The movement toward free community college is gaining momentum.

Two states  --- Tennessee and Oregon --- now offer residents free community college.  Soon the Obama Administration will be putting forward the College Promise Act of 2015, which if enacted will make community college a free opportunity nationwide.
http://chronicle.com/article/When-College-Is-Free-or/231421/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

If, as may be reasonably argued, a college degree is the functional equivalent of a high school diploma a half century ago, then extending free public education beyond K-12 makes all the sense in the world.

This, I think, is preferable to the hodgepodge of ways in which an American now is able to get a head start on college: AP courses, MOOCs, life-experience validations, etc.  I'm not opposed to these options, especially for military personnel, single parents, and others, for whom community college may be a practical impossibility.  But I join those who question whether this should become the new norm.

Clearly, as I have commented many times in this space, the traditional four-year experience if out of reach of many Americans.  And private higher education is under severe economic stress as a consequence.  Additionally, many states lack both the will and the wherewithal to support public four-year institutions at the levels once taken for granted.  

Free community college may be the "Goldilocks" middle ground between the "hodgepodge" approach and traditional four-year college experiences.