Remarks by the President in Town Hall at Binghamton University

Binghamton University
Binghamton, New York

12:48 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Binghamton!  (Applause.)  It is good to see all of you.  Thank you so much.  Now, go ahead and have a seat -- I'm going to be here a while.  (Laughter.) 

Well, first of all, let me thank the university and your president, Harvey Stenger, for having me here today.  Give your president a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  There he is.    A couple other people I want to recognize -- Mayor Matt Ryan is here.  (Applause.)  Two wonderful Congressmen -- Richard Hanna and Paul Tonko.  (Applause.)  Your former Representative, Maurice Hinchey, is here as well.  (Applause.) 

So, first of all, thank you, because it’s really nice outside, so for you to be willing to come inside, I greatly appreciate.  And I'm not going to do a lot of talking at the top because I want to have a conversation with you about a range of issues, but in particular, something that is personal for me. 

A lot of you know that I wasn’t born into a lot of wealth or fame, there wasn’t a long Obama dynasty.  And so the only reason I'm here today, the only reason Michelle and I have been able to accomplish what we accomplished is because we got a great education.  And I think the essence of the American Dream is that anybody who’s willing to work hard is able to get that good education and achieve their dreams.

And central to that is the issue that -- you’ve got a big sign there -- we try to message effectively -- (laughter) -- College Affordability -- making sure that people can afford to go to college.

I’m on a road trip from New York to Pennsylvania.  Yesterday I was at the University of Buffalo.  I visited students at Syracuse.  Later today, I’m going to meet Joe Biden in Scranton, his hometown.  But I decided to stop here for a couple of reasons.  Number one, I've been told that it’s very important for me to get a spiedies while I'm here.  (Laughter and applause.)  So we're going to pick one up and try it on the road.  Number two, I’m excited because of the great work that SUNY campuses like Binghamton are doing to keep costs down for hardworking students like so many of you. 

Chancellor Zimpher is making sure that hundreds of thousands of SUNY students all across the state are getting a world-class higher education but without some of the debt and financial burden that is stopping too many young people from going to college.  And that’s what we want for all of our students and all of our families all across the country.

Over the past month, I’ve been visiting towns throughout America, and I've talked about how do we secure a better bargain for the middle class and everybody who’s trying to work their way into the middle class. 

We've fought our way through a very brutal recession, and now we're at a point where we're creating jobs, the economy is growing, budget deficits are falling, health care inflation has been reduced.  And yet there are still a lot of working families out there who are having a tough time in this competitive global economy that we live in. 

And the fact is even before this last financial crisis, we had increasingly an economy where folks at the top were doing better and better and better, but the average individual or family was seeing their incomes and their wages flat-lining.  And you start getting a tale of two Americas.  And the whole premise of upward mobility in this country, which is central to who we understand ourselves to be, was being diminished for too many people.  So, from my perspective, reversing that trend should be Washington’s highest priority.  It’s certainly my highest priority. 

Unfortunately, what we've seen in Washington all too often is, instead of focusing on how do we bring good middle-class jobs back to America, how do we make sure the economy is growing robustly and that growth is broad-based, we've been spending a lot of time arguing about whether we should be paying our bills that we've already accrued.  Or the discussion has been about slashing spending on education and basic research and science -- all the things that are going to make sure that we remain competitive for the future. 

Most recently, there’s been threats that we would shut down the government unless we agree to roll back the health care reform that's about to provide millions of Americans with health care coverage for the first time.  And that’s not an economic plan.  That's not going to grow the economy.  That's not going to strengthen the middle class and it’s not going to create ladders of opportunity into the middle class. 

What we need to do is focus on the pocketbook, bread-and-butter issues that affect all of you -- making sure we've got good jobs with good wages; a good education; a home of your own; affordable health care; a secure retirement; and a way for people who are currently in poverty to get out of poverty.  That's what we should be spending our time thinking about when it comes to domestic policy.  That’s what’s always made America great.  And nothing is more important to that process than what we're doing in terms of K through 12 education and higher education. 

Now, here’s the challenge:  At the time when higher education has never been more important -- and when I say higher education I mean two-year, four-year, technical colleges -- it doesn’t all have to be four-year, traditional bachelor of arts or sciences -- at a time when that's never been more important, college has never been more expensive. 

And in fact, what you’ve seen is, is that over the last three decades, the cost of higher education has gone up 260 percent, at a time when family incomes have gone up about 18 percent.  So I'm not a math major -- there are probably some here -- but if you’ve got one line going up 260 percent and another line going up 16 percent, you start getting a bigger and bigger gap.  And what’s happened as a consequence is that either college has become out of reach for too many people, or young people are being loaded up with more and more debt. 

Now, we've tried to close that gap.  When I came into office, we reformed our financial aid system, so the student loan programs were being run through banks and banks were making billions of dollars on it, and we said let’s just give the money directly to students, cut out the middleman.  And we then were able to re-funnel billions of dollars to provide more students with more grants and more assistance.  We've done our best to keep interest rates on student loans as low as possible.

But even with all the work that we're doing there, the fact is the average student is still coming out with $26,000 worth of debt when they graduate.  And for a lot of students it's much more than that.  And particularly, for those young people who are choosing careers where -- like teaching, where they may not make a lot of money, if they're burdened with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, in some cases it's impossible for them ever to pay it off -- or they have to put off buying a home, or starting a business, or starting a family.  And that has a depressive effect on our economy overall.  So it's not just bad for the students, it's also bad for the economy as a whole.

The bottom line is this:  We can't price higher education so prohibitively that ordinary families can't afford it.  That will ruin our chances to make sure the 21st century is the American Century just like the 20th century was. 

So what we've done -- and I announced this yesterday -- is propose three basic reforms to try to shake the system up. 

Number one, we want to start rating colleges based on how well they're doing in providing good value and opportunity for students.  I mean, right now you've got a bunch of ranking systems, some of them commercial, and when you look at what's being rated it's typically how selective the schools are, how few students they take in, and how expensive they are and what are their facilities like.  And what we want to do is to start looking at factors like how much debt do students leave with, and do they actually graduate, and do they graduate in four years as opposed to six or eight or 10, and do they find a job after they graduate -- giving some concrete measures that will allow students and families to gauge if I go to this school, am I going to get a good deal. 

And since taxpayers are often providing those families and students assistance, we want to make sure taxpayers are getting a good deal as well.  And that will create an atmosphere in which college presidents and trustees start thinking about affordability and don't just assume that tuition can keep on going up and up and up. 

Now, what we're also going to be doing is putting pressure on state legislatures to rebalance, because part of the reason so many state universities have had to increase tuition is because state legislative priorities have shifted all across the country -- more money into prisons, less money into schools.  That means that costs are passed on to students in the form of higher tuition.  So we've got to do something about that.

And we're also going to ask a little more from students.  What we're going to say to students is you need to actually finish courses before you take out more loans and more grants.  And we want to say that to students not to be punitive, but instead, to prevent a situation where students end up taking out a lot of debt but never actually getting the degree, which puts them in a deeper financial hole than they otherwise would be. 

So that's point number one.  Second, we want to jumpstart competition among colleges and states to think of more innovative ways to reduce costs.  And there are schools that are doing some terrific work in reducing costs while maintaining high-quality education.  So, for example, there are some schools that are experimenting where you can get credits based on your competency, as opposed to how much time you're spending in the classroom. 

There's no law that says you have to graduate -- that for you to be in school for four years rather than three or three and a half somehow automatically gives you a better education.  And so, schools are experimenting with how can we compress the time and thereby reduce the costs.  Are there ways that we can use online learning to improve the educational quality and, at the same time, make things a little cheaper for students?

So we're going to work with states, schools, university presidents to see what's working and what's not.  And let's spread best practices all across the country.

And then the third thing we want to do is to is to expand and better advertise a program that we put in place and expanded when I came into office, and that is a program that says for college graduates who do have debt we're going to cap the monthly payments that you have to make to 10 percent of your income.

And the notion is that that way it’s manageable, and you're not going to have to make career decisions simply based on how much money can I make to pay off those student loans.  If I want to be a teacher, if I want to be a social worker, if I want to go into public service, then I can do that and I’m still going to be able to act responsibly and pay off my debt.

We already have that program in place, but it’s not as widely known as it needs to be, and not as many young people are eligible for it as we want them to be.  So we’re going to work to improve on that front.

Bottom line is we need to stop taking the same business-as-usual approach when it comes to college education.  Not all the reforms that we’re proposing are going to be popular.  There are some who are benefitting from the status quo.  There will be some resistance.  There’s going to have to be a broad-based conversation, but part of our goal here is to stir a conversation because the current path that we’re on is unsustainable.  And it’s my basic belief and I suspect the belief of most people here, higher education shouldn’t be a luxury.  It’s an economic necessity in this knowledge-based economy.  And we want to make sure that every family in America can afford it.  (Applause.)

So I’m interested if you guys have other ideas -- if you have other ideas about things that we should be looking at, we want to hear them.  And that's part of the purpose of this town hall discussion.  I’m interested in hearing your stories, getting your questions.  And this will be a pretty informal affair -- well, as informal as it gets when the President comes -- (laughter) -- and there are a bunch of cameras everywhere.

So with that, I’d just like to start the discussion.  And what I’m going to do is I’m just going to call on folks.  Just raise your hand.  I would ask you to stand up, introduce yourself.  There are people with mics and they’ll bring the mic to you.  And I’m going to go girl, boy, girl, boy, to make sure that it’s fair.  (Laughter.)  All right? 

