While British university students struggle under the weight of soaring tuition fees, it seems like Barack Obama is busy trying to make it cheaper for Americans to get into higher education. The POTUS has announced a proposal to make the first two years of community college free for all students.
For people whose understanding of community college only extends to Community re-runs, there are over a thousand such institutions in the US providing courses in academic and vocational subjects. Students graduate with an associate degree, which is often equivalent to the first two years of a four-year university degree. Many community college graduates use the credits from their course to go onto a university course and then graduate with a bachelor's degree.
That makes Obama's proposal a pretty big deal: he's basically opening the door for a lot of young Americans who would otherwise be unable to afford higher education. Look! He even made a Vine, because that's how down with the kids he is:
"Put simply, what I'd like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who's willing to work for it," Obama said in the video. "That's right, free for everybody who's willing to work for it. It's something that we can accomplish and something that we can train our workforce so that we can compete with anybody in the world."
Obama will need the approval of Congress to make this proposal happen. But if it does go ahead, the White House says that it will benefit 9 million students each year and save them an average of $3,800 in tuition.
Meanwhile, some British universities are busy pepper spraying their own students. A little perspective, guys?
