On Monday, February 6th, 2017, the Mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee, and Supervisor Jane Kim publicized that local residents will be able to to attend their community colleges for free next Fall. This will be the first city in the nation to provide their residents with the opportunity to take part in a free college experience. In order to cover the expenses of this program, around $5.4 million will be set aside and saved each year. Specifically,  $2.1 million will be used to cover the credit classes, which includes over 45,000 credits with each credit totaling to $46 with the other $3.3 million being  utilized for supplies, books, transportation, and additional aide for low-income students. Also, properties that are worth $5 million or more will have their taxes raised — helping this program financially. To further help with the situation, the city is offering a fund of $500,000. However, it’s unclear how many students will be enrolling, with City Spokesperson, Jeffrey Hamilton estimating that around 28,000 to 30,000 enrollments are to be expected.

There have also been similar yet smaller examples of free-tuition programs throughout the nation, with some being inspired by Obama’s determination for free community college. Oregon, Minnesota, and Tennessee have placed a last-dollar scholarship program for those who qualify, which helps pay for the tuition fees even after aide has been granted. However, the program in San Francisco is different from other similar programs that help college students financially in that there are no specific requirements for this program, other than being a local resident for at least a year. Factors such as age and income are not looked at.

To further this program, Supervisor Jane Kim stated “ Even the children of the founders of Facebook are able to be apart of this free community college proposition. 

Nevertheless, there have been concerning responses from people. Some are worried that this program will unnecessarily benefit the wealthy and already aided families. Private institutions also fear that the financial factors of this free community college will affect their enrollment rates. 

Ultimately, this announcement  has been considered a major step towards the future vision of free college tuition.