So we’ll start with this young lady right here in the striped top.

Q    Thank you.  It’s an honor to have you here today.

THE PRESIDENT:  Hold on a second.  I think -- here we go.

Q    Thank you.  It’s an honor to have you here today, Mr. President.  I’m from the Decker School of Nursing here, which is an outstanding school of nursing that has excellent outcomes.

My question today is, because advanced practice nurses, primarily nurse practitioners and nurse midwives, have such an outstanding reputation, we have good outcomes.  And the Affordable Care Act is ready to be rolled out soon.  Nurse practitioners and advanced practice nurses are in an excellent position to really serve vulnerable populations and people who don't have care.  I’m wondering if there’s any provisions within your educational act that would support health care workers and nurse practitioners to create a sustainable workforce that would be able to support caring for people as we roll out the Affordable Care Act.

THE PRESIDENT:  It is a great question.  Now, first of all, let me -- without buttering you up -- I love nurses.  (Laughter.) Michelle and I have been blessed, we haven’t been sick too much, but -- knock on wood.  But every interaction we’ve had at the hospital, the doctors are wonderful and we appreciate them, but I know when Malia and Sasha were being born, we spent 90 percent of the time with the nurses and 10 percent with the OB/GYN.  When my grandmother got sick and was passing away at the end, it was nurses who were caring for her in an incredible compassionate but also professional way.

And you’re absolutely right that one of the keys to reducing our health care costs overall is recognizing the incredible value of advanced practice nurses and giving them more responsibilities because there’s a lot of stuff they can do in a way that, frankly, is cheaper than having a doctor do it, but the outcomes are just as good.

The challenge we have is we still have a nursing shortage in too many parts of the country.  My understanding -- you probably know this better than I do -- part of the problem is, is that too many professors of nursing or instructors in nursing are getting paid less than actual nurses.  So what ends up happening is we don't have enough slots in some of the nursing schools.  That may not be true here, but there are parts of the country where that's true. 

So we have to upgrade a little bit the schools of nursing and make sure that they're properly resourced so that we have enough instructors.  And, in fact, as part of the Affordable Care Act, one of the things that we thought about was how are we going to expand and improve the number of nurses and making sure that they can actually finance their educations.  And so there are some special programs for nurses who are committing themselves -- as well as doctors who are committing themselves -- to serving in underserved communities.  And we will be happy to get that information to the school of nursing here.

One other element to this that I think is really interesting -- we’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about making sure that our veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are getting the opportunities they need.  So we instituted something called the Post-9/11 GI Bill that provides the same kind of support that my grandfather got when he came back from World War II. 

And the young people who have served in our armed forces just do extraordinary work.  One of the problems, though, is, is that they don’t always get credit for the skills that they already possess when they come home.  So one -- and we've got a gentleman here who's a veteran.  And one great example actually is in the medical profession -- when you get medics coming back who served in the worst possible circumstances, out in theater, having to make life-or-death decisions -- I met a young man up in Minnesota.  He had come back, wanted to continue to pursue his career and become a professional nurse, and he was having to start from scratch, taking the equivalent of Nursing 101. 

And what we're trying to do is to make sure that states and institutions of higher learning recognize some of the skills, because as we bring more and more of our veterans home -- we'll be ending the war in Afghanistan by the end of next year -- we want to make sure that those folks have the opportunity to succeed here in America.  (Applause.)  Great question, though.

All right.  It's a guy's turn.  Right here, yes.  Hold on, let's get a mic all the way to the back.

Q    Hello, Mr. President.  I'm glad for you to come to Binghamton University.  I'm the director of Rainbow Pride Union here, and it's the largest LGBT organization on campus.  And my main concern is that I know a lot of stories of people who are LGBT who come out to their parents, and their parents are supporting them financially for college, and when they come out their parents cut out that support.  I was wondering if maybe in the future part of your affordability for college would be able to include LGBT people.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, the programs that we have in place don’t discriminate and shouldn’t discriminate.  And the good news is I think the phenomenon that you just described is likely to happen less and less and less with each successive year.  I mean, think about the incredible changes that have been made just over the last decade,  DOMA is gone.  "Don't ask, don't tell" is gone.  But more importantly, people's hearts and minds have changed.  And I think that’s reflective of parents as well. 

That doesn’t mean that there aren't still going to be struggles internally, but I think, more and more, what we recognize is, is that just as we judge people on -- should judge people on the basis of their character, and not their color or religion or gender, the same is true for their sexual orientation.

So I don’t suspect that we'll have special laws pertaining to young people who are cut off from support by their parents because their parents hadn't gotten to the place I think they should be when it comes to loving and supporting their kids regardless of who they are, but we are going to make sure that all young people get the support that they need so that if their parents aren't willing to provide them support, and they're functionally independent, that they're able to still go to college and succeed.  All right?

Right here, in the Obama t-shirt.  (Laughter.)  You know, so if you -- here's a general rule in the presidential town hall:  If you want to get called on, wear the President's face on your shirt.  (Laughter.) 

Q    Good afternoon, President Obama.  I'm a graduate student in the College of Community and Public Affairs.  I study student affairs administration.  With that being said, as we're all students, we know how vital it is to have a good foundation in our education. How does your administration plan to address the major budget cuts that are happening with Head Start schools around the U.S.?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, this is a great question.  And this will be a major topic over the next several months.  First of all, I want to expand early childhood education so that it's accessible for every young person in America.  (Applause.) 

And I talked about this in my State of the Union address.  It is just common sense.  We know, study after study has shown that the biggest bang for the buck that we get when it comes to education is to invest early. 

If we get 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds well prepared when they start school that momentum continues.  If they start behind, too often they stay behind.  Kids are resilient and they can make up for some tough stuff early on in life, but it's a lot harder for them than if we get them young. 

In fact, studies have shown that there’s some very smart programs out there where you identify low-income single moms in the maternity ward, and nurses talk to them immediately not just about the health of their child, but also parenting, and create a little packet with some books and some toys, and talk about engagement and expanding vocabulary.  All that can make a difference.  And high-quality early childhood education can continue that process so that by the time the kid starts school, they know their colors, they know their letters.  They're ready to go. 

Now, unfortunately, right now the federal budget generally has been a political football in Washington.  Partly, this came out of the financial crisis.  We had a terrible crisis.  We had to immediately pump money into the system to prevent a great depression.  So we cut taxes for middle-class families.  We initiated programs to rebuild our roads and our bridges.  We helped states so that they wouldn't have to lay off as many teachers and firefighters and police officers.  And that's part of the reason why we avoided a depression, although we still had a terrible recession.

But the combination of increased spending and less revenue meant that the deficit went up.  And by the time the Republicans took over the House in 2011, they had made this a major issue.  And, understandably, a lot of families said, well, we're having to tighten our belts -- the federal government should, too.  Although, part of what you want the federal government to do when everybody else is having a hard time is to make sure that you're providing additional support.

As the economy has improved, the deficit has gone down.  It's now dropped at the fastest rate in 60 years.  I want to repeat that, because a lot of people think that -- if you ask the average person what's happening with the deficit, they'd tell you it's going up.  The deficit has been cut in half since 2009 and is on a downward trajectory.  (Applause.)  And it's gone down faster than any time since World War II. 

So we don't have a problem in terms of spending on education.  We don't have a problem when it comes to spending on research and development.  We do have a long-term problem that has to do with our health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid.  The good news is, is that in part because of the Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- costs have actually gone down -- health care inflation has gone down to the slowest rate that we've seen in a long time.

So we're starting to get health care costs under control.  We'll still have to make some modifications when it comes to our long-term entitlement program so that they're there for young people here when they are ready for retirement. 

But we don't have an urgent deficit crisis.  The only crisis we have is one that's manufactured in Washington, and it's ideological.  And the basic notion is, is that we shouldn't be helping people get health care, and we shouldn't be helping kids who can't help themselves and whose parents are under-resourced  -- we shouldn't be helping them get a leg up.  And so some of the proposals we've seen now are talking about even deeper cuts in programs like Head Start; even deeper cuts in education support; even deeper cuts in basic science and research.

And that's like eating your corn seed.  It's like being pennywise and pound-foolish.  Because if young people aren't succeeding, if we're not spending on research and maintaining our technological edge, if we're not upgrading our roads and our bridges and our transportation systems and our infrastructure -- all things that we can afford to do right now and should be doing right now, and would put people to work right now -- if we don’t do those things, then 20 years from now, 30 years from now we will have fallen further and further behind.

So when we get back to Washington -- when Congress gets back to Washington, this is going to be a major debate.  It's the same debate we've been having for the last two years.  The difference is now deficits are already coming down.  And what we should really be thinking about is how do we grow an economy so that we're creating a growing, thriving middle class, and we're creating more ladders of opportunity for people who are willing to work hard to get into the middle class. 

And my position is going to be that we can have a budget that is sensible, that doesn’t spend on programs that don’t work, but does spend wisely on those things that are going to help ordinary people succeed.  All right?  Good.

Let's see.  It is a gentleman's turn.  This gentleman right here.  He's had his hand up for a while. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Yay!  (Laughter.) 

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, that settles it.  You have a little cheering section there.  (Laughter.)

Q    Hello, Mr. President.  I'm a faculty member of the computer science department.  I'm very excited and encouraged by your plan on the affordability reform.  My question is related about the quality of future higher education.  As you know, many universities are trying their best to provide the best value by doing better with less.  But the challenges are real, and they're getting tougher and tougher as the budget cuts are getting tougher and tougher.  So my question is what your administration will do to ensure the best American universities remain to be the best in the world in the 21st century?  Thank you. 

