The White House on Friday attached a $60 billion price tag to President Obama's free community college tuition program announced Thursday night.
The federal government will pay about $60 billion over 10 years, which will cover 75 percent of the cost of tuition for students who are enrolled at least half-time and who have a minimum 2.5 GPA. Each state will be responsible for paying remaining costs, in all, saving some 9 million students an average of $3,800 per year, The Hill reported.
"That is a significant investment, but it's one the president believes is worthwhile because we need to make sure that America's young people are getting the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century economy," said White House spokesman Eric Schultz, reported The Hill.
How the college tuition program will be funded has yet to be revealed, but a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity told The New York Times that "new proposals" will be included in Obama's budget that is expected to be delivered in early February.
"Community colleges should be free for those willing to work for it, not a privilege reserved for a few," Obama told an audience at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee.
"For millions of Americans, community colleges are an essential pathway to the middle class," Obama said. "The idea that no one with drive and discipline should be left out, should be locked out of opportunity."
Obama said he hopes his program will make two years of college "as free and universal as high school is today."
Securing federal and state funding for the "significant" proposal will be a challenging task, according to White House Domestic Policy Council director Cecilia Munoz.
This is especially apparent considering that Republicans now have full control of both chambers of Congress and may be hesitant to add to the already $18 trillion high national debt.
"States will have to take the initiative to pick it up so it's not something we expect to happen overnight," Munoz said.
White House officials said they have not yet run the plan by Capitol Hill, according to The Hill.
