America's Promise and Argentina's Unrestricted Access: Different Equity Approaches to Tuition-Free and Open-Access Higher Education

• In Event: 64.048 - Promise Programs and the Free College Movement: Fad or Future?

Abstract

An in-depth analysis of the arguments and equity visions behind two tuition-free and open-access higher education models, show that free college does not mean just one thing, even when access is also unrestricted. This study compares the equity visions behind the Tennessee Promise, the first state-wide free community college program in the U.S., and Argentina’s free-tuition model. Whereas Tennessee’s argument in favor of free-college is an economic one, where the increase in degree attainment is expected to further economic development in the state, the argument in Argentina is political, where higher education should provide a space for political engagement and citizenship building. The study shows that these different visions shape policy design, incentives, and levels of funding.

Author

• Victoria Ballerini, Research for Action