Ann Arbor — Citing higher education affordability as one of the most defining issues facing America, President Barack Obama announced new federal efforts to help college students pay inflating tuition costs during a speech at the University of Michigan on Friday morning.
Echoing points from his State of the Union address Tuesday, Obama called for a government push to help close the middle class wealth gap, largely by helping more students afford college degrees.
“Higher education is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” the president told a crowd several thousand U-M students and other visitors — some who weathered inclement conditions all night outside the university’s Glick Fieldhouse, where the speech took place.
Although he was short on specifics, Obama unveiled a college Race to the Top initiative, designed to tie additional federal funding to states based on their efforts to keep tuition costs down.
“We know that these state budget cuts have been the largest factor in tuition increases at public colleges over the past decade,” Obama said. “We’re challenging states to take responsibility as well on this issue.”
Last year, Michigan cut university funding by 15 percent, which lead MSU to increase tuition some lawmakers have claimed was as high as 9.4 percent.
While not directly calling out Michigan Republicans, Obama said states need to make “Higher education a higher priority in their budgets.”
In addition to the college Race to the Top, he announced a university “report card” program that would give students a database of information about each college, including its costs and student performance rates.
“We should push colleges to do better,” Obama said, urging universities themselves to keep costs from growing. “ We should hold them accountable if they don’t.”
The president will seek to reform federal campus-based aid to shift funding away from colleges who fail to keep tuition low, according to a statement from the White House.
“We want you to know how much a car stacks up before you buy it — we want you to know how well a college stacks up,” Obama said.
Several high-profile federal officials, including U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, attended the speech to show support for the president’s message.
“We surely can’t be cutting education,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said. “We’ve got to be supporting education programs at a federal level.”
The president also echoed his previous calls for Congress to extend a federal tuition tax credit set to expire in July — an event that would cause tuition interest rates to double.
But some didn’t totally embrace the president’s message.
“It was sugarcoated,” said Parisa Behzadi, a U-M senior. “He’s very well-spoken, so in that moment everything seems fantastic, but I’ll be interested to see what happens.”
Still, others are more optimistic.
“I was really happy when he talked about student loans,” said Beka Guluma, a U-M sophomore.
The Michigan stop was part of a public appearance kick following the State of the Union address, where Obama has repeated the issues to the masses and media in a more relaxed, rally-esque setting.
Obama’s speech here came as a new EPIC-MRA poll shows him holding a solid lead over GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in Michigan.
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Crediting his own success to education, Obama talked of he and First Lady Michelle Obama’s own experience of paying for college, telling students he was in their shoes not so long ago.
“I’m only standing here today because scholarships and loans gave me a shot at a decent education,” Obama said.
