First Lady Jill Biden spoke at the Community College National Legislative Summit on Monday, and said she's "disappointed" that President Joe Biden's Build Back Better legislation no longer includes a plan for tuition-free community college.
“One year ago, I told this group that Joe, my husband Joe, was going to fight for community colleges,” Dr. Biden said, according to The New York Times. “But Joe has also had to make compromises. Congress hasn’t passed the Build Back Better legislation — yet. And free community college is no longer a part of that package.”
As an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, she has been very invested in the plan's development and expressed her frustration with the issue.
“We knew this wouldn’t be easy,” Dr. Biden said. “Still, like you, I was disappointed. Because, like you, these aren’t just bills or budgets to me, to you, right? We know what they mean for real people, for our students.”
President Biden has said in the past that the bill is unlikely to get passed, but promised in October that free community college will be passed during his term.
"And if I don't, I'll be sleeping alone for a long time," Biden joked to CNN's Anderson Cooper during an October 2021 town hall.
Knowing that tuition-free community college is unlikely, Dr. Biden added that, "It was a real lesson in human nature that some people just don’t get that."
In the original bill's plans, $45.5 billion was to be committed to make two years of tuition at community colleges free for five years. Each state would have to opt into the plan, and then the federal government would cover the program's cost for the first year. States would then begin to cover more of the cost, as federal contribution would decrease by five percent in the following years.
The House passed a $2.2 trillion version of the plan in November that contains additional aid for community colleges, but not free tuition.
President Biden told reporters in January that he doubted tuition-free community college would be included in any new versions of the spending bill.
“There’s two really big components that I feel strongly about that I’m not sure I can get in the package,” Biden said. “One is the child care tax credit, and the other is help for cost of community colleges.”
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