Since it was free, nobody valued it or took it seriously and teaching standards were a decidedly mixed bag - unprofessionally and mediocrity was the norm but there were a few really outstanding instructors and professional with tons of real world experience that tenured profs in the ivory towers .
Community college is still very highly subsidized to keep it affordable,, but now that people have to pay for their eduction they are much more motivated and take their education much more seriously and teaching standards have made huge gains.
Obama’s “free” community college proposal is more about allowing “his people” to enroll in community college in order to make themselves eligible for government backed student loans that they have no intention of ever repaying and running up a tab of and unrecoverable student loan debt of $20,000 or so on taxpayer expense while the “make good progress” to a community college associate degree in community organizing or gender/ethnic studies.
Pell grants, etc.? Don’t they meet the needs of Obama’s people?