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NCC President To Join Himes For Obama's State Of The Union Address

NORWALK, Conn. – U.S. Rep. Jim Himes announced Thursday that he will be bringing Norwalk Community College David Levinson as his guest to the State of the Union next week to show support for a proposal by President Barack Obama to make the first two years of community college free for students.

Norwalk Community College President David Levinson will join U.S. Rep. Jim Himes in Washington D.C. next Tuesday for the State of the Union Address.

Norwalk Community College President David Levinson will join U.S. Rep. Jim Himes in Washington D.C. next Tuesday for the State of the Union Address.

Photo Credit: Casey Donahue
Norwalk Community College students Tyrone Bullock and Reenu Gupta spoke about the difficulties of paying for college, and how the president's proposal will ease the burden on many students.

Norwalk Community College students Tyrone Bullock and Reenu Gupta spoke about the difficulties of paying for college, and how the president's proposal will ease the burden on many students.

Photo Credit: Casey Donahue

Obama’s proposal would provide funding for the first two years of community college for students who receive a 2.5 GPA or higher.

Himes (D-4th District) said that the average savings would be about $3,800 per year per student. The plan is estimated to cost about $60 billion over 10 years, he said, and he believes that it will help more people pay for education and move on to find jobs.

“I’m just thrilled, first and foremost, that the president is focusing on something that we all know is absolutely essential,” Himes said. As the economy has improved over the years, people have been less worried about finding jobs, he said, but are still worried about the rising costs of higher education.

“Without exception when I’m in a town hall meeting or in a form, I hear parents and students talk about the increasing cost of higher education, the burden that they carry when they finance that cost with student debt and the burden that that imposes, not just on that individual but then on that individual’s ability to buy a first home, to consume and contribute to our economy,” Himes said.

“This is really a landmark piece of legislation, because what it really does is it makes two years of college the norm” said Levinson, a Westport resident. Debt is a major issue, he said, and although many students are able to get help through financial aid and the NCC Foundation, many still rely on Pell Grants to pay for their tuition. They also have living expenses, books, and other costs to deal with, which he said make up about 80 percent of the cost of attending college.

Levinson said the proposal would also allow more students to attend college full time.

“At NCC, less than 40 percent of our students are full-time students, and one of the things that we know from the research that we’ve done, the more likely a student can enroll full time, the more likely she or he will complete their degree and succeed, and then move on to the workplace and/or transfer,” he said.

Himes and Levinson were joined at the press conference Thursday by NCC students Tyrone Bullock and Reenu Gupta, both Stamford residents. They spoke about the challenges of trying to pay for college and how this proposal would make it easier.

Bullock is a single father, raising a 7-year-old daughter while trying to attend school full time. He said that in addition to paying for school, he also deals with costs such as gas, daycare, food and rent.

“It’s a struggle every day just for me to try to get ahead in life and get an education,” Bullock said. “Knowing that I don’t have to worry about tuition would help me further in my education.”

Obama is expected to talk about the program further at his State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C., at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

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