Free tuition is not enough

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Impact – “Free tuition is not enough” (Vox, Feb 12, 2020)

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Main Theme Overview

In this episode of The Impact, host Jillian Weinberger and producer Bird Pinkerton investigate the concept of free college tuition through the lens of the Kalamazoo Promise—a program in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that guarantees free college tuition for local public high school graduates. The episode unpacks why, despite this remarkable offer, significant barriers to college completion persist, and what this means for high-profile free college proposals from 2020 presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Kalamazoo Promise: Genesis and Initial Hopes

• Background of Kalamazoo’s Struggles: Kalamazoo in 2005 was a struggling town with declining schools and a bleak outlook for students.
• Launch of the Kalamazoo Promise: On November 10, 2005, a group of anonymous local donors pledged to pay college tuition for every Kalamazoo public school graduate. Full tuition covered for in-state colleges, later expanded to some private schools.
• Community Reaction: The announcement instilled hope and excitement, with students and families celebrating the promise of higher education being accessible ([01:29] Aaliyah Buchanan: "My brother...he was just like, mom, I'm going to college.").

2. College is More Than Tuition – Persistent Hurdles

• Mixed Results: 30% increase in bachelor’s degree completion; Kalamazoo now at the Michigan state average for public universities—a notable feat given the high poverty context ([04:05] Gillian Weinberger: "It's a 30% increase in Bachelor's degree completion, and that is huge.").
• But: Only half of students complete a degree or certificate. Less than a third of Black students graduate within 10 years ([04:16] Bird Pinkerton: "...a little less than a third of black students make it all the way through college in 10 years...").
• Why?: Tuition was just the largest hurdle—many others remained:
  • Unstable home lives
  • Work and financial obligations
  • Lack of academic and social support structures
  • Personal crises (family illness, pregnancy, trauma, abuse)

3. Real Stories: Aaliyah and Olivia’s Journeys

• Aaliyah Buchanan:
  • Grew up in a family that relied on food stamps; her mother became disabled.
  • Supportive teachers helped her stay on track in high school.
  • After graduation, worked to support herself, struggled to balance work and academics, lacked support in college, faced an unplanned pregnancy, and ultimately “stopped out” of college ([12:09] Aaliyah Buchanan: "That was the very first time I got pregnant when I was in college.").
• Olivia Tarentine:
  • Family circumstances improved during her childhood; she had stable home life by high school.
  • Used the Promise to attend in-state college, did well academically.
  • Encountered an abusive relationship and personal trauma, developed an eating disorder, and ultimately stopped out to receive treatment ([13:45] Olivia Tarentine: "I struggled with trauma, which led me to struggle with bulimia and anorexia...").
• Common Thread: Both started college but did not finish initially—mirroring district-wide retention struggles.

4. Structural Reforms: Addressing the “Other Hurdles”

• Kalamazoo Promise Evolves (“We have to knock down more of these hurdles...”):
  • Expansion of staff (from 3 to 15) including “comeback navigators.”
  • Personalized support: Staff like Angelita help with paperwork, encouragement, and logistical hurdles ([16:35] Olivia Tarentine: "Angelita worked at my high school and she's always been like someone I can go to...").
  • Skill-building “Promise” classes for students re-entering college, both academic and emotional support ([18:21] Aaliyah Buchanan: "...it's a very small group, just 11 promise students all sitting so that they're facing each other.").
  • On-campus hubs with coaches like Katrina Goodall, mandatory for Promise students, offering resources, mentorship, and practical help (scheduling, financial aid, textbooks).
• Limitations Remain: Even with support, challenges like work schedules or placement test timing still block students from re-enrolling ([21:40] Aaliyah Buchanan: "And I had to maintain life. I got to pay rent. I got to do what I got to do. So it's like, I can't.").

