President Barack Obama proposed making two years of community college education free for students who maintain academic standards.

Obama said in a video published on Facebook that anyone “who is willing to work for it” would be eligible for a tuition waiver at a two-year institution under his plan.

Students must attend at least half time, maintain a grade point average of 2.5 and make regular progress toward completing a degree, according to a White House fact sheet released Thursday.

Forty percent of students in college attend a two-year institution, according to the fact sheet, and as many as 9 million students could benefit from the program.

Higher education “is the key to success for our kids in the 20th century,” Obama says in the video.

Obama didn’t specify how he would fund the program. A person briefed on the proposal said the program would cost $5 billion and require congressional approval. The president is scheduled to send his fiscal 2016 to Congress on Feb. 2.

Obama is traveling to a community college in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Friday to outline the the plan. A Tennessee program provides free tuition for community and technical college for high school graduates in the state.

Under the White House plan, community colleges would have to offer programs that would give students half the credits necessary for a four-year degree, or provide training programs with high graduation rates that are in demand by employers.

It requires spending by states as well. The federal government would cover three-quarters of the average tuition cost with states providing the rest.

The savings for a full-time student at community college would average $3,800 in tuition per year, according to the administration’s fact sheet.

“Restructuring the community college experience, coupled with free tuition, can lead to gains in student enrollment, persistence, and completion transfer, and employment,” the White House said.