ali, i think most people think community college is already free. what is the reality for students? >> reporter: the reality, geoff is reality colleges are cheaper, but not free, not across the board and at least not yet. that's what the biden plan would aim to do, make community colleges free for everyone. miranda was set to go to a private four-year college to study nursing. >> i had felt, this is a school for me. >> reporter: chris earned a baseball scholarship to the university of massachusetts amherst. but when the students sat down with calculators, they discovered even with financial aid, the cost of of a four-year degree didn't add up. >> amherst was north of $70,000 per year. over four years that's over a quarter million dollars. >> i was figuring out the loans i was going to have to repay and it just wasn't feasible. >> reporter: that's why the two decided to go to community