President Barack Obama established a broad foundation of initiatives, ranging from education-based economic reform to gun control in his fifth State of the Union Address Tuesday, which drew mixed responses from University of Wisconsin-Madison’s two college party chairs.
Obama touched on higher education early in the address, asking Congress to pursue initiatives to provide students and families a ranking for how efficiently colleges are operating. The government will use these rankings to give those schools that have the best value the most federal aid. He said his administration would also compile the rankings in a “College Scorecard,” which would tell the students and families where they could “get the most bang for their buck.”
“I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid,” Obama said.
Chris Hoffman, chair of the UW-Madison College Democrats, said Obama’s higher education plans would help colleges and universities receive funding they deserve, and the president’s value ranking system would fit well with UW-Madison.
“I think he talked specifically to UW being that we are one of the best values in education,” Hoffman said.
But Jeff Snow, chair of the UW-Madison College Republicans, said Obama’s higher education initiatives would be ineffective, citing already high tuition costs under Obama’s tenure.
“[Obama] has no credibility on the issue of higher education,” Snow said. “Tuition under him has increased steadily. [His administration doesn’t] address the problems and they can’t solve the problems of rising tuition costs at public universities like we are at right now.”
The president also emphasized health care and implementing his Affordable Care Act as an important issue facing the country. But in Wisconsin, Walker has said he would choose not to receive any federal funds coming form Obamacare.
Snow said Walker’s decision was likely prompted by the that fact federal money often comes with “a lot of strings attached” and can leave states responsible for payments if federal funds run out. However, Hoffman said he would wait to see if Walker would take a “hands off” stance on federal health care initiatives in the state.
After pushing for clean energy, immigration reform and foreign policy moves, including a promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year, Obama ended his speech on voting reform and gun control. He said Congress needs to pursue gun control initiatives, such as increased background checks with gun sales and the elimination of guns with “massive” ammunition magazines from city streets.
