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Obama Pushes Plan For Free Community College

President Barack Obama at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee on January 9, 2015.   (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee on January 9, 2015. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama is trying to push a plan through Congress to make two years of community college free to students who maintain a certain grade point average.

The plan supports two national goals set by the president: by 2020, the United States will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world, and community colleges will produce an additional 5 million of those graduates.

The president is expected to outline further details on the cost and funding for the plan in his State of the Union address on January 20.

Slate’s Jordan Weissman joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to discuss reaction to the free community college plan, whether it’s needed and what it might cost.

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