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, what's really important is to make sure that we're supporting great teachers.  And since you got an applause line, you must be a pretty good one.  (Laughter.)  And I don’t think that there is a conflict between quality and paying attention to costs as it's affecting students.

Now, I mentioned earlier, one of the big problems that we've seen in public universities is a diminished level of support from states, state legislatures.  And part of what we're going to try to do is to provide more incentives to states to boost the support that they're giving to colleges and universities. 

Traditionally, when you think of the great state university systems, it was because those states understood if we invest in our people we'll have a better-trained workforce, which means companies will want to locate here, which creates a virtuous cycle and everybody benefits. 

But starting, let's say, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, you saw a trend in which state legislatures who were trying to balance their budgets kept on cutting support to state education.  What happened was that -- and I don’t know whether this is true, Mr. President, for SUNY, but around the country, on average, what you've seen is a drop from about 46 percent of the revenues of a public college coming from states down to about 25 percent.  It's almost been cut in half.  And essentially, the only way these schools have figured to make it up is to charge higher tuition. 

So states have to do their jobs.  But what is true also, though, is that universities and faculty need to come up with ways to also cut costs while maintaining quality -- because that’s what we’re having to do throughout our economy.  And sometimes when I talk to college professors -- and, keep in mind, I taught in a law school for 10 years, so I’m very sympathetic to the spirit of inquiry and the importance of not just looking at X’s and O’s and numbers when it comes to measuring colleges.  But what I also know is, is that there are ways we can save money that would not diminish quality. 

This is probably controversial to say, but what the heck, I’m in my second term so I can say it.  (Laughter.)  I believe, for example, that law schools would probably be wise to think about being two years instead of three years -- because by the third year -- in the first two years young people are learning in the classroom.  The third year they’d be better off clerking or practicing in a firm, even if they weren’t getting paid that much.  But that step alone would reduce the cost for the student.

Now, the question is can law schools maintain quality and keep good professors and sustain themselves without that third year.  My suspicion is, is that if they thought creatively about it, they probably could.  Now, if that’s true at a graduate level, there are probably some things that we could do at the undergraduate level as well.

That’s not to suggest that there aren’t some real problems. Colleges, for example, they’ve got health care costs like everybody else.  Personnel is one of the most important -- it’s the biggest cost you’ve got.  And if health care costs to provide insurance for your employees is going up as fast as it’s been going up, that affects folks. 

So our idea is not to just have some cookie-cutter approach that doesn’t take quality into account.  The idea is, understanding we’ve got to maintain high quality, are there ways that we can reorganize schools, use technology, think about what works so that, overall, we’re creating a better value for the student. 

And one of the best things that we could do for students is to make sure that they graduate in a more timely fashion.  And unfortunately, too many young people go to schools where they’re not getting the kind of support and advice on the front end that they need and they drift, and four years, five years, six years into it, they’ve got a bunch of credits but it all doesn’t result in actual graduation.  And then they get discouraged.  And that’s an area where we know we can be making improvement as well.

Okay?  And if you’ve got any other ideas, let me know.  (Applause.)

Let’s get a young person in here.  Right there, yes.

Q    Welcome to Binghamton, President Obama.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thanks.

Q    I’m a doctoral student here as well as a writing instructor at Syracuse University.  And I’m interested in the giving of federal funds to students who are going to for-profit colleges -- or colleges I might even call predatory.  And I’m very conflicted about this issue and so I’d like to hear your insight.  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you probably know more about it than I do since you’ve written about it.  But let me describe for the audience what the challenge is. 

For-profit institutions in a lot of sectors of our lives obviously is the cornerstone of our economy.  And we want to encourage entrepreneurship and new ideas and new approaches and new ways of doing things.  So I’m not against for-profit institutions, generally.  But what you’re absolutely right about is, is that there have been some schools that are notorious for getting students in, getting a bunch of grant money, having those students take out a lot of loans, making big profits, but having really low graduation rates.  Students aren’t getting what they need to be prepared for a particular field.  They get out of these for-profit schools loaded down with enormous debt.  They can’t find a job.  They default.  The taxpayer ends up holding the bag.  Their credit is ruined, and the for-profit institution is making out like a bandit.  That’s a problem.

I was mentioning veterans earlier.  Soldiers and sailors and Marines and Coast Guardsmen, they’ve been preyed upon very badly by some of these for-profit institutions.  And we actually created a special task force inside our consumer advocate protection organization that we set up just to look out for members of the armed forces who were being manipulated.  Because what happened was these for-profit schools saw this Post-9/11 GI Bill, that there was a whole bunch of money that the federal government was committed to making sure that our veterans got a good education, and they started advertising to these young people, signing them up, getting them to take a bunch of loans, but they weren’t delivering a good product.

This goes to, then, the point I made earlier about how we can rate schools.  We’re going to spend some time over the course of the next year talking to everybody -- talking to university professors, talking to faculty members, talking to students, talking to families -- but if we can define some basic parameters of what’s a good value, then it will allow us more effectively to police schools whether they're for-profit or non-for-profit -- because there are some non-for-profit schools, traditional schools that have higher default rates among their graduates than graduation rates -- and be able to say to them, look, either you guys step up and improve, or you’re not going to benefit from federal dollars.  (Applause.)

Because there are a bunch of schools like this one that are doing a good job, and we don't want money being funneled to schools that aren’t doing a good job.  We want to encourage students to be smart shoppers, to be good consumers. 

So there are probably more problems in the for-profit sector on this than there are in the traditional non-for-profit colleges, universities and technical schools, but it’s a problem across the board.  And the way to solve it is to make sure that we’ve got ways to measure what’s happening and we can weed out some of the folks that are engaging in bad practices.

Great question.

All right, this corner of the room has been neglected.  So the gentleman right there, right in the corner there.

Q    Thank you for taking the time to visit Binghamton University.  I’m a sophomore student of Binghamton University.  I am from Turkey and I want to ask something about the international students.  Most of my friends’ families have been facing some hardships to support them financially.  For example, when we consider two Turkish lira equals one American dollar, this situation is getting more important for us.  We think that the most reason of this situation is the high level of payment.  What do you think, and do you have any working about the situation?  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, we’re glad you're here and we hope you’re having a wonderful experience.  One of the great things about American universities is they are magnets for talent from around the world.  And that has enriched us immeasurably.  It enriches us in part because students who come here and study and excel may end up staying here and working and starting businesses, and that's always been part of the American experience, is smart, striving immigrants coming here and succeeding.  And that makes everybody better off -- which is part of the reason why we‘ve got to get immigration reform done so that if we’re taking the time to train a great computer scientist or engineer or entrepreneur, we’re not, then, just sending them back to their country.  Let’s invite them, if they want to stay, to succeed here and start jobs here and create businesses here.  (Applause.) 

Now, obviously, when it comes to federal grants, loans, supports, subsidies that we provide, those are for our citizens. And a lot of Americans are having a tough time affording college, as we talked about, so we can't spread it too thin.  What we can do, though, is to make sure that if tuition is reasonable for all students who enroll, then it makes it easier for international students to come and study here as well. 

So all the things that I talked about before apply to foreign students as well as American students.  We need to make sure that college is affordable, that it's a good value.  The good news is that there are schools out there that are doing a great job already.  And we just need to make sure that we're duplicating some of those best practices across the country.

All right, who's next?  Let's see, it's a young lady's turn, isn't it?  Okay.  Go ahead, right there in the red -- or orange. 

Q    My name is Anne Bailey, and I am a faculty member in the History and Afrikana Studies department here.  And I teach African American history and African diaspora studies.  And tomorrow, I'm going to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.  And I'm going -- and I'm going with my son -- because I'm here, as you said, because of a good education, and that good education became possible because of that faith-inspired movement that really reached such an important milestone 50 years ago. 

And I'm so grateful for the fact that I had that opportunity, and that my son and that these young people will have these opportunities.  But I still kind of wonder where we are now in terms of education and civil rights.  Have we -- where do you think we are?  What do we need to do to kind of make sure that it is education for all, including under-represented groups? That’s just my question.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, 50 years after the March on Washington and the "I Have a Dream Speech," obviously we've made enormous strides.  I'm a testament to it.  You're a testament to it.  The diversity of this room and the students who are here is a testimony to it.  And that impulse towards making sure everybody gets a fair shot is one that found expression in the Civil Rights Movement, but then spread to include Latinos and immigrants and gays and lesbians. 

And what's wonderful to watch is that the younger generation seems -- each generation seems wiser in terms of wanting to treat people fairly and do the right thing and not discriminate.  And that’s a great victory that we should all be very proud of. 

On the other hand, I think what we've also seen is that the legacy of discrimination -- slavery, Jim Crow -- has meant that some of the institutional barriers for success for a lot of groups still exist.  African American poverty in this country is still significantly higher than other groups.  Same is true for Latinos.  Same is true for Native Americans. 

And even if there weren't active discrimination taking place right now -- and obviously, we know that some discrimination still exists, although nothing like what existed 50 years ago -- but let's assume that we eliminated all discrimination magically, with a wand, and everybody had goodness in their heart.  You'd still have a situation in which there are a lot of folks who are poor and whose families have become dysfunctional because of a long legacy of poverty, and live in neighborhoods that are run down and schools that are underfunded and don’t have a strong property tax base.  And it would still be harder for young people born into those communities to succeed than those who were born elsewhere.

