Obama Focuses on High Tuition Costs, Calling Higher Education An ‘Economic Imperative’
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President Barack Obama speaks at the University of Michigan's Al Glick Field House on Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
President Obama detailed his plans for making higher education more affordable and accessible during a speech at the University of Michigan on Friday, announcing new proposals to reward states that invest in colleges and universities and measures for students to be “informed consumers” of education.
“College is the single most important investment you can make in your future,” the president said to the crowd of students. “And I’m proud that all of you are making that investment.”
Obama’s proposals include linking federal aid to colleges with their ability to keep tuition reasonable and offer high-quality programs. The move would be the first time federal aid for such institutions would be contingent upon those factors.
“Higher education is not a luxury. It's an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” Obama said, echoing calls he made Tuesday in his State of the Union before Congress. “And when I say higher education, I don't just mean four-year colleges and universities; I also mean our community colleges and providing lifelong learning for workers who may need to retrain for jobs when the economy shifts. All those things cost money, and it's harder and harder to afford.”
(Obama To Congress: Make College Affordable, Invest in Worker Training)
In a blueprint released before the president’s speech, the White House said the student aid proposals would increase campus-based aid from $3 billion annually to $10 billion, mainly through expanding the federal Perkins loans program, which wouldn’t cost taxpayers. Aid would be distributed using a new formula that weighs efforts to keep tuition low and serve low-income students; previously, the formula emphasized how long schools had participated.
“If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down,” Obama said. “We should push colleges to do better. We should hold them accountable if they don’t.”
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke about Obama’s proposals on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday morning, noting that federal funding has usually been doled out regardless of schools’ records.
“Historically, we’ve funded universities whether or not they’ve done a good job of graduating people, whether or not they’ve done a good job of keeping down tuition,” Duncan said.
Obama also proposed a “Race to the Top” for higher education, which would invest $1 billion to encourage states to prioritize and fund state colleges and universities. Michigan is one of more than 40 states that cut funding from higher education, trimming its budget for state colleges and universities by 15 percent this year.
Duncan said legislators using the economy to justify cuts to education are off-base and it’s not a valid excuse.
“Budgets are more than money,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “Budgets reflect our values. We have to improve our education systems. We have to education our way to a better economy.”
To help Americans be more informed consumers of higher education, the Obama administration wants to create a College Scorecard assessing institutions’ programs, costs, and outcomes, as well as making mandatory the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, introduced last year to help students compare colleges’ financial aid packages.
“I want this to be a big, bold, generous country where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody is doing their fair share, everybody is playing by the same set of rules,” he said.
In addition, Obama is calling for $55 million in funding for both public and private schools to develop innovative ways to cut higher education costs—for instance, course redesign or increase use of technology. He also renewed calls on Congress to extend the tuition tax credit, prevent student loan interest rates from doubling this July, and providing funding for twice as many work study jobs.
“The point is, this country has always made a commitment to put a good education within the reach of all who are willing to work for it,” the president said. “And that’s part of what helped to create this economic miracle and build the largest middle class in history.”
Obama’s proposals will need Congressional approval and will be detailed more in his fiscal 2013 budget, which he will submit to Congress in mid-February.
Brian Stewart is the journalism and online communications manager at Campus Progress.
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