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Obama Leads to Curb Tuition Costs

President Obama has announced a plan to increase the federal tuition loan fund, double the amount of work-study programs and create incentive programs to drive down tuition costs.

What’s the Latest Development?

President Obama announced his plan to help young people and families afford college today by increasing the amount of federal loan money available, doubling the number of work-study programs and creating an incentive program to reward universities for keeping tuition costs in check. To better inform families and prospective students, “the president said he wants to create a ‘college scoreboard,’ giving families easy-to-read information about individual college costs and graduation rates.”

What’s the Big Idea?

Obama says that a college education is not a luxury. That means two things. Firstly, it means that everyone who truly wants to attend college should be able to afford to. Currently, they cannot. Over the last decade, tuition at public colleges rose by an inflation-adjust 37 percent. To say that college is not a luxury also means that enrollment should not be an exercises in conspicuous consumption, replete with all the facilities of an ostentatious country club. Values emphasized in the classroom should be taken seriously by college boards.

Photo credit: shutterstock.com

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