Last week, President Obama expressed his concern for American students facing the high price of a college education. In a speech at Knox College in Illinois, the President promised “an aggressive strategy to shake up the system, tackle rising costs and improve value for middle-class students and their families.”
He said: “It is critical that we make sure that college is affordable for every single American who's willing to work for it.”
We agree. Since well before July 1, the debate has been focused on student loan interest rates. While it’s important to keep interest rates low for student borrowers who have the hardest time repaying their loans, focusing too narrowly on student loan interest rates misses the bigger problem, of which high interest rates are just a symptom. The real problem is college affordability.
College tuition and fees have increased over 500% since the early 1980s – faster than family income, health care and inflation.
As college prices continue to rise at alarming rates, the President expressed the sense of urgency needed in restructuring the higher education system so all students can pay for their college education.
What that plan will be is what we have yet to find out. But If anything is certain, it’s that students can’t afford to graduate with crushing amounts of debt. That’s why all of us – students, institutions, states and the federal government – must work together to make college affordable – regardless of what some members of Congress (like Virginia Foxx (R-NC)) think.
Watch the full video of his remarks on the economy at Knox College below:
Cross-Posted at I AM NOT A LOAN.