5. National Policy Echoes and Lessons Learned

• Free Tuition vs. “Debt-Free” College: Nationally, politicians have adapted their rhetoric—proposals now aim to make college truly debt-free, covering not just tuition but also textbooks, housing, food, and childcare.
• Insight: The Kalamazoo experiment demonstrates the limits of tuition-only policies and the necessity of comprehensive supports to address the diverse needs of low-income and non-traditional students.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [01:29] Aaliyah Buchanan: "My brother, you know, he was rushing in the house and he was just like, mom, I'm going to college. My nephew Jalen...in the second grade and he said to me, I'm going to college. And I thought to myself, it's begun, it's begun."
• [03:49] Michelle Miller-Adams (via Bird Pinkerton): "It's very much a glass half full glass half empty story."
• [04:05] Gillian Weinberger: "It's a 30% increase in Bachelor's degree completion, and that is huge. Nothing gets you a 30% increase in Bachelor's degree..."
• [11:19] Aaliyah Buchanan: "I needed to pay for rent and I needed to live like, no."
• [13:45] Olivia Tarentine: "I struggled with trauma, which led me to struggle with bulimia and anorexia. My body became very weak..."
• [14:27] Gillian Weinberger: "Once that hurdle came down, you saw all the other hurdles sitting behind it."
• [20:24] Aaliyah Buchanan: "It's easier said than done. It's just, I gotta do."
• [21:04] Aaliyah Buchanan: "Like, this year has been, like, a rough year. Like, on the verge of losing my car, on the verge of getting evicted...They don't teach you that in school."

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• [00:01-03:00]: Introduction to Kalamazoo's challenges, the announcement of the Promise, and initial reactions
• [03:49-05:36]: Interview with Michelle Miller-Adams, assessment of Promise’s outcomes, statistical impacts
• [05:36-14:27]: Deep dive into Aaliyah and Olivia’s personal stories, exploring the true obstacles Promise students face
• [14:27-15:14]: Teachers and staff discuss the range of issues Promise students encounter besides financial barriers
• [15:14-20:01]: The Promise’s evolving support strategies: coaching, outreach, building on-campus community
• [20:24-21:53]: Real-life limitations and continuing barriers; Aaliyah’s ongoing efforts to re-enroll
• [21:53-End]: Policy lessons and implications—future of “free college” on the national stage

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Tone & Voice

The episode is candid, empathetic, and focused on personal narrative. Bird Pinkerton’s reporting foregrounds the challenges students face, highlighting both hope and struggle. The language is accessible and direct, often letting students and staff speak for themselves.

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Conclusion

Free tuition is not enough compellingly illustrates that while eliminating tuition is a powerful step towards equity in higher education, it is just the beginning. True educational opportunity requires addressing a labyrinth of financial, social, and personal challenges—something policymakers must consider as they debate the future of college affordability in America. The real impact of “free college” is only as strong as the support systems that accompany it.

Transcript

[Gillian Weinberger]

If you'd gone to Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2005, you would have found a small struggling town. The big medical company had left and it took most of the middle class with it. The schools had been losing students for decades. For the students who remained, the future seemed more and more limited. But then on November 10, the school board called a meeting. Parents and students and teachers packed into a room. They'd been told that the school superintendent, Janice Brown, was going to announce something big. But they weren't sure what. Until Dr. Janice Brown announced that this group of anonymous donors, local, wealthy individuals, had made a commitment to send every graduate of the Kalamazoo public schools to college for, for free, forever. This was the Kalamazoo promise. Attend Kalamazoo public schools K through 12. Live in the district and your in state. College tuition was completely covered. Four year universities, community colleges, even, eventually some private schools, tuition free. Nearly everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news.

[Bird Pinkerton]

I was on a school bus heading back from a basketball game. We were getting ready for the musical to perform that night.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

So my brother, you know, he was rushing in the house and he was just like, mom, I'm going to college. My nephew Jalen, he was in the second grade and he said to me, I'm going to college. And I thought to myself, it's begun, it's begun. As a second grader, what a beautiful thing.

[Gillian Weinberger]

From the Vox Media podcast network, this is the Impact. I'm Gillian Weinberger. This season, the 2020 US presidential candidates have some big ideas. We've been investigating how those ideas worked or didn't work in other places or at other times. There are today hundreds of thousands of

[Bird Pinkerton]

bright and qualified young people who want

[Gillian Weinberger]

to go to college but can't go

[Bird Pinkerton]

to college for one reason alone, and that is their famil lack the funding.

[Gillian Weinberger]

Today on the show Free College, Senator Bernie Sanders has a plan. So does Elizabeth Warren.

[Bird Pinkerton]

And that is to make college universally available with free tuition and fees.

[Gillian Weinberger]

College graduates just do better in life. They earn more money, have access to a wider range of jobs.

[Bird Pinkerton]

The fact that there was a commuter college about 45 minutes away that I could pay for on a part time waitressing job, it opened a door and that was my chance.

