Rob Horowitz: Obama Uses Bully Pulpit to Take on Rising College Costs
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
President Obama’s emphasis on putting the brakes on the steadily rising cost of college in last week’s State of the Union address was a good use of the “Bully Pulpit.”, even-though his proposal to tie some federal higher education aid to the ability to provide more affordable tuition is unlikely to move in Congress this year.
At a follow-up event at the University of Michigan, highlighting his college affordability proposals, President Obama said, “We are putting colleges on notice. You can’t assume that you will just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down.”
Rapidly increasing college costs-- well-exceeding the rate of inflation-- are putting college out of reach for too many Americans as well as driving up the amount of debt students incur. Tuition at four year public universities has doubled over the past twenty years and students now graduate from college owing an average of $24,000 in student loans. Here in Rhode Island, the Board of Governors recently raised tuition for URI by nearly 10% and research on why people fail to graduate from URI reveals that rising costs are a major factor.
In today’s highly competitive global economy, a college education is a major key to being ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow. Unemployment among college graduates is only 4.1%--less than half the national average and college graduates earn substantially more than high school graduates over the course of a lifetime. The United States” ability to boost the percentage of its workforce that has graduated from college is an essential component of ensuring our national competitiveness.
President Obama’s proposal to use the leverage of federal higher education aid to put colleges on notice that they must get costs under control is a sensible and overdue one.
The President’s proposal starts small with using only $10 billion in specific campus based aid, which is a small percentage of about $152 billion of federal grants and loans that are generally distributed each year. His proposal also contains some incentives including a $1 billion in Race-to-the-Top awards to encourage states to use their higher education dollars more productively.
Appealing to Young Voters
Given the lobbying power of colleges and universities and the present gridlock in Congress, these proposals are unlikely to be adopted any time soon. Still, by using the power that only the President has to put issues on the national agenda, colleges and universities are now put on notice that it is time to take action to bring college costs under control. For example, colleges and universities must learn how to use advances in technology such the internet to maintain quality and reduce costs in much the same way the rest of our enterprises have done.
And one of the President’s ideas, a “College Scorecard” for all degree granting institutions, which can be implemented without Congressional approval, will provide the impetus to drives colleges to implement long-overdue innovations.. The scorecard would rate colleges on affordability, and over-all value. Over time, these ratings could cause colleges to focus on costs in much the same way moving up in the US News & World Report ratings now drive decisions by College Presidents.
President Obama’s proposals to hold down the cost of college are also clearly good election year politics—appealing to young voters who need to be re-energized and reinforcing his message of fighting for the middle class. Still, sustained attention for this issue--the kind of attention only a President can attract--can produce real results.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
If you valued this article, please LIKE GoLocalProv.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.
Related Articles
- Rob Horowitz: Gingrich Back in Driver’s Seat
- Rob Horowitz: Obama Still the Favorite in November
- Rob Horowitz: RI Leads the Way on Pension Reform
- Rob Horowitz: Give Municipalities the Ability to Act on Retiree COLAs
- Rob Horowitz: Obama Uses Bully Pulpit to Take on Rising College Costs
- Rob Horowitz: Republican Presidential Nomination Contest Remains Wide Open
- Rob Horowitz: Important Lessons for Occupy Movement
- Rob Horowitz: Occupy Wall Street Should Look to MLK
- Rob Horowitz: The Santorum Moment
- Rob Horowitz: It’s Time to Create A National Infrastructure Bank
- Rob Horowitz: Pension Reform Poised for Adoption
- Rob Horowitz: Chafee Does the Right Thing on In-State Tuition
- Rob Horowitz: Newt Bucks the Conservative Tide On Immigration
- Rob Horowitz: Pension Reform is a Political Winner
- Rob Horowitz: Cicilline, Obama will Win in 2012
- Rob Horowitz: Newt Bucks the Conservative Tide On Immigration
- Rob Horowitz: Perry Hurt By Debate Performances
- Rob Horowitz: Civility Needed in Cranston
- Rob Horowitz: North Providence Must Reverse New Swearing-in Policy
- Rob Horowitz: Potential New Life for Campaign Finance Reform
- Rob Horowitz: Climate Change Put on the Back-Burner
- Rob Horowitz: Obama Jobs Speech Resets the Table
- Rob Horowitz: Public Employee Unions Losing Pension Battle
