Bristol Community College President D. John J. Sbrega delivered his traditional politically charged commencement speech before 1,002 graduates yesterday, but with a major addition: He pledged his full-fledged support for Gov. Deval Patrick's controversial new objective that community college education should be free to anyone with a high school diploma.
For years, Dr. Sbrega has poked criticism at those who insist that community colleges need to be two-years-and-done institutions by asking those grads who took longer than that to stand and be recognized.
He did that again this year, and a dozen or more remained standing even when asked whether they took more than 10 years to complete their work. (Few, in fact, finished in just two, and about half in three.) Those who persisted in their goals the longest won a prolonged ovation from the crowd of 3,000, sweltering under a white tent on the BCC quad.
This year, however, beyond taking a jab at critics in state government who he says misunderstand the community college mission, Dr. Sbrega jumped at the opportunity to support the governor's idea of a tuition-free higher education.
"What a remarkable, groundbreaking concept," he said. "At one stroke it would not only confront the lugubrious litany of reasons for income inequality and unacceptable community college costs in this state, but also expand our 'open door' to provide pathways to education that will be the envy of the world," he told his audience.
"Gov. Patrick seeks to reverse the fiscal hammer blows that have beset our state's community colleges in the past seven years. We have been reeling under annual and severe and short-sighted budget rescissions.
Offering BCC's resources to the governor to advance his idea, he suggested taking it a step or two further, making it four years of tuition-free college for anyone at any age. "I humbly suggest that this proposal be structured within the concept of a sweeping pre-K through 16 (or, in this age of life-long learning, even pre-K through life.)
"Furthermore," he said, "Perhaps this ambitious concept might even be expanded to facilitate the transfer of community college graduates who meet specific criteria to baccalaureate-granting public institutions of higher education. (Many students now take their two-year community college degrees and finish at UMass, getting the four-year UMass degree at a two-year cost.)Labels: financial aid, free college, free education, high school, scholarship, student loans, study abroad |
