As part of his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Obama focused on increasing college access and maintaining tuition affordability. Obama praised community colleges and their ability to train the workforce of the future, and called for greater partnerships between two-year colleges and industry.  Obama also focused on college affordability concerns amidst nationwide cuts to state higher education budgets and skyrocketing tuition. The President urged Congress to prevent an increase in student loan interest rates and make the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent.  Federal interest rates on student loans are slated to double, from 3.4% to 6.8% this July.

Obama also called on states and institutions to control higher education costs, suggesting that future federal aid funds could be tied to the ability of states, colleges and universities to keep tuition rates down. "It’s not enough for us to increase student aid,” he said. “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.” President Kevin Kopischke of Alexandria Technical College attended the State of the Union speech as a guest of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “The state must continue to invest in higher education,” Kopischke said in response to President Obama's address, “We’ve lost a lot of dollars in the last five years.”

President Obama covered many of these topic areas in a speech he delivered at the University of Michigan last Friday. Click here to watch excerpts of the speech. And click here to read an article from CNN on the President's plan.