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Obama: College ‘surest ticket’ to middle class
The Hill ^ | March 14, 2015 | Mark Hensch

Posted on 03/14/2015 5:18:15 AM PDT by maggief

President Obama on Saturday urged Americans to sign his new “Student Aid Bill of Rights” and collectively work towards reducing the cost of higher education.

“In an economy increasingly built on innovation, the most important skill you can sell is your knowledge,” Obama said in his weekly address Saturday. “That’s why higher education is, more than ever, the surest ticket to the middle class.”

“But just when it’s never been more important, it’s also never been more expensive,” he added. “The average undergrad who borrows to pay for college ends up graduating with about $28,000 in student loan debt.”

The president touted several of his initiatives aimed at lowering that price tag. He cited expanding tax credits, giving more Pell Grants, reforming student loan programs and pushing for free community college as examples of progress. Despite these, Obama said, such measures were not enough.

“But all of us — elected officials, universities, business leaders — everybody needs to do more to bring down college costs,” he said. “Which is why this week, I unveiled another way that we can help more Americans afford college. It doesn’t involve any new spending or bureaucracy. It’s a simple declaration of values — what I call a ‘Student Aid Bill of Rights.’ ”

Obama said the document lists four principles. It starts by saying every student deserves access to a “quality, affordable education.”

From there, it states students who take out loans should have access to “resources to pay for college” and an “affordable repayment plan.”

Finally, it said borrowers deserve “quality customer service,” “reliable information” and “fair treatment” during the repayment process.

The president asked Americans to sign his new declaration and then share it with as many friends, family members and students as possible.

“In America, a higher education cannot be a privilege reserved for only the few,” Obama said. “It has to be available to everybody who’s willing to work for it.”

The “Student Aid Bill of Rights” is available at WhiteHouse.gov/CollegeOpportunity.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
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To: FrdmLvr
"Government is never more dangerous than when our desire to have it help us blinds us to its great power to harm us."
- Ronald Reagan
41 posted on 03/14/2015 6:18:00 AM PDT by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: PGalt
Surest ticket to debt slavery, marxist indoctrination and hangovers for too many.

"What is college?"

Correct!, for $400.

42 posted on 03/14/2015 6:18:51 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: maggief

No, the lack of government MEDDLING is the surest ticket.

Obama knows soooo little.


43 posted on 03/14/2015 6:18:54 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: maggief

No, the lack of government MEDDLING is the surest ticket.

Obama knows soooo little.


44 posted on 03/14/2015 6:19:47 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: DoodleDawg

“And those opportunities have been pretty much gutted by offshoring much of our manufacturing.”

You forgot the end of that sentence...’due to outrageous demands and work rules imposed by unions.’


45 posted on 03/14/2015 6:20:19 AM PDT by Beagle8U (NOTICE : Unattended children will be given Coffee and a Free Puppy.)
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To: maggief

Scott Walker doing pretty good without your precious 4 year degree. In fact, when he is POTUS, he will demonstrate how common sense and Christian morality trump your commie education and your Islamic values.


46 posted on 03/14/2015 6:22:43 AM PDT by Awgie (truth is always stranger than fiction)
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To: Bryanw92
The professor teaches “Question Authority”, but you are NEVER to question her authority!

You will enjoy this. The true purpose of schooling, as explained by a former NY State Teacher of the Year.

The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher

47 posted on 03/14/2015 6:24:47 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: maggief

yeah, nothing screams middle class America quite like a degree in transgender pottery with a 250 thousand dollar student loan debt.....


48 posted on 03/14/2015 6:26:22 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: cripplecreek

Cripple Creek, you are right as usual. Now a BA or even most BSs may get you a middle class job. At one time either darn near guaranteed your entry into the upper middle class or even the upper class.
As for those tradesmen and makers jobs, there is not near enough people to fill them, therefore most tradesmen move pretty quickly into the upper middle class. With all those near worthless college diplomas, we no longer have people who can fix anything.
Think back 30+ years; Did you ever hear of a trade called “Handyman”? I was damn near 70 years old before I hired anyone to make repairs to my house or vehicles. Now days a “handyman” can make a pretty darned good living.


49 posted on 03/14/2015 6:27:14 AM PDT by Tupelo (I feel more like Philip Nolan by the day)
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To: Sirius Lee

The college industry is not going to like this.


50 posted on 03/14/2015 6:29:32 AM PDT by ncpatriot
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To: maggief

So how was Obama able to pay for his educational expenses? For someone who often personalizes his political views and lectures us on the topic of student aid, he sure neglects to mention how he was able to fund his own education. He is reticent on the matter.


51 posted on 03/14/2015 6:33:15 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: Le Chien Rouge

Having a sheepskin may offer entry job opportunities early on in one’s career but you’re right, after that its not so much what you know as what you produce that allows you to enter the middle class. A degree is an accomplishment, but its just one accomplishment in a long string of producing results and achieving outcomes that matter that propel your career. Production in any field generally leads to success.


52 posted on 03/14/2015 6:39:26 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: maggief

Why do they deserve it?


53 posted on 03/14/2015 7:00:49 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Tupelo

I don’t believe my great great grandfather ever held a “job” in the sense we think of today. He was primarily a farmer to feed his family. During the winters he logged his land to produce lumber for his own use and to sell. He also spent his winter nights making furniture to sell.

My great grandfather did draw a paycheck in his youth but he was mostly a contractor. After WWI he was a surveyor in Michigan’s upper peninsula for putting power lines in. When he finished mapping the route he went back to the starting point and became a lineman. When that was done he came south and became an electrician doing everything from hanging the wires to wiring homes.


54 posted on 03/14/2015 7:01:02 AM PDT by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: lepton

Spot on.


55 posted on 03/14/2015 7:01:16 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: grania

The solution comes from getting the government out of the education business. Same thing with health care. Government creates a problem and then comes along to fix it, thus creating a new problem.


56 posted on 03/14/2015 7:03:36 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Our man in washington

Did you find any very good videos or playlists for statistics and would you share the links? I have the same need.


57 posted on 03/14/2015 7:06:45 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: john mirse

The media fully vetted Obama back in 2007-8. Plus the Illinois media carefully scrutinized his background as a state legislator and during his run for the Senate. They grilled him as if he were a GOP candidate named Jack Ryan. I mean they really dug into his past, including suing to get sealed records opened. All for the public good.


58 posted on 03/14/2015 7:09:55 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Beagle8U

Skip all that. Get government out of the education business all together. Their record is of failure, not success.

Last night I listened to a Dem committeeman opine about how a charter school started up and took all the smart kids. Now the poor public school teachers, with all their certificates and degrees in education, were stuck with the dummies. These kids couldn’t read or do math. Go figure.


59 posted on 03/14/2015 7:12:00 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

John Taylor Gatto would be the NYT bestselling author, on every news show and media outlet in America if he were a transvestite teacher, but no he had to go and point out that the education establishment is creating idiots and he started doing that over 35 years ago, IIRC.


60 posted on 03/14/2015 7:13:55 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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