Starting next fall, community college will be free in the state of Connecticut.

Mark Ojakian, the president of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, announced the launch of Pledge to Advance Connecticut, or PACT. Under the program, the state will pay for all tuition and fees that scholarships and grants don't.

Anyone can qualify regardless of income.

However, PACT has some limitations. It covers the first 72 credit hours, only full-time and in-state students qualify, and students must maintain "satisfactory academic progress."

Lawmakers say they want to create online lottery games to pay for PACT, but that effort has stalled. Gov. Lamont is staying hopeful that it will happen next year.

"The iLottery is important for us. It's one of the things we had in mind when it came to how we can subsidize community college and move toward debt-free community college. I think that's something we can move on."