[Gillian Weinberger]

But college is getting more and more expensive in the United States. Those who finish often graduate with a lot of debt, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars. This debt can keep them from moving forward in their lives, from buying a house or starting a family. And the number one reason students give for dropping out of college is the

[Bird Pinkerton]

price There's a real access problem for low income students, for students of color.

[Gillian Weinberger]

Free college feels like it should solve these problems. That's what some people in Kalamazoo thought would happen. When the promise started in 2005, producer Bird Pinkerton went to Kalamazoo. The people she met there told her that the reality was more complicated. It's very much a glass half full glass half empty story.

[Bird Pinkerton]

This is Michelle Miller Adams. She is a social scientist based out of Kalamazoo, and she has been studying the promise for 15 years. She told me there is a lot to be impressed with here. The Promise bumped up college graduation rates by a lot.

[Gillian Weinberger]

It's a 30% increase in Bachelor's degree completion, and that is huge. Nothing gets you a 30% increase in Bachelor's degree completion

[Bird Pinkerton]

at this point. Nearly half of Kalamazoo students actually complete a college degree or a certificate, which has brought Kalamazoo up to the state average for public universities. And that's impressive because Kalamazoo is a high poverty school district. But if you look at it through that glass half empty lens, the results feel less hopeful. Like even with college tuition paid for, only half of students are graduating. And a little less than a third of black students make it all the way through college in 10 years, it's still low. I talked to a representative of the Promise who agreed it is not good enough that they're just meeting the state average. So why. Why do students with free college tuition not finish? Why aren't these numbers way better?

[Gillian Weinberger]

I think a lot of people expected the Kalamazoo Promise to work some kind of magic on the district and its people. And I think that's a pretty unrealistic expectation.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Michelle has an analogy she likes where she says that getting to college and beyond is like running along a racetrack. So the cost of tuition would be one big hurdle, but there are also lots of others. To understand what those other hurdles look like, we we're gonna follow the lives of two Promise students.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Okay, Aaliyah, you need to do it.

[Bird Pinkerton]

First up, Aaliyah Buchanan.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

You see this? That's me. I picked that dress up.

[Bird Pinkerton]

We're sitting on a big squishy couch at Aaliyah's grandparents house. Flipping through a purple scrapbook, she is pointing out a dress that she wore in elementary school.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

It had the shoulders, you know, like the styrofoam shoulders in there.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Do you know the movie the Wiz?

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Diana Ross's dress. That's how that dress was.

[Bird Pinkerton]

The scrapbook is full of Aaliyah's bold fashion Choices from throughout her school days.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

That's eighth grade formal that I had.

[Olivia Tarentine]

But meanwhile, I'm so basic.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Olivia Tarentine, our other promise student. She is less interested in fashion. She's wearing all gray, but her socks are bright pink.

[Olivia Tarentine]

Thank you. Thank you. They don't match.

[Bird Pinkerton]

But what Olivia is interested in is social work and nursing.

[Olivia Tarentine]

Like my aunt, she was going through med school while I was growing up, and so, like, she would buy me different. It was like a human body.

[Bird Pinkerton]

She's talking about those artificial torsos that biology teachers use, the ones with the fake organs that you can take out and put back in. It's kind of like a weird. How old were you?

[Olivia Tarentine]

I was super young. I got my first one when I was like seven.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Imagine Aaliyah and Olivia both running long races towards their college graduation. Aaliyah in a running outfit with padded shoulders and a bold print. Olivia more focused on the biology involved in running. And their marathons were pretty different, even though Olivia had some early hurdles. When she was around 9, her mom got a degree and a good job. She married a guy who eventually adopted Olivia.

[Olivia Tarentine]

I went from having, like, the needs to, like, having most of what I wanted.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

My mom, she had disabilities.

[Bird Pinkerton]

For Aaliyah, the road was tougher. When she was around 9, her mom had a bad fall at work.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

That's where a lot of stuff changed. I don't know if it was just depression because of that happened or whatever, but it's been like taking a toll on her ever since.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Aaliyah's mom stopped working, the family went on food stamps. And there were still moments of lightness in their home, like with Whitney Houston Sing Offs plays that Aaliyah and her sister would put on. But money was a struggle. They moved into income based housing. And then later in high school, Aaliyah got a job at Wendy's. So she was bringing in money. But her mom was afraid that the additional income would make them ineligible for housing. Aaliyah had to move in with her grandparents permanently. She loved them and looked up to them. Her grandfather was a deacon at the church. Very well known in the community.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

But still, I didn't see my mom. Sometimes I see her on the weekends, but if I'm here, then I'm. And my mom lived way out over there.