So if, in fact, that’s the case -- and that is what I believe -- then it's in all of our interests to make sure that we are putting in place smart policies to give those communities a lift, and to create ladders so that young people in those communities can succeed. 

Well, what works?  We've already talked about what works.   Early childhood education works.  We know that can make a difference.  It's not going to solve every problem, but it can help level the playing field for kids early in life so that -- they're still going to have to work hard.  Not everybody is going to succeed, but they'll have a better chance if we put those things in place. 

Making college affordable -- that makes a difference.  Because we know, in part because of the legacy of discrimination, that communities of color have less wealth.  If they have less wealth, it means that mom and dad have a more difficult time financing college.  Well, we should make sure that every young person, regardless of their color, can access a college education. 

I think the biggest challenge we have is not that we don't know what policies work, it’s getting our politics right.  Because part of what’s happened over the last several decades is, because times have been tough, because wages and incomes for everybody have not been going up, everybody is pretty anxious about what’s happening in their lives and what might happen for their kids, and so they get worried that, well, if we’re helping people in poverty, that must be hurting me somehow, it’s taking something away from me.

And part of what I think we have to understand is that America has always been most successful, we’ve always grown fastest, and everybody’s incomes have gone up fastest when our economic growth is broad-based, not just when a few people are doing well at the top, but when everybody is doing well.

And so if working people and folks who are struggling -- whether they're white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, disabled, LGBT -- if working folks join together around common principles and policies that will help lift everybody, then everybody will be better off -- including, by the way, the folks at the top.  Because when the economy is growing and people have jobs and people are seeing better incomes, they go out and they shop more.  And that means businesses are doing better.  And you buy a new iPod and Apple is happy, and shareholders are pleased.

But unfortunately, we’ve got politics sometimes that divides instead of bringing people together.  And we’ve seen that over the last couple of years, the tendency to suggest somehow that government is taking something from you and giving it to somebody else, and your problems will be solved if we just ignore them or don't help them.  And, that, I think is something that we have to constantly struggle against -- whether we’re black or white or whatever color we are. 

All right?  Thank you.  (Applause.) 

How much time do we got?  I want to make sure that I get a couple more questions in here.  Two more.  We’ll make it three.  (Laughter.)  We’ll make it three.  This gentleman right here in the front.  Here, we got a mic right here.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  My name is Adam Flint.  I work currently at Cooperative Extension, but I’ve been connected to this institution since 1966.  And I want to tell you about the Broome Energy Conservation Corps where we are educating, training and also employing Binghamton University graduates and current students to really take the vision that, well, Kennedy and others advanced of service to the problems of the community and to the country. 

And at Cooperative Extension, our energy corps students are helping people who could not benefit from energy efficiency, they're helping getting people employed with local home performance contactors.  And we could do so much more if it were possible for programs like ours across the country to be able to know that we’re going to be here in 2014, which we don't right now.

And so I guess we’ve been in discussions with Harvey and with many of the people in this room, with Matt Ryan, with many of the senior Binghamton University folks, and we’d really like to see coming out of Washington some good news about funding for the green economy for the future and for our ability to give a future to our children that right now I’m doubtful about.

You have two girls.  I’ve got two girls.  And this is the last century of fossil fuels, so we’ve got to make it happen.  With this energy corps, we could move to food corps and on and on and on.  I’ve said enough.  I’m afraid it’s one of the family business of the professoriate to say too much.  And I’m going to shut up and listen to the wisdom that I hope you will bring to my question.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, as you indicated in your remarks, we are going to have to prepare for a different energy future than the one we have right now.

Now, we’re producing traditional energy -- fossil fuels -- at record levels.  And we’ve actually achieved, or are on the verge of achieving about as close as you can get to energy independence as America is going to see.  I mean, natural gas, oil, all that stuff is going up. 

In some cases, what you’ve seen is that, for example, transitional fuels like natural gas have replaced coal, which temporarily are reducing greenhouse gases.  But the bottom line is those are still finite resources.  Climate change is real.  The planet is getting warmer.  And you’ve got several billion Chinese, Indians, Africans and others who also want cars, refrigerators, electricity.  And as they go through their development cycle, the planet cannot sustain the same kinds of energy use as we have right now.  So we’re going to have to make a shift.

That's why when I came into office, we made record investments in green energy.  And that's why I think it’s critical for us to invest in research and development around clean energy.  And that's why it sounds like programs like yours need to take advantage of technologies that already exist.

We’re going to have to invent some new technologies to solve all of our energy problems.  But we know, for example, the low-hanging fruit of energy efficiency.  We know that if we design our schools, homes, hospitals more efficiently, that as a country we could probably cut our power usage by 20, 25, 30 percent with existing technologies, and without lowering our standard of living. 

And, by the way, we can put a whole bunch of folks to work doing it right now.  We could gather up a whole bunch of young people here in this community, train them for insulation, for energy-efficient construction, and redo a whole bunch of buildings and institutions right here, and eventually it would pay for itself.  So it’s win-win across the board.

Unfortunately, what we’ve seen too often in Congress is that the fossil fuel industries tend to be very influential -- let’s put it that way -- on the energy committees in Congress.  And they tend not to be particularly sympathetic to alternative energy strategies.  And, in some cases, we’ve actually been criticized that it’s a socialist plot that’s restricting your freedom for us to encourage energy-efficient light bulbs, for example.  I never understood that.  (Laughter.)  But you hear those arguments.  I mean, you can go on the Web, and people will be decrying how simple stuff that we’re doing, like trying to set up regulations to make appliances more energy-efficient -- which saves consumers money and is good for our environment -- is somehow restricting America’s liberty and violates the Constitution.

So a lot of our job is to educate the public as to why this can be good for them -- in a very narrow self-interested way.  This is not pie in the sky.  This is not tree-hugging, sprout-eating university professors.  (Laughter.)  This is a practical, hardheaded, smart, business-savvy approach to how we deal with energy.  And we should be investing it and encouraging it and expanding it.  And so I budgeted for it.  I will fight for it. 

But just as I will be advocating and fighting for Head Start or increases in our science and technology funding, the challenge is going to be that my friends in the other party right now in Congress seem less interested in actual governing and taking practical strategies, and seem more interested in trying to placate their base or scoring political points.  Or they’re worried about primaries in the upcoming election.

That can’t be how we run a country.  That’s not responsible leadership.  (Applause.)  And my hope is, is that we’ll see a different attitude when we get back.  But we’ll only see a different attitude if the public pushes folks in a different direction. 

Ultimately, what has an impact on politicians is votes.  And that influence is not -- it can't just come from districts that are strongly Democratic.  We need voices in Republican districts to say this is a smart thing to do.  And we can make -- and, by the way, businesses can make money doing it, and people can get jobs doing it.  And it's just sensible.  And it's good, by the way, for our national security because those countries that control the energy sources of the future, they're the ones that are going to be in a position to succeed economically. 

So, all right.  I've got time for a couple more.  Yes, right here.

Q    Good afternoon, Mr. President.  I'm an integrative neuroscience major --

THE PRESIDENT:  That sounds very impressive.  (Laughter.)  What was that again?

Q    Integrative neuroscience.

THE PRESIDENT:  Okay, so tell me about that.  Explain that to me.  It has something to do with the brain and nerves and --

Q    It's a mix between psychology and biology.

THE PRESIDENT:  Okay.

Q    So it's not as impressive as --

THE PRESIDENT:  No, it's very impressive.  (Laughter.)  Come on.  Absolutely.  Anyway, what's the question?

Q    Well, my question today is about financial aid.  Currently, financial aid eligibility is based on -- or heavily based on students' parents’ income.  Now, there are many middle-class families that send their students to state schools like Binghamton, who live in high-cost regions such as New York City. Now, do you think it's possible for the financial aid formula to include the living costs of the region that applicants live in?  (Applause.) 

THE PRESIDENT:  It's an interesting question, and sounds like it's got some sympathy.  What's absolutely true is that what it means to be middle class in New York is going to be different than what it means to be middle class in Wyoming, just in terms of how far your dollar goes.  And I think it is a relevant question.

It is a challenging problem because if you start getting into calibrating cost of living just in a state like New York, a big state that has such diversity in terms of cost of living, then it might get so complicated that it would be difficult to administer.  But why don’t I just say this:  I think it is a important question, and I'm going to talk to Secretary Arne Duncan about it and find out what kind of research and work we've done on that issue to see if we can potentially make a difference.

Now, one way of handling this would not be at the federal level but potentially at the state level.  So you could manage something at the state level, where people may have a better sense of the differences in cost of living in a state, and say, we'll make some adjustments for students who are coming from higher-cost areas versus lower-cost areas.  That might be easier to do than to try to administer it at the federal level from Washington for all 50 states.

But I'll check with the Department of Education.  And I'll make sure my team gets your email so that you get a personal answer from the Secretary.  (Applause.) 

I’ve got one last question and I want to make sure it's a student.  Are you a student?

Q    Maybe.

THE PRESIDENT:  Maybe?  No, that doesn't count if he said maybe.  (Laughter.)

You are? 

Q    I am.

THE PRESIDENT:  Okay, this young man right here.  (Laughter.)  I just wanted to make sure.  He might have been a young-looking professor.  (Laughter.)

