Free tuition for community college? Gov. Ralph Northam said this week he would be rolling out a plan to deliver just that soon.
The program, which Northam said would be called G3 for “Get skilled, get a job and give back,” would follow the tuition-for-service model of programs like Americorps. The G3 program would allow Virginia residents to attend community colleges and graduate debt-free in exchange for a year spent in a public service job or working in a high-demand field.
The details of the program “aren’t set in stone” just yet, Northam said after the speech Wednesday. He said he expects the details ironed out and a formal announcement of the program in a few weeks.
The Democratic governor mentioned the program during a wide-ranging address at the annual meeting of the Greater Norfolk Corporation — a group of powerful leaders in politics, business, government and education — in which Northam also touted several of his administration’s efforts in business and education.
He talked about the need to diversify Virginia’s economy away from industries reliant on defense spending — a perennial political talking point for state officials — and the persistent stigma around not going to a four-year college.
Northam said despite low unemployment statewide, areas like Virginia’s Eastern Shore are evidence that “there’s still plenty of work to be done” and that lots of good, high-paying jobs don’t require a bachelor’s degree.
“It’s all about training the 21st-century workforce,” he said.
Free tuition programs are available in 19 states for technical school and community college education, including in all of Virginia’s neighboring states except for North Carolina, according to the Campaign for Free College Tuition. Within Virginia, a version of the free-tuition model called the Community College Access Program was developed in 2008 by a group of western Virginia localities for recent high school graduates.
Most such programs, unlike the governor’s plan, don’t include requirements for what students do after they graduate.
Northam’s proposal mirrors a plan he laid out while on the campaign trail in 2017 as he was fighting Tom Perriello for the Democratic nomination. At that time, he said the program would initially cost the state $37 million but would yield more than twice that in income taxes after five years.
On Wednesday, he repeated the idea that the program will pay for itself, although without the firm dollar amounts.
In that 2017 announcement, Northam flagged industries like healthcare and cybersecurity as places where graduates could get jobs to satisfy the program’s work requirements.
During his speech in Norfolk Wednesday, Northam also lauded efforts to stand up a career and technical education high school in Norfolk. He nudged those gathered to be aware when the time comes that it will take not just state and city money, but private investment as well to make such a program a success.