Same thing at the community college where I lived in my 20s. It offered pre algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, precalculus (slow and fast sequence)… but only 1 semester of calculus. I remember that it struck me because I was trying to help a younger student who needed a more advanced class - there was none. Same thing for Physics. Same thing for foreign language, computer science, English (literature)…
In some states, cc’s are primarily for job retraining and remedial education. They may offer some classes similar to 1st year or 1st semester in college but don’t cover all the classes freshmen and sophomore would get at a 4 year public university.
In order to become an engineer (or prepare other majors, such as math or foreign languages) one would have to be admitted to, and get sufficient funds for, a 4 year college that offers such majors.
That’s why I’m not sure the “free community college” idea is a good one - in theory, it is, but in reality, it’d be better if it applied to the first 2 years of any public college AND didn’t affect state funding. But before we get to that, how about to reinstate state funding to pre-2008 levels? That’d be a good start.
As for starting a new college… How about buying out one of the small colleges that struggle to survive, and revamp it by investing into it, with generous need-based aid and so forth?
Olin is an interesting experiment though. Isn’t it going to grow, ultimately, but its time?
Florida Polytech is another new university, but strictly speaking it’s a new college and not a new college, since it’s the Florida Public System’s newest addition, like UC Mercer was for California.
Regarding investing millions to impact undergraduates’ curriculum, I believe that’s what the Koch brothers have been successfully doing for a couple years now.