Q    Mr. President, I'm Danny.  I'm from here -- I'm a student here.  I'm from the community college.  My question is -- you spoke about increasing financial aid for college students.  However, I feel that with the competitive job market, a bachelor's will not be enough to secure a job.  My question is will any of these funds go towards grad school programs?  Or will it be strictly limited to undergraduate education?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, a good undergraduate education means you are much more employable and you're much more likely to get a job.  Each additional chunk of education that you get -- if done well, if you're getting good value -- is going to enhance your marketability.  And we see that in the statistics.  That's not just talk. 

The fact is that the average American who has more than a college education or greater is a third less likely to be unemployed than somebody who just graduated from high school.  So don't underestimate the power of an undergraduate education.  It can make a difference. 

Now, what's true is that if you, for example, in computer sciences want to get a master's in computer science or a Ph.D. in computer science, presumably that will make you even more marketable.  And we want to make sure that financial aid is also available for graduate students.  And the way programs currently exist, that financial aid does exist, although typically you get fewer subsidies and a less favorable interest rate for graduate education. 

We're probably not going to be able to completely solve that, and here's the reason why.  I got a lot of scholarships and grant money for my undergraduate education, so I didn't have a lot of debt when I got out.  I then decided to go to law school. And I went to a very good law school that was very expensive.  Most of my debt when I graduated was from law school; I had about $60,000 worth of debt.  But the truth was I was able to -- if I wanted to, at least -- earn so much money coming out of law school that I really didn't need a subsidy.  I could pay it back. It took me a little longer to pay it back than some of my friends because I went into public service and I didn't try to maximize my income.  But if I had been a partner at a law firm pulling down half a million dollars a year, there's no reason why I should necessarily have gotten a subsidy for that. 

The one area where I think we can make a big difference goes back to the very first question that was asked of me when it came to schools of nursing.  Across the board in graduate school, what we want to do is to provide incentives for folks who need specialized education but are willing to give back something to the community, to the country -- doctors who are willing to serve in underserved communities, nurses who are willing to serve in underserved communities, lawyers who are willing to work in the State's Attorney's Office or as a public defender. 

So the more we can do around programs for graduate studies where we say to you, if you're willing to commit to five years working in a place that doesn't have a doctor and you're studying to be a doctor, we're going to forgive you a bunch of those loans -- I'd like to see more programs like that.  And I've asked the Secretary of Education to see how we can make those more accessible to more students. 

Well, listen, everybody, this has been a great conversation. (Applause.)  And let me just say that you will be hearing more about this debate over the course of the next year.  We will be talking to your university president.  We'll be talking to the chancellor of the entire system.  We'll be talking to faculty.  We'll be talking to students.  If you have ideas or questions that were not somehow addressed, then we'd like to hear from you. And go to whitehouse.gov.  There's a whole section where we can get comments, ideas.  And I promise you we actually pay attention when you guys raise questions. 

And for those of you who are still sorting out student aid  -- if you're still in high school, for example, and you're thinking about going to college and you don't know exactly what makes sense for you, we do have a website called studentaid.gov that can be very helpful to you in identifying what you should be thinking about when it comes to financing your college education.

But we're going to do everything we can to make sure that not only are you able to succeed without being loaded up with debt, but hopefully, you're going to be able to afford to send your kids to college as well. 

Thank you for your great hospitality.  I appreciate it.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END
1:55 P.M. EDT

Remarks by the President on College Affordability -- Buffalo, NY

State University of New York Buffalo
Buffalo, New York

11:23 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Buffalo!  (Applause.)  Hello, Bulls! (Applause.)  Well, it is good to be back in Buffalo, good to be back in the north.  (Applause.) 

I want to begin by making sure we all thank Silvana for the wonderful introduction.  Give her a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  Her mom and dad are here somewhere.  Where are they? I know they’re pretty proud.  There they are right there.  Give mom and dad a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  

A number of other people I want to acknowledge here -- first of all, our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who’s doing a great job.  (Applause.)  One of the finest governors in the country, your Governor, Andrew Cuomo, is here.  (Applause.)  Your outstanding Mayor, Brian Higgins, is here.  Give him a big round of applause.

AUDIENCE:  Congressman!

THE PRESIDENT:  What?

AUDIENCE:  The Mayor is Byron Brown!

THE PRESIDENT:  Byron Brown.  That's -- I'm sorry, Byron.  (Applause.)  What I meant was -- your Congressman, Brian Higgins, is here.  (Applause.)  Your Mayor, Byron Brown, is here.  (Applause.)  This is what happens when you get to be 52 years old.  (Laughter.)  When I was 51 everything was smooth.  (Laughter.)  But your Congressman and your Mayor are doing outstanding work.  We just rode on the bus over from the airport, and they were telling me that Buffalo is on the move.  That was the story.  (Applause.)

A couple other people I want to acknowledge -- SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, is here, doing a great job.  (Applause.)  University president Satish Tripathi is here.  (Applause.)   And we've got all the students in the house.  Thank all the students for being here.  (Applause.)  

Now, today is a check-in day at the dorms.  So I want to thank all the students for taking a few minutes from setting up your futons and -- (laughter) -- your mini-fridges just to come out here.  I hear that the last sitting President to speak here was Millard Fillmore.  (Applause.)  And he was actually chancellor of the university at the same time -- which sounds fun, but I’ve got enough on my plate.  (Laughter.) 

This is our first stop on a two-day road trip through New York and Pennsylvania.  (Applause.)  And after this I head to Syracuse -- (applause) -- yay, Syracuse -- to speak with some high schoolers.  Tomorrow I'm going to visit SUNY Binghamton and Lackawanna College in Scranton.  But I wanted to start here at University at Buffalo.  (Applause.) 

And I wanted to do it for a couple reasons.  First, I know you’re focused on the future.  As I said, talking to the Mayor, he was describing a new medical school -- (applause) -- and new opportunities for the high-tech jobs of tomorrow.  So there’s great work being done at this institution.  I also know that everybody here must be fearless because the football team kicks off against Number 2, Ohio State, next weekend.  (Applause.)  Good luck, guys.  (Laughter.)  It’s going to be a great experience.  (Laughter.)  It’s going to be a great experience.  It could be an upset.  (Applause.)

And third, and most importantly, I know that the young people here are committed to earning your degree, to helping this university to make sure that every one of you “Finishes in Four” -- (applause) -- makes sure that you're prepared for whatever comes next.  And that’s what I want to talk about here today.

Over the last month, I’ve been visiting towns across the country, talking about -- yes, feel free to sit down.  Get comfortable.  (Laughter.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  I love you, too.  (Applause.)

Over the last month I've been out there talking about what we need to do as a country to make sure that we've got a better bargain for the middle class and everybody who’s working hard to get into the middle class -– a national strategy to make sure that everybody who works hard has a chance to succeed in this 21st century economy.  (Applause.) 

Now, I think all of us here know that for the past four and a half years, we’ve been fighting back from a brutal recession that cost millions of Americans their jobs and their homes and their savings.  But what the recession also did was it showed that for too long we've seen an erosion of middle-class security.
So, together, we saved the auto industry.  Together, we took on a broken health care system.  (Applause.)  We invested in new technologies.  We started reversing our addiction to foreign oil. We changed a tax code that was tilted to far in favor of the wealthy at the expense of working families.  (Applause.)

And add it all up, today our businesses have created 7.3 million new jobs over the last 41 months.  (Applause.)  We now generate more renewable energy than ever before.  We sell more goods made in America to the rest of the world than ever.  (Applause.)  Health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years.  Our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.  (Applause.)  

Here in Buffalo, the Governor and the Mayor were describing over a billion dollars in investment, riverfront being changed, construction booming -- signs of progress.  (Applause.)

So thanks to the grit and the resilience of the American people, we’ve cleared away the rubble from the financial crisis. We’ve started to lay the foundation for a stronger, more durable economic growth. 

But as any middle-class family will tell you, as folks here in Buffalo will tell you, we’re not where we need to be yet.  Because even before the crisis hit -- and it sounds like Buffalo knows something about this -- we were living through a decade where a few at the top were doing better and better, most families were working harder and harder just to get by.  Manufacturing was leaving, jobs moving overseas, losing our competitive edge.  And it’s a struggle for a lot of folks.

So reversing this trend should be, must be, Washington’s highest priority.  It’s my highest priority.  (Applause.)  I’ve got to say it’s not always Washington’s highest priority.  Because rather than keeping focus on a growing economy that creates good middle-class jobs, we’ve seen a faction of Republicans in Congress suggest that maybe America shouldn’t pay its bills that have already been run up, that we shut down government if they can’t shut down Obamacare.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  That won’t grow our economy.  That won’t create jobs.  That won’t help our middle class.  We can’t afford in Washington the usual circus of distractions and political posturing.  We can't afford that right now.   

What we need is to build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America, focus on that -- a good job with good wages, a good education, a home of your own, affordable health care, a secure retirement.  (Applause.)  Bread-and-butter, pocketbook issues that you care about every single day; that you’re thinking about every single day.  And we’ve got to create more pathways into the middle class for folks who are willing to work for it.  That’s what’s always made America great.  It’s not just how many billionaires we produce, but our ability to give everybody who works hard the chance to pursue their own measure of happiness.  That's what America is all about.  (Applause.)

Now, there aren’t many things that are more important to that idea of economic mobility -– the idea that you can make it if you try –- than a good education.  All the students here know that.  That’s why you’re here.  (Applause.)  That’s why your families have made big sacrifices -– because we understand that in the face of greater and greater global competition, in a knowledge-based economy, a great education is more important than ever. 

