Social externalities of community college education

It has been repeatedly shown that increasing a person's level of education increases their income earning potential as well. This correlation is used to support recent tuition-subsidies for community college students that several states -such as Oregon and Tennessee -have begun to implement and the same plans that Washington D.C. legislators are attempting to implement through passage of the America's College Promise proposal. However, other social externalities are also an important part of the rationale for educational subsidies. This paper examines the social-level impacts of community college education, particularly its effectiveness in reducing the probability of poverty and unemployment and ultimately lifting people off of public subsidies such as food stamp, free/reduced school lunch, and Medicaid.