[Bird Pinkerton]

So as Aaliyah was going through the Kalamazoo public school system, she had all of these hurdles to clamor over. And in Kalamazoo, this situation is pretty common. A lot of students have complicated home lives. Some are homeless, others don't. Know where their next meal is going to come from. And all of this can make it hard to focus in school. Some kids act out.

[Olivia Tarentine]

Yeah, it could be like someone trying to be a class clown.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Olivia remembers this happening a lot.

[Olivia Tarentine]

And then it's just, you know, somebody else joins in and then they have to get sent out, but they want to make a big scene. So they're not going to get sent out. They got to have security come get them. So. So now we have two, three security guards coming to our class. Now this is 20 minutes at least.

[Bird Pinkerton]

But even though there were all these hurdles, there were also teachers who were determined to make sure students were prepared to take advantage of the Kalamazoo promise this free college tuition. Olivia remembers a teacher drilling her to write college ready essays.

[Olivia Tarentine]

Oh, every essay I had to rewrite in her class. You can start a sentence with and or the or she's like my third conscience. Like she's in there. Like when I'm doing my homework.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

I was going through stuff and didn't know how to maintain life and at home or not being able to talk to someone or you know, until this lady came. Her name was miss Yarbrough and she helped me.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Miss Yarbrough did big things. Like she helped Aaliyah get all her credits to graduate on time, but also small things that are really important when you're a high school student. Like she helped Aaliyah pay for a prom ticket, little boosts to get Aaliyah to the finish line. And it worked. Both Aaliyah and Olivia graduated from high school along with a big percentage of their classmates. That is one clear effect that the promises had over time. Even with all these challenges, having free college tuition to look forward to has pushed the high school graduation rate in the district up and up and up. And then after high school graduation, it was time for Aaliyah and Olivia to actually use the promise to go to college. Aaliyah didn't feel quite ready to start.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

My grandpa was like, what you finna do? You finna go to school? Woo. I'm like, I don't know.

[Bird Pinkerton]

He marched her down to the local community college, got me registered for school,

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

and then I was going to be a registered nurse. That's what I was doing. And I don't want to be a nurse.

[Bird Pinkerton]

What Aaliyah did want to do was start looking after herself. So she moved out of her grandparents house into an apartment and she continued working at Wendy's to cover rent and food and bus fare. But her work schedule was not Flexible.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

I'm like, I'm literally at school at this time. I can't come in or I can't open. And they didn't care. They'll still make my schedule however they want it. And then I feel like I gotta go because I don't wanna lose my job because I needed to pay for rent and I needed to live like, no.

[Bird Pinkerton]

In college, Aaliyah didn't have an administrator like Ms. Yarborough helping her out or asking why she'd miss class. In fact, she felt like there was no support at all.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Like, you had this login thing and this was all your assignments on there. They didn't even show you how to do that. Like, you had literally had like, hey, girl, you're in my class. Can you help me? But if you're not social, I would feel bad for somebody that didn't talk.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Aaliyah was studying something that she didn't want to study. She was struggling to pay bills, feeling a little lost in the college system. And then another challenge cropped up, this time in her personal life.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Called my mom to come pick me up for church, and she was like, what's wrong? She could already tell now. When she got in the car, I just handed her the test. And then she was just like, I'm behind you, whatever you want to do. And I cried and I went to church. That was the very first time I got pregnant when I was in college.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Aaliyah remembers meeting a friend in the hallway of her college, and I just

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

told her, I'm like, I'm pregnant. She was like, really? Oh, my God. She was really happy, but I was just like, I don't know what I'm going to do.

[Bird Pinkerton]

What Aaliyah did was stop out of college, not drop out of college. She did want to go back eventually, but she had an abortion. And then she took some time to focus on making money and getting her life in order. Later, she got pregnant again and had a son, Nasir or Naz. Our other promise student, Olivia, also went to college, but for her, things went a little differently.

[Olivia Tarentine]

By that point, my parents were well off enough. They told me I could go where I wanted to go.

