United States President Barack Obama told student reporters Monday morning that the country has ‘fallen behind’ in higher education.
Post-secondary education was the focus of an Oval Office press conference for student reporters.
The president gave his own introductory remarks before answering questions from four student journalists from around the country.
‘In a single generation we’ve fallen from first to 12th in college graduation rates for young adults,’ Obama said in his opening remarks. ‘If we’re serious about building a stronger economy and making sure we succeed in the 21st century, then the single most important step we can take is to make sure that every young person gets the best education possible.’
In his introduction, he also highlighted reforms of the student loan system, as well as part of the health care legislation that permits young adults to stay on their parents’ health care plans until they find a job that provides health care.
He also pointed out that starting in 2014, college graduates will be able to cap their student debt at 10 percent of their salary.
Colin Daileda of The Tartan, the student newspaper at Radford University in Virginia, asked about the financial future of the current generation of college students.
‘Some of my professors call our generation the ‘lost generation’ because we’re going to get out of school with a ton of debt due to student loans,’ Daileda said. ‘Do you think there’s some truth to that? And do you think it will take a longer time than usual for our generation to get on our feet?’
Obama said he thought this generation would be fine. He noted that even an unemployment rate of over nine percent means that nine out of 10 people who want a job have one.
‘If you are getting a college degree, if you’ve got skills in math and science or good, sound communication skills, there are still jobs out there even in a tough environment,’ he said.
Several times during the conference, the president emphasized that college students should pursue those majors that will best prepare them for high-demand jobs.
He said one of his priorities is to ‘make sure that we’re giving young people a better sense of what jobs are out there in the future so that people end up gravitating toward the skills and the degrees that they need to get employed.’
Obama also addressed the rapidly increasing price of higher education. He said that only the cost of health care is rising faster than the cost of higher education.
He pointed to increasingly elaborate facilities as one of the culprits of increasing costs.
‘I look at the athletic facilities that exist these days, or the food courts or the other things that have to do with the quality of life at universities,’ he said. ‘Somebody has to pay for that.’
Obama closed with a call to students to vote in November’s midterm elections. He said that though students may worry about their job prospects or about the state of the economy nationwide, the upcoming elections provide a way for students to take a stake in the future of their country.
‘I want everybody to be well-informed and to participate,’ he said. ‘If you do, then I feel very optimistic about the country’s future.’
He also took a critical stance against Republicans, a marked shift from his 2008 campaign rhetoric.
‘The Republicans put out their Pledge to America that says we’re going to give $4 trillion worth of tax breaks, $700 billion of those going to millionaires and billionaires,’ he said. ‘And to even pay for part of that, we’re going to cut all the improvements that we just talked about making on student loans, so that 8 million young people would see less support on student loans. We’d cut back our education assistance through the higher education by 20 percent. Well, that’s a big choice. That has big consequences.’
The president also answered questions from a student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he will be travelling to on Tuesday, as well as a student from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, where Vice President Joe Biden will be visiting on Tuesday.