class. Many students spent two years at the CCs and then transferred to a UC or a state college, both of which were inexpensive enough that students were able to work their way through them without parental support.

The "I got mine" crowd is ignoring the fact that higher education was much more affordable even 20 years ago, let alone 40.

We'd all be better off if higher education was more accessible--we'd have better educated workers not carrying mounds of debt, which means they'd be able to buy real estate earlier and be more likely to take risks like start new businesses.

We've done this before and we ended up with great economic growth and a wave of technological innovation.

Free tuition is not enough. Students need a livable wage for all the work they are expected to do. Then we can provide a Universal Basic Income for work they won't be doing after they graduate. Because of automation, according to Elon Musk. Or as Mark Zuckerberg proposed in his recent Harvard graduation address, "to make sure everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.” What can go wrong?

@musical, these are high school students, i would assume they still live with their patents.