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State of the Union: Obama Pushes for College Affordability

Tuesday night, President Barack Obama delivered his annual State of the Union address to members of Congress and one of the issues he commented on was the state of higher education.

“Higher education can’t be a luxury,” President Obama said, warning colleges and universities. “If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down.”

Among some of his proposed ideas to keep college affordable, Obama called on Congress to keep interest rates down on subsidized federal student loans, make more work-study jobs available for students who are paying their own tuition, and permanently extend a tuition tax credit that pays up to $10,000 over four years. Each of these ideas are focused on boosting the current economy and keeping college within reach for middle-class families.

According to The Huffington Post, the President will be discussing college affordability in greater detail during his trip to Michigan on Friday.

Alexandra is a graduate from the University of New Hampshire and the current Assistant Digital Editor at Martha Stewart Living. As a journalism student, she worked as the Director of UNH’s Student Press Organization (SPO) and on staff for four student publications on her campus. In the summer of 2010, she studied abroad at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, in England, where she drank afternoon tea and rode the Tube (but sadly no, she did not meet Prince Harry). Since beginning her career, her written work has appeared in USA Today College, Huffington Post, Northshore, and MarthaStewart.com, among others. When not in the office, she can be found perusing travel magazines to plan her next trip, walking her two dogs (both named Rocky), or practicing ballet. Chat with her on Twitter @allie_churchill.