A higher education is the single best investment you can make in your future.  And I’m proud of all the students who are making that investment.  (Applause.)  And that’s not just me saying it.  Look, right now, the unemployment rate for Americans with at least a college degree is about one-third lower than the national average.  The incomes of folks who have at least a college degree are more than twice those of Americans without a high school diploma.  So more than ever before, some form of higher education is the surest path into the middle class.

But what I want to talk about today is what’s become a barrier and a burden for too many American families -– and that is the soaring cost of higher education.  (Applause.) 

This is something that everybody knows you need -- a college education.  On the other hand, college has never been more expensive.  Over the past three decades, the average tuition at a public four-year college has gone up by more than 250 percent -- 250 percent.  Now, a typical family's income has only gone up 16 percent.  So think about that -- tuition has gone up 250 percent; income gone up 16 percent.  That’s a big gap. 

Now, it's true that a lot of universities have tried to provide financial aid and work-study programs.  And so not every student -- in fact, most students are probably not paying the sticker price of tuition.  We understand that.  But what we also understand is that if it's going up 250 [percent] and your incomes are only going up 16 [percent], at some point, families are having to make up some of the difference, or students are having to make up some of the difference with debt. 

And meanwhile, over the past few years, states have been cutting back on their higher education budgets.  New York has done better than a lot of states, but the fact is that we've been spending more money on prisons, less money on college.  (Applause.)  And meanwhile, not enough colleges have been working to figure out how do we control costs, how do we cut back on costs.  So all this sticks it to students, sticks it to families, but also, taxpayers end up paying a bigger price. 

The average student who borrows for college now graduates owing more than $26,000.  Some owe a lot more than that.  And I’ve heard from a lot of these young people who are frustrated that they’ve done everything they're supposed to do –- got good grades in high school, applied to college, did well in school -- but now they come out, they've got this crushing debt that’s crippling their sense of self-reliance and their dreams.  It becomes hard to start a family and buy a home if you're servicing $1,000 worth of debt every month.  It becomes harder to start a business if you are servicing $1,000 worth of debt every month, right?  (Applause.)  

And meanwhile, parents, you're having to make sacrifices, which means you may be dipping into savings that should be going to your retirement to pay for your son or daughter's -- or to help pay for your son or daughter's education. 

So at a time when a higher education has never been more important or more expensive, too many students are facing a choice that they should never have to make:  Either they say no to college and pay the price for not getting a degree -- and that's a price that lasts a lifetime -- or you do what it takes to go to college, but then you run the risk that you won’t be able to pay it off because you've got so much debt. 

Now, that's a choice we shouldn’t accept.  And, by the way, that's a choice that previous generations didn't have to accept. This is a country that early on made a commitment to put a good education within the reach of all who are willing to work for it. And we were ahead of the curve compared to other countries when it came to helping young people go to school.  (Applause.)  

The folks in Buffalo understand this.  Mayor Brown was talking about the city of Buffalo and the great work that is being done through the program called “Say Yes,” to make sure that no child in Buffalo has to miss out on a college education because they can’t pay for it.  (Applause.) 

But even though there's a great program in this city, in a lot of places that program doesn't exist.  But a generation ago, two generations ago, we made a bigger commitment.  This is the country that gave my grandfather the chance to go to college on the GI Bill after he came back from World War II.  (Applause.)  This is the country that helped my mother get through school while raising two kids.  (Applause.)  Michelle and I, we're only where we are today because scholarships and student loans gave us a shot at a great education.  (Applause.)  

And we know a little bit about trying to pay back student loans, too, because we didn’t come from a wealthy family.  So we each graduated from college and law school with a mountain of debt.  And even though we got good jobs, we barely finished paying it off just before I was elected to the U.S. Senate.

AUDIENCE:  Whew!

THE PRESIDENT:  Right?  I mean, I was in my 40s when we finished paying off our debt.  And we should have been saving for Malia and Sasha by that time.  But we were still paying off what we had gotten -- and we were luckier because most of the debt was from law school.  Our undergraduate debt was not as great because tuition had not started shooting up as high.

So the bottom line is this -- we've got a crisis in terms of college affordability and student debt.  And over the past four years, what we've tried to do is to take some steps to make college more affordable.  So we enacted historic reforms to the student loan system, so taxpayer dollars stop padding the pockets of big banks and instead help more kids afford college.  (Applause.) 

Because what was happening was the old system, the student loan programs were going through banks; they didn't have any risk because the federal government guaranteed the loans, but they were still taking billions of dollars out of the program.  We said, well, let's just give the loans directly to the students and we can put more money to helping students. 

Then we set up a consumer watchdog.  And that consumer watchdog is already helping students and families navigate the financial options that are out there to pay for college without getting ripped off by shady lenders.  (Applause.)  And we’re providing more tools and resources for students and families to try to finance college.  And if any of you are still trying to figure out how to finance college, check it out at StudentAid.gov.  StudentAid.gov.   

Then, we took action to cap loan repayments at 10 percent of monthly income for many borrowers who are trying to responsibly manage their federal student loan debt.  (Applause.)  So overall, we’ve made college more affordable for millions of students and families through tax credits and grants and student loans that go farther than they did before.  And then, just a few weeks ago, Democrats and Republicans worked together to keep student loan rates from doubling.  (Applause.)  And that saves typical undergraduates more than $1,500 for this year’s loans.

So that’s all a good start, but it’s not enough.  The problem is, is that even if the federal government keeps on putting more and more money in the system, if the cost is going up by 250 percent, tax revenues aren’t going up 250 percent -- and so some point, the government will run out of money, which means more and more costs are being loaded on to students and their families.

The system’s current trajectory is not sustainable.  And what that means is state legislatures are going to have to step up.  They can’t just keep cutting support for public colleges and universities.  (Applause.)  That's just the truth.  Colleges are not going to be able to just keep on increasing tuition year after year, and then passing it on to students and families and taxpayers.  (Applause.)   Our economy can’t afford the trillion dollars in outstanding student loan debt, much of which may not get repaid because students don't have the capacity to pay it.  We can’t price the middle class and everybody working to get into the middle class out of a college education.  We’re going to have to do things differently.  We can't go about business as usual.

Because if we do, that will put our younger generation, our workers, our country at a competitive disadvantage for years.  Higher education is still the best ticket to upward mobility in America, and if we don’t do something about keeping it within reach, it will create problems for economic mobility for generations to come.  And that's not acceptable.  (Applause.)

  So whether we’re talking about a two-year program, a four-year program, a technical certificate, bottom line is higher education cannot be a luxury.  It’s an economic imperative:  Every family in America should be able to afford to get it.  (Applause.)  

So that's the problem.  Now, what are we going to do about it?  Today, I’m proposing major new reforms that will shake up the current system, create better incentives for colleges to do more with less, and deliver better value for students and their families.  (Applause.)

And some of these reforms will require action from Congress, so we’re going to have to work on that.  (Laughter.)  Some of these changes I can make on my own.  (Applause.)  We are going to have to -- we’re going to be partnering with colleges to do more to keep costs down, and we’re going to work with states to make higher education a higher priority in their budgets.  (Applause.)

And one last thing -- we’re going to have to ask more of students who are receiving federal aid, as well.  And I’ve got to tell you ahead of time, these reforms won’t be popular with everybody, especially those who are making out just fine under the current system.  But my main concern is not with those institutions; my main concern is the students those institutions are there to serve -– because this country is only going to be as strong as our next generation.  (Applause.) 

And I have confidence that our country’s colleges and universities will step up -- just like Chancellor Zimpher and the folks at SUNY are trying to step up -- and lead the way to do the right thing for students.

So let me be specific.  My plan comes down to three main goals.  First, we’re going to start rating colleges not just by which college is the most selective, not just by which college is the most expensive, not just by which college has the nicest facilities -- you can get all of that on the existing rating systems.  What we want to do is rate them on who's offering the best value so students and taxpayers get a bigger bang for their buck.  (Applause.) 

Number two, we’re going to jumpstart new competition between colleges –- not just on the field or on the court, but in terms of innovation that encourages affordability, and encourages student success, and doesn’t sacrifice educational quality.  (Applause.)  That’s going to be the second component of it. 

And the third is, we’re going to make sure that if you have to take on debt to earn your college degree that you have ways to manage and afford it.  (Applause.) 

So let me just talk about each of these briefly. 

Our first priority is aimed at providing better value for students -- making sure that families and taxpayers are getting what we pay for.  Today, I’m directing Arne Duncan, our Secretary of Education, to lead an effort to develop a new rating system for America’s colleges before the 2015 college year.  Right now, private rankings like U.S. News and World Report puts out each year their rankings, and it encourages a lot of colleges to focus on ways to -- how do we game the numbers, and it actually rewards them, in some cases, for raising costs.  I think we should rate colleges based on opportunity.  Are they helping students from all kinds of backgrounds succeed -- (applause) -- and on outcomes, on their value to students and parents. 

So that means metrics like:  How much debt does the average student leave with?  How easy it is to pay off?  How many students graduate on time?  How well do those graduates do in the workforce?  Because the answers will help parents and students figure out how much value a college truly offers. 

There are schools out there who are terrific values.  But there are also schools out there that have higher default rates than graduation rates.  And taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing students to go to schools where the kids aren't graduating.  That doesn’t do anybody any good.  (Applause.) 

And our ratings will also measure how successful colleges are at enrolling and graduating students who are on Pell grants. And it will be my firm principle that our ratings have to be carefully designed to increase, not decrease, the opportunities for higher education for students who face economic or other disadvantages.  (Applause.) 

