President Barack Obama kicked off a two-day bus tour on Thursday with a speech outlining his new proposals to reduce the cost of higher education, which he called a barrier and a burden for too many American families.
In remarks at the University at Buffalo, Obama highlighted the importance of receiving a college education but also noted that college has never been more expensive.
Obama said the average tuition at a public four-year college has gone up by more than 250 percent over the past thirty years, while a typical family's income has only gone up 16 percent.
The president noted that his administration has taken steps to make college more affordable for millions of students and families but said that it hasn't been enough.
"We can't price the middle class and everybody working to get into the middle class out of a college education," Obama said. "We're going to have to do things differently. We can't go about business as usual."
He added, "Because if we do, that will put our younger generation, our workers, our country at a competitive disadvantage for years."
Subsequently, Obama announced a series of reforms that he said will shake up the current system, create better incentives for colleges to do more with less, and deliver better value for students and their families.
The president said the first priority would be to develop a new rating system for America's colleges that makes sure families and taxpayers are getting what they pay for.
Suggesting that some private rankings encourage colleges to game the numbers, Obama said, "I think we should rate colleges based on opportunity."
"Are they helping students from all kinds of backgrounds succeed," he added, "and on outcomes, on their value to students and parents."
Obama said the ratings would include metrics like how much debt an average student leaves with, how easy it is to pay the debt off, how many students graduate on time, and how well those graduates do in the workforce.
He noted that Education Secretary Arne Duncan will host a series of public forums over the next few months to make sure that they get the measures right.
"We are going to deliver on a promise we made last year, which is colleges that keep their tuition down and are providing high-quality education are the ones that are going to see their taxpayer funding go up," Obama said.
The president also called on colleges to embrace innovative new ways to prepare students for a 21st century economy and maintain a high level of quality while keeping costs down.
Additionally, he announced steps to help students make sure that if they have to take on debt to earn their college degree that they have ways to manage and afford it.
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