February 15, 2012 - 5:12am
College affordability a priority in President Obama's budget plan
BY TAYLOR WIZNER
In his recently announced federal budget plan for fiscal year 2013, President Barack Obama addressed high student tuition rates and furthering college affordability, Heather Higginbottom, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a conference call on Monday.
“This is a blueprint,” Higginbottom said. “In a lot of lines the president has spoken about in the (State of the) Union and his speech earlier in Kansas, we are building the economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.”
In an effort to fulfill this promise, the president is focused on making sure college is affordable and is putting pressure on colleges not to raise tuition rates, Higginbottom said.
“One such proposal will take some of the federal aid that is provided to colleges and universities, and tie it to efforts to constrain that tuition so that if the school is not taking steps to ensure that if that tuition is not sky rocking the federal aid will be called into question,” Higginbottom said.
The president also wants to encourage universities to voluntarily find new ways of lowering tuition, Higginbottom said.
“There is a race to the top for higher education that will be used to go to institutions that are taking steps, and taking innovative steps to keep tuition low and to reduce the cost to families to attend their institution,” Heather said.
During the call, Higginbottom commented that the White House is going to focus on creating more work study jobs over the next five years, and lower loan interests rates.
“We are focused on sustaining the maximum Pell Grant award preventing student loan interest rates from doubling this summer, which will do if no action is taken,” Higginbottom said.
While visiting the North Virginia Community College on Monday, the president expressed the importance of training for all jobs, Higginbottom said.
“The President went to a community college today (Monday) about partnerships between businesses and community colleges and the investments there to ensure that people have the skills they need to fill the jobs that are open and growing industry,” Heather said.
Education is one of president’s three main focus points, said.
“Our innovation for our future is a very important priority,” Heather said.