So this is going to take a little time, but we think this can empower students and families to make good choices.  And it will give any college the chance to show that it’s making serious and consistent improvement.  So a college may not be where it needs to be right now on value, but they’ll have time to try to get better.

And we want all the stakeholders in higher education -- students, parents, businesses, college administrators, professors -- to work with Secretary Duncan on this process.  And over the next few months, he’s going to host a series of public forums around the country to make sure we get these measures right.  And then, over the next few years, we’re going to work with Congress to use those ratings to change how we allocate federal aid for colleges.  (Applause.)

We are going to deliver on a promise we made last year, which is colleges that keep their tuition down and are providing high-quality education are the ones that are going to see their taxpayer funding go up.  It is time to stop subsidizing schools that are not producing good results, and reward schools that deliver for American students and our future.  (Applause.)

And we’re also going to encourage states to follow the same principle.  Right now, most states fund colleges based on how many students they enroll, not based on how well those students do or even if they graduate.  Now, some states are trying a better approach.  You got Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio -- they’re offering more funding to colleges that do a better job of preparing students for graduation and a job.  Michigan is rewarding schools that keep tuition increases low.  So they’re changing the incentive structure. 

And I’m challenging all states to come up with new and innovative ways to fund their colleges in a way that drives better results.  (Applause.)

Now, for the young people here, I just want to say that just as we’re expecting more from our schools that get funding from taxpayers, we’re going to have to expect more from students who get subsidies and grants from taxpayers.  (Applause.)  So we’re going to make sure students who receive federal financial aid complete their courses before receiving grants for the next semester.  (Applause.) 

We’ll make sure to build in flexibility so we’re not penalizing disadvantaged students, or students who are holding down jobs to pay for school.  Things happen.  But the bottom line is we need to make sure that if you’re getting financial aid you’re doing your part to make progress towards a degree.  And, by the way, that’s good for you, too, because if you take out debt and you don’t get that degree, you are not going to be able to pay off that debt and you’ll be in a bind.  (Applause.)   

All right, second goal:  We want to encourage more --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you, Obama! 

THE PRESIDENT:  (Laughter.)  Thank you. 

The second thing we want to do is to encourage more colleges to embrace innovative new ways to prepare our students for a 21st century economy and maintain a high level of quality without breaking the bank. 

So let me talk about some alternatives that are already out there.  Southern New Hampshire University gives course credit based on how well students master the material, not just on how many hours they spend in the classroom.  So the idea would be if you’re learning the material faster, you can finish faster, which means you pay less and you save money.  (Applause.)  The University of Wisconsin is getting ready to do the same thing.

You’ve got Central Missouri University -- I went there, and they’ve partnered with local high schools and community colleges so that their students can show up at college and graduate in half the time because they’re already starting to get college credits while they’re in high school or while they’re in a two-year college, so by the time they get to a four-year college they’re saving money.  (Applause.)  

Universities like Carnegie Mellon, Arizona State, they’re starting to show that online learning can help students master the same material in less time and often at lower cost.  Georgia Tech, which is a national leader in computer science, just announced it will begin offering an online master’s degree in computer science at a fraction of the cost of a traditional class, but it’s just as rigorous and it’s producing engineers who are just as good. 

So a lot of other schools are experimenting with these ideas to keep tuition down.  They’ve got other ways to help students graduate in less time, at less cost, while still maintaining high quality.  The point is it’s possible.  And it’s time for more colleges to step up with even better ways to do it.  And we’re going to provide additional assistance to states and universities that are coming up with good ideas. 

Third thing, even as we work to bring down costs for current and future students, we’ve got to offer students who already have debt the chance to actually repay it.  (Applause.)  Nobody wants to take on debt -- especially after what we’ve seen and families have gone through during this financial crisis.  But taking on debt in order to earn a college education has always been viewed as something that will pay off over time.  We’ve got to make sure, though, that it’s manageable. 

As I said before, even with good jobs, it took Michelle and me a long time to pay off our student loans -- while we should have been saving for Malia and Sasha’s college educations, we were still paying off our own.  So we know how important it is to make sure debt is manageable, so that it doesn't keep you from taking a job that you really care about, or getting married, or buying that first home.

There are some folks who have been talking out there recently about whether the federal student loan program should make or cost the government money.  Here’s the bottom line -- government shouldn’t see student loans as a way to make money; it should be a way to help students.  (Applause.)

So we need to ask ourselves:  How much does a federal student loan cost students?  How can we help students manage those costs better?  Our national mission is not to profit off student loans; our national mission must be to profit off having the best-educated workforce in the world.  That should be our focus.  (Applause.) 

So, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, two years ago, I capped loan repayments at 10 percent of a student’s post-college income.  We called it Pay-As-You-Earn.  And it, along with some other income-driven repayment plans, have helped more than 2.5 million students so far.
 
But there are two obstacles that are preventing more students from taking advantage of it.  One is that too many current and former students aren’t eligible, which means we’ve got to get Congress to open up the program for more students.  (Applause.)  And we’re going to be pushing them to do that. 

The other obstacle is that a lot of students don't even know they're eligible for the program.  So starting this year, we’re going to launch a campaign to help more borrowers learn about their repayment options and we’ll help more student borrowers enroll in Pay-As-You-Earn.  So if you went to college, you took out debt, you want to be a teacher, and starting salary for a teacher is, let’s say, $35,000, well, only 10 percent of that amount is what your loan repayment is.  Now, if you're making more money, you should be paying more back.  But that way, everybody has a chance to go to college; everybody has a chance to pursue their dreams. 

And that program is already in place.  We want more students to take advantage of it.  We're really going to be advertising it heavily. 

Now, if we move forward on these three fronts –- increasing value, encouraging innovation, helping people responsibly manage their debt –- I guarantee you we will help more students afford college.  We’ll help more students graduate from college.  We’ll help more students get rid of that debt so they can a good start in their careers.  (Applause.)  

But it’s going to take a lot of hard work.  The good news is, from what I hear, folks in Buffalo know something about hard work.  (Applause.)  Folks in America know something about hard work.  And we've come a long way together these past four years. We're going to keep moving forward on this issue and on every other issue that’s going to help make sure that we continue to have the strongest, most thriving middle class in the world.  We're going to keep pushing to build a better bargain for everybody in this country who works hard, and everybody who's trying to get into that middle class.  (Applause.) 

And we're going to keep fighting to make sure that this remains a country where, if you work hard and study hard and are responsible, you are rewarded, so that no matter what you look like and where you come from, what your last name is, here in America you can make it if you try.  (Applause.) 

Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.) 
   
END
11:54 A.M. EDT

WEEKLY ADDRESS: Working to Implement the Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, DC— In this week’s address, President Obama said we are on the way to fully implementing the Affordable Care Act and helping millions of Americans.  Unfortunately, a group of Republicans in Congress are working to confuse people and are even suggesting they will shut down the government if they cannot shut down the health care law.  Health insurance isn’t something to play politics with, and the President will keep working to make sure the law works as it’s supposed to, and he encourages everyone to visit HealthCare.gov to find out more about the law and how to sign up. 

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, August 17, 2013.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
August 17, 2013

Hi, everybody.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been visiting with Americans across the country to talk about what we need to do to secure a better bargain for the middle class.

We need to rebuild an economy that rewards hard work and responsibility; an economy built firmly on the cornerstones of middle-class life.  Good jobs.  A good education.  A home of your own.  A secure retirement.  And quality, affordable health care that’s there when you need it.

Right now, we’re well on our way to fully implementing the Affordable Care Act.  And in the next few months, we’ll reach a couple milestones with real meaning for millions of Americans.

If you’re one of the 85% of Americans who already have insurance, you’ve already got new benefits and protections under this law that you didn’t before.  Free checkups, mammograms, and contraceptive care.  Discounted prescription medicine on Medicare.  The fact you can stay on your parents’ plan until you turn 26.  And much, much more.  And it’s okay if you’re not a fan of the Affordable Care Act – you can take advantage of these things anyway.

If you don’t have insurance, beginning on October 1st, private plans will actually compete for your business.  You can comparison shop in an online marketplace, just like you would for cell phone plans or plane tickets.  You may be eligible for new tax credits to help you afford the plan that’s right for you.  And if you’re in the up to half of all Americans who’ve been sick or have a preexisting condition, this law means that beginning January 1st, insurance companies have to cover you – and they can’t use your medical history to charge you more than anybody else. 

You can find out more about the law, and how to sign up to buy your own coverage right now at HealthCare.gov.  Tell your friends and neighbors without insurance about it, too.  And tell your kids that there’s a new, easy way to buy affordable plans specifically tailored to young people.

Many Members of Congress, in both parties, are working hard to inform their constituents about these benefits, protections, and affordable plans.  But there’s also a group of Republicans in Congress working hard to confuse people, and making empty promises that they’ll either shut down the health care law, or, if they don’t get their way, they’ll shut down the government.

Think about that.  They’re actually having a debate between hurting Americans who will no longer be denied affordable care just because they’ve been sick – and harming the economy and millions of Americans in the process.  And many Republicans are more concerned with how badly this debate will hurt them politically than they are with how badly it’ll hurt the country.

A lot of Republicans seem to believe that if they can gum up the works and make this law fail, they’ll somehow be sticking it to me.  But they’d just be sticking it to you. 

Some even say that if you call their office with questions about the law, they’ll refuse to help.  Call me old-fashioned – but that’s lousy constituent service.  And it’s not what you deserve.

