I agree with @fallenchemist an observation period is going to be needed to see the return of value in fully subsidizing community college. It is going to be important because a huge concern about community colleges in America is the very low success rate (I believe it was around 10-15%) for graduating and/or transferring students within 4 years. It will be interesting to see if the reason for this is 1) people cannot afford it and had to drop out 2) people don’t have the aptitude for college work even at community college level and drop out or 3) they may come from first generation families where college is unfamiliar and the students go in confused with what is expected or 4) community colleges can sometimes be rigid and require students to take remedial classes when students “fail” placement tests.
If the majority of community colleges were “accessible” in terms of pell grants and other aid for low income students to attend, will fully subsidizing it make a worthwhile difference? However, I can recognize that even then the costs of food, housing, and transportation is financially prohibitive for some. It will be interesting to see how community colleges react to these subsides (over 4-5 years) and if they can keep costs and tuition inflation low, as well as boost completion rates across the board, then maybe we have a model to work with implementing in other states. However, I think it’s too early to say since we don’t have a full cohort of students to study from yet.