Free Tuition for Adult Community College Learners

Many nontraditional adult learners balance college with jobs, childcare and other family responsibilities. Yet despite facing some of the greatest financial barriers to completing a credential, they are largely excluded from states’ free community college programs, according to a new report from the Milken Institute.

Adult learners make up nearly one-third of community college enrollment, but of the 33 states with free community college programs, nearly all limit eligibility to recent high school graduates. Only Tennessee and Michigan provide comparable tuition support to adults age 25 and older, the report found.

Researchers estimate that expanding tuition support through a national “Second Chance” program—which would cover remaining tuition costs for adults pursuing certificates or associate degrees at public community colleges after existing grants and scholarships are applied—could raise retention rates from the current 39.6 percent to 55.4 percent over the program’s first decade.

Robert Shapiro, senior advisor at the Milken Institute, said expanding tuition support would help adult learners complete college and help reverse declining community college enrollment.

“If we put up barriers to adults who have not completed a community college or four-year degree, we’re going to consign tens of millions of people to lower incomes,” Shapiro said. “This is an effort to give people a second chance by at least removing the barrier of coming up with tuition.”

A policy that pays: The report modeled the potential effects of the proposed Second Chance program during its first decade, from 2026 to 2035. Researchers estimate that about 22 million adult community college students would benefit from the program.

Over that period, an estimated 1.5 million additional adults would earn a community college credential. Of those, about 596,500 would complete certificate programs, 672,300 would earn associate degrees and 223,900 would go on to earn bachelor’s degrees after graduating from community college or transferring to a four-year institution, according to the report.

“There was a period in the 1980s and the 1990s when everyone’s incomes were rising, including people who never attended college or didn’t have a college degree,” Shapiro said. “But that changed in the 21st century. We see in the data that incomes have risen much faster for people with associate degrees, certificates and bachelor’s degrees than for those without them.”

Shapiro said those economic shifts have made the financial barriers facing adult learners a far more pressing policy challenge than they were several decades ago.

Researchers also project adults who complete those credentials will make more money. Compared to high school graduates, certificate holders would earn an average of $4,933 more annually, associate degree holders would earn $8,823 more per year and those who go on to earn bachelor’s degrees would see average annual earnings increase by $28,399.

The report also estimates the program would generate $104.1 billion in additional federal tax revenue over 30 years—more than offsetting its cost.

“This is the only genuine free lunch I’ve ever seen in policy,” Shapiro said. “The increase in people’s incomes is sustained throughout their working lives, and the additional income they earn is subject to tax. Consequently, if you project the tax revenues from that additional income, the government comes out $100 billion ahead over 30 years. This is a program that more than pays for itself.”

Financial barriers persist: Shapiro said declining community college enrollment over the past decade has been driven in large part by fewer adults enrolling.

“What [community colleges] need to do is focus on why older students are not enrolling or are not completing their programs in greater numbers than they used to,” Shapiro said. “Financial stress is the No. 1 reason.”

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