Your health insurance isn’t something to play politics with.  Our economy isn’t something to play politics with.  This isn’t a game.  This is about the economic security of millions of families.

See, in the states where governors and legislatures and insurers are working together to implement this law properly – states like California, New York, Colorado and Maryland – competition and consumer choice are actually making insurance affordable. 

So I’m going to keep doing everything in my power to make sure this law works as it’s supposed to.  Because in the United States of America, health insurance isn’t a privilege – it is your right.  And we’re going to keep it that way.

Thanks.  And have a great weekend.

###

Remarks by The First Lady and The President at Disabled American Veterans Convention

Hilton
Orlando, Florida

12:00 P.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA:  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thanks so much.  Thank you all.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Good afternoon, everyone.  It’s so good to be here.  (Applause.)  We are so proud of you all.  Thank you all.  Please, I know you’ve been working hard, so rest yourselves.  (Laughter.)

I am beyond thrilled to be here with all of you today, and I want to start by thanking Larry for that very kind introduction, but more importantly for his tremendous leadership of the DAV and for all of his outstanding service to this country.  But most of all, I want to thank all of you here today -- the men and women who have served and sacrificed so greatly on behalf of all Americans.

Truly, one of my greatest joys over these past few years has been spending time with veterans and military families like all of you.  I have laughed with your children at barbeques.  I’ve gone to baby showers with spouses.  I’ve learned so much during my many visits to military bases across this country.  I’ve even smashed a champagne bottle to christen a Coast Guard cutter.  (Laughter.)

And let me tell you, day after day, I have been so inspired by your stories -- so inspired.  And I’m reminded of one of those stories today, the story of a young man I met at Walter Reed.  His name is Sergeant Winder Perez, and he is 24 years old.  Now, a year and a half ago, Sergeant Perez was on a combat mission in Afghanistan, when he was hit by an RPG.  He collapsed, but the grenade stayed lodged in his left thigh and it didn’t go off.  Sergeant Perez’s fellow Marines ran to his aid and together they chose to carry him off the battlefield to safety, even though they knew that any wrong move would mean certain disaster.

Moments later, four pilots and medics chose to load him onto a helicopter with the live explosive still in his leg, transporting him 65 miles to the nearest medical station.  And finally, when they arrived, a nurse and explosive expert chose to rush to his aid, finally dislodging the rocket by hand and giving doctors a chance to save his leg -- which they did.

Now, just that part of Sergeant Perez’s story tells you everything you need to know about the men and women of our armed forces.  But as all of you know very well, stories like these don’t end in the combat zone.  Since his injury, Sergeant Perez has endured 30 or 31 surgeries -- he doesn’t remember the exact number.  He has survived a heart attack and an aneurysm, and he’s fought through hundreds of hours of rigorous physical therapy to strengthen his leg.

And time and again, just when he’s regained the strength to walk, his doctors have told him that it’s time for another surgery, and then Sergeant Perez is back in a wheelchair, starting all over again from square one.

But here is the thing:  You don’t hear about any of that when you talk to Sergeant Perez.  What you do hear about is his mother, who he will tell you has stayed by his side every single day.  You will hear about his gratitude to those who saved his life, to the family and friends who come from New York to visit, and for the life he has in front of him.

Today, Sergeant Perez is walking again.  He’s three months into an internship with the Defense Intelligence Agency, and he plans to spend the rest of his career serving his country.  And when asked about everything he’s been through, Sergeant Perez puts it all in perspective by simply saying, "I just think you’ve got to get back up."  That’s all he said.  "You’ve got to get back up."

And as I look across this room, I see a group of people who know how to get back up.  No matter what you’ve been through -- (applause) -- no matter what the struggles you have faced, you all get back up.  And that is what inspires me.  That’s why, every day, I work to push myself harder to live up to your example.

And that’s why Jill Biden and I are working so hard on Joining Forces, because we want to honor and serve you and your families -- to make sure that you and your families have the educational opportunities you need, the support you’ve earned and the good jobs you deserve.

And if there is one thing that I want all of you to know today, it’s this:  You will never have to get back up all on your own.  Not while we’re here, Never.  (Applause.)  And it’s not just us.  You have got families who support you day and night.  You have countless neighbors and pastors, business owners -- I’ve met them -- even strangers who will snap into action for you.

And one important person you have is a Commander-in-Chief who doesn’t simply understand your service and your sacrifice.  (Applause.)  Let me tell you something about this man, he carries your stories with him every single day.  I have seen it in his eyes when he comes home from a visit to a military hospital.  I’ve noticed the extra energy he gets after a military commencement.  And I’ve heard the emotion in his voice after he talks with the families of our fallen.  That is the well he draws from as Commander-in-Chief.  You are that well. 

And that’s why he has stood up for you again and again and again, and it’s why he’s going to keep fighting for you and your families every single day.  So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my husband, our President Barack Obama.  (Applause.)

*****

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, DAV.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  Thank you.  Everybody, please have a seat.  Do we have an extraordinary First Lady?  (Applause.)  We will be celebrating our 21st anniversary in October.  The first time I saw her, I knew she was something special.  (Laughter.)  She was a little more skeptical about me.  (Laughter.)  But persistence is the key.  You just got to stay on it.  Eventually, you can marry up.  (Laughter.)

To Michelle and Jill Biden and Joining Forces, we are so proud of the work you've done to help rally America around military families and veterans.  I'm inspired by what they are doing.  So thank you, Michelle, for your extraordinary work.

DAV, I was proud to join at your convention three years ago.  (Applause.)  It is wonderful to be back.  I want to thank your national commander, Larry Polzin.  Thank you so much to the entire leadership team -- Joe Johnston, Marc Burgess, Donna Adams, all the incredible spouses and families of the DAV Auxiliary.  I want to thank Barry Jesinoski.  (Laughter.)  I got it.  (Laughter.)  They used to mispronounce Obama too.  (Laughter.)  I want to thank Barry and your great team in Washington.

Disabled American Veterans, like all veterans, you carry in your hearts the story of brave service that took you to every corner of the Earth.  As young men and women, you left home, left everything and everyone you ever knew because storm clouds gathered far across the sea.  You had your whole lives ahead of you, but you were willing to risk all of it for this land that we love.  Because you know, from hard experience, what we must never forget -- our country endures because in every generation there are Americans like you who stand beside her and guide her and protect her.

You fought across the Pacific, island by island.  You fought into the heart of Europe, mile by mile, freeing millions from fascism.  That’s your legacy as veterans of the Second World War.  You held the line at the Pusan Perimeter and survived the bitter cold of the Chosin Reservoir.  And on this 60th anniversary of the end of that war, we salute all of our veterans of the Korean War.  (Applause.)

To our Vietnam veterans -- (applause) -- you served with valor not just in the thick of the jungle, but through intense urban combat.  And let it be remembered that you won every major battle that you fought in.  (Applause.)  And so in the decades since, whenever our country has needed you, you said "send me" -- from the sands of Desert Storm to the mountains of the Balkans to the villages of Afghanistan and Iraq -- and next year, your profound sacrifice will be recognized in the heart of our nation’s capital when our country dedicates the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial.  (Applause.)

That memorial will honor your courage in war.  But it will also pay tribute to your bravery in the other battle you have fought -- the fight to recover from the wounds of war.  And this may be your greatest triumph of all.  Because rather than being defined by what you lost, by what you can’t do, you’ve inspired America with what you can do.

Maybe you lost your sight, but you can still see the truth that our disabled veterans make extraordinary contributions to our country every single day.  Maybe you lost an arm, but you still have the strength to pick up a friend or neighbor in need.  Maybe you lost a leg, but you still stand tall for the values and freedoms that make America the greatest nation on Earth.  (Applause.)

I think of the wounded warrior who spoke for so many of you when he said, "Your life will never be the same, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go on to do amazing things with the second chance you were given."  I think of wounded warriors across America and how they’ve used that second chance --volunteering in communities, building homes, being a mentor to local kids, showing up after tornadoes, after Hurricane Sandy to help folks rebuild.  I think of the wounded warriors who reached out to the survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing with the example of their own recovery and with a simple message -- "We stand with you."

I think of all the inspiring wounded warriors that Michelle and I have met -- their resilience, their resolve, their determination to push through and to carry on.  That’s the fighting spirit of our wounded warriors.  That’s the spirit of DAV -- (applause) -- dedicated not just to your own recovery, but to taking care of each other.  Every day you work to ensure that America is fulfilling its promises to our men and women who have served.  That’s your mission.  And I want you to know it is my mission, too.

I believe that this work is more important than ever, because this time of war that we've been in is coming to an end.  (Applause.)  For nearly 12 years -- ever since we were attacked on that clear September morning -- our nation has been at war.  Our fight in Afghanistan is now America’s longest war.  At the same time, our troops fought courageously in Iraq for nine long years.  And among us today are proud veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now, we’ve marked another milestone in Afghanistan.  As of this past June, Afghan forces have taken the lead for security across their entire country.  Instead of leading the fight, our troops now have a different mission -- supporting Afghan forces.  Our war in Afghanistan has entered the final chapter.  More of our troops are coming home.  This winter, we’ll be down to 34,000.  By the end of next year, the transition will be complete -- Afghans will take full responsibility for their security and our war in Afghanistan will be over.  (Applause.)

For this progress, we thank all who have served in Afghanistan, including DAV members here today -- just a few I want to mention.  We salute folks like Timothy Duke.  Where’s Timothy?  Right here -- