WASHINGTON—Six months ago, President Biden told a joint session of Congress that providing two years of free community college would help “change the dynamic” for students and the U.S education system. On Tuesday, as the final elements of his social-policy package took shape, he told Democratic lawmakers that his community-college proposal likely wouldn’t make the grade.
The ambitious plan that Mr. Biden and then-President Barack Obama first pitched in 2015 as a way to increase U.S. economic competitiveness and decrease income inequality is being sidelined amid negotiations to bring down the overall proposal’s $3.5 trillion price tag.
