Free year of college is a pipe dream

Mike Boland could benefit from taking a couple community college finance courses.

Only then, with a ledger sheet before him, might the state representative from East Moline see the folly in his proposal to give a free year of community college to anyone who gets a high school diploma after fulfilling a promise to earn a "C" average or better and keep his nose clean.

Boland, the Democratic head of the House's Higher Education Committee, is making the rounds of community colleges to gather support and tweak his Challenge Scholarship legislation.

In short, an eighth-grader would have to sign a pledge (along with parent or guardian) that he or she would maintain at least a "C" average throughout high school and not get suspended from school or busted for anything to do with drugs or alcohol or violent behavior.

Those who fulfill the pledge would either get a year's worth of tuition for a community college or the equivalent value applied to a four-year school of their choosing.

This would not be an exclusive group - by design - and that's where tricky math comes in. Just what percentage of kids would not qualify?

While we would favor providing opportunities for kids who normally would not entertain the notion of going to school after the 12th grade - or who simply don't have the wherewithal to do so - this could be Illinois' version of the federal Cash for Clunkers program. You know, where the pool of money to fund it evaporates in little more than a week's time.

Where would one find the kind of money that potentially hundreds of thousands of kids might claim? The state budget? Boland was savvy enough not to go to that salted well.

"I don't want to depend on the legislature to pay for this," he told Daily Herald reporter Kerry Lester last week. "The last thing I want are kids to become disillusioned after they've worked for something that can't be funded."

We feel exactly the same way.

Boland's possible solutions to funding the program are perhaps less reliable than even funding from the state budget. Among the ideas: specialty license plates, an extra $100 court fee and donations from individuals and foundations. But if the court fee idea is such a great idea, shouldn't it help balance the state budget? Couldn't it be used to help forestall an income tax increase?

If this legislation passes, the state will have four years to amass cash to support the first year of high school grads who qualify.

But as with Cash for Clunkers, everyone and his brother will take advantage of a free education. Including all those people who can afford to send their kids to community college.

The first crop of high school grads might be in good shape, but what happens to the second?

The program is a lovely idea - for a state with money in the bank. But it's audacious in such an environment to push such pipe dreams. After all, the last thing we want is our kids disillusioned.