[Bird Pinkerton]

She decided to use the Promise anyway, signed up for a school in state, and the road to graduation looked pretty hurdle free. She was studying nursing, getting good grades. She got through several semesters, and then her boyfriend became abusive. And around that same time, she told me that a man in her apartment complex stalked her, harassed her, and eventually assaulted her.

[Olivia Tarentine]

I struggled with trauma, which led me to Struggle with bulimia and anorexia. My body became very weak. I couldn't even walk up and down stairs without assistance. I was passing out.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Olivia stopped out of college too. She went to an inpatient treatment center, a relaxing place with a pond and lots of trees. And then she went home to her parents for a while. Aaliyah and Olivia had very different experiences, but the end result was the same. They started college, but they didn't finish, just like half their classmates. Even though the biggest hurdle, the cost of college tuition, was removed.

[Gillian Weinberger]

Once that hurdle came down, you saw all the other hurdles sitting behind it.

[Bird Pinkerton]

When I talked to Michelle and to teachers and counselors in Kalamazoo, they all reminded me that in a high poverty school district, there are students who get pregnant like Aaliyah did, or who struggle to make rent like Aaliyah did.

[Olivia Tarentine]

They may have recently been evicted from

[Bird Pinkerton]

their home and or lost a sibling.

[Gillian Weinberger]

Having to work several part time jobs,

[Olivia Tarentine]

contributing to the family.

[Bird Pinkerton]

I mean, I've, you know, I've had

[Olivia Tarentine]

students over these 24 years who have

[Bird Pinkerton]

just told me every story under the sun and they break your heart, these stories.

[Gillian Weinberger]

Providing free college helps in some cases a lot, in some cases a little. But it's not a silver bullet. It doesn't completely resolve the challenges that people face.

[Bird Pinkerton]

In 2015, after their first decade, the Kalamazoo Promise staff pulled together a report, looked at the numbers, and they decided, all right, going forward, we want to knock down more of these hurdles. And if we can't do that with tuition alone, we're just going to have to change our plan. So after the break, we're going to see what they tried and whether or not it's helped students like Olivia and Aaliyah make it to that college graduation finish line. Welcome back. Last summer, Olivia Tarentine contacted the offices of the Kalamazoo Promise and sent them a text that basically said, hello, I would really like to go back to college. And by that point, the Promise had put their new plan in place. The office had grown from three staffers to 15, including two employees whose entire jobs were get students like Olivia back into college. So when her text reached a staffer that she knew named Angelita, Olivia got a very quick response. A great big yes with seven S's.

[Olivia Tarentine]

Angelita worked at my high school and she's always been like someone I can go to and someone that she cares.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Angelita helps students like Olivia to fill out their paperwork. She schedules placement exams. She sends lots of and lots of encouraging check in texts and before school Even started, she took Olivia to meet with an advisor who would help her build a manageable course load. So you got your backpack?

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Yeah.

[Bird Pinkerton]

This is your first day.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

I know.

[Olivia Tarentine]

I'm excited. I'm excited. It's just a little nerve wracking.

[Bird Pinkerton]

On September 3rd, Olivia is standing in her apartment, hovering over a backpack that she hasn't carried since the last time that she left school. And it is still packed with all of her school supplies. But she's hesitating.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

I don't know.

[Olivia Tarentine]

Do I need a jacket? I'm an over pack her.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Eventually, jacket in hand, we get into the car. And it takes a little longer to drive across town than expected.

[Olivia Tarentine]

I said 2O'.

[Gillian Weinberger]

Clock.

[Bird Pinkerton]

So Olivia's a little late, a little flustered, but she finds her class and opens the door. Well, welcome, everyone. I hope you guys had a wonderful first week. Everyone got sleep. Olivia's very first class back is actually another Promise effort to keep students on track to graduation. It's a very small group, just 11 promise students all sitting so that they're facing each other. First of all, are there any questions about the reading? The text is. It's not easy. This special Promise class is supposed to make sure that students have the skill skills they need to succeed in college. Skills like analyzing difficult texts. But the class is also a space for Promise students to feel seen and heard.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

I messed up bad my last semester of high school because I surrounded myself with the wrong person.

[Olivia Tarentine]

So it's my junior year.

[Bird Pinkerton]

When the class wrapped up, Olivia seemed visibly more relaxed.

