President Obama’s State of the Union Address acknowledged many of the economic difficulties facing American society. And while the President placed emphasis on making college more affordable, he also talked about the importance of expanding job-training programs.
Twitter was set alight during the address. More than 700,000 Tweets were sent during his address, with almost 36,000 relating specifically to his comments about education, reports Maggie O’Neill at City Town Info.
The Huffington Post noted that Obama’s focus on making education cheaper for all is nothing new. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have been visiting schools nationwide to talk about the subject.
“Let me put colleges and universities on notice,” Obama said.
Frederick M. Hess at the American Enterprise Institute, however, believes that Obama is offering nothing new.
Hess believes Obama has used education as a vehicle to show centrists and moderates that he’s not an ideologue.
Obama has found support from the Wall Street Journal and David Brooks for his Race to the Top initiative.
Obama has also called for Congress to further subsidize student loans and extend the temporary tuition tax credit in an attempt to stem rising college debts, which last year tipped $1 trillion.
College debt is a growing concern nationwide. The cost of going to college has tripled over the last quarter century and, according to the College Board, in the past year alone, tuition and fees at public universities grew by 8.3 percent.
Value is a critical term for Kelly.
“Thinking in terms of return on investment makes more sense than just out of pocket costs (cheap community colleges may deliver little by way of labor market returns).
Getting college costs under control is imperative for Kelly. Americans won’t keep accepting Obama’s word unless they start seeing some headway soon, says Kelly.