Students at the AU College Democrats State of the Union Watch Party Jan. 24 were ecstatic when Obama condemned rising education costs and increasing student loan interest rates.
“Of course, it’s not enough for us to increase student aid,” Obama said in his speech. “We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of money. States also need to do their part by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down.”
At that last line, the Tavern erupted in applause, even while the members of Congress present at the speech were silent.
“That really resonated with a lot of American University students who are struggling to stay in this great school,” said Lee Gochman, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs.
Obama went on to put colleges and universities “on notice.”
“If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down,” Obama said.
His State of the Union focused on a number of education topics, including increasing work-study opportunities and compulsory high school education.
Obama said early in his speech that high schools should mandate students remain enrolled until they graduate or are 18 years old. State requirements currently vary from 16 to 18.
AU students also gave Obama a rigorous round of applause for his mentions of:
• the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,
• equal pay in the workplace,
• and immigration reform and the DREAM Act.
Randy Mielecki, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and a self-described fiscally conservative Democrat, said he was skeptical of some of Obama’s proposals, which included raising taxes on the wealthy.
“I take issue with some of that, but at the same time I think that it was a good speech,” said
Gochman and Tripp Frank, a freshman in SPA, applauded Obama’s efforts to be bipartisan.
“He’s an excellent speaker, and when he’s on, he’s unbelievable,” Frank said.