[Olivia Tarentine]

He can unwind. Almost, in a way.

[Bird Pinkerton]

And this class is not the only Promise project that fosters connections. Do you remember how our other student, Aaliyah, felt super lost trying to figure out her login? The Promise really doesn't want that kind of thing to happen anymore. So they've created a place on Olivia's campus for students to go that is full of helpful people.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

You can describe me as a diva in a dress.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Katrina Goodall has everything. She's got candy. She's got Kleenex. She's got a soothing wall calendar of a beach. And every Promise student here has to meet with her or her colleague for coaching.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

So tell me how your first week of classes went so far. School has been great. Good.

[Bird Pinkerton]

The young man she's coaching stopped out after he became homeless. He's back in school and has switched majors. And Katrina goes over his resume, the money he owes for rent and books, and his syllabi, which he has carefully transferred to an iPad.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

It looks like you Got that pretty organized. So I won't give you services that you do not want.

[Bird Pinkerton]

After over an hour, their meeting wraps up.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Well, only one more thing. There is another aviation student here. She is an upperclassman, so I want to introduce you to because she knows the tips and the tricks of your major. Do you got time to meet her? Yeah, I do. Okay. Okay. If there's nothing else, then let's go meet. Careful.

[Bird Pinkerton]

The Promise may have started with just college tuition, but it has learned from past experiences. And now there is Angelita's scheduling help and Katrina's coaching and Olivia's special class. They've also added coaches in the high school, and they're building a big hub in the middle of downtown Kalamazoo with a computer center. But even with all these new tools, not everyone makes it to the graduation finish line.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

It's easier said than done. It's just, I gotta do.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Has been almost eight years since Aaliyah graduated from high school and almost five since she had her son, Naz. Aaliyah now works with autistic kids, and her job has given her a much clearer sense of what she wants to study. She says she wants to keep working with kids who need extra help, but with a degree that lets her make more money and provide for Nas.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Whatever he wants to do, I don't want him to be timid to come to me. I want him to be comfortable. Whatever. Like, if you want to, oh, Mom, I'm gonna build up a ship to go see the moon again. Well, guess what? We're gonna do it together.

[Bird Pinkerton]

But life is still full of hurdles.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

Like, this year has been, like, a rough year. Like, on the verge of losing my car, on the verge of getting evicted. Like, I had a whole eviction notice. Like, dealing with life, it's hard to. It really is. They don't teach you that in school.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Like Olivia, Aaliyah also reached out to the promise office to say, I want to go back to college. A promise staffer did help her with forms, but there was this placement test that returning students have to take. It is only available at certain times, and there was no way to make it square with her work schedule.

[Aaliyah Buchanan]

And I had to maintain life. I got to pay rent. I got to do what I got to do. So it's like, I can't.

[Bird Pinkerton]

Even with all the Promise office help, Aaliyah missed the deadline to start classes again on September 3rd. And if she does make it back, she's going to have to do some serious juggling between school and work and all the ways she wants to be there for her four year old. There are students like Olivia and Aaliyah all across the country. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders know the free college plans that they're proposing would actually make college debt free, not just tuition free. They've talked about covering textbooks and rent and even childcare, which means that people are already learning an important lesson from experiments like the Kalamazoo. Tuition alone is not enough.

[Gillian Weinberger]

Bird Pinkerton is the producer of the Impact. Our editor is Amy Drozdovska. Liz Nelson is Vox's Editorial director for podcasts. Jared Paul mixed and scored this episode with help from Paul Moundsey. We had music from Jukebox, the Ghost, apm, Poddington, Bear and Little Glass Men. Some important thank yous. First to Mark Huelsman who suggested that we look into the Kalamazoo Promise. Thanks Mark. Kayla Miller is a Michigan education reporter. She introduced Bird to Aaliyah and wrote great stories about the Kalamazoo Promise. There's a link to her piece in the show Notes. You heard from Valerie Long, Scott Hunsinger, Rebecca Lerner, Melissa Nesbitt, Amanda Bayshore, and Antonio Tiggs. Thanks also to Angelita Aguilar and Vaughn Washington Jr. For all their help and thanks to Tim Bartik, Brad Hirschbein and Daniel Collier for their time. If you enjoyed this episode. So could you please take a moment and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps other listeners find the show and please email us. Send comments and questions to impactox.com I'm Julian Weinberger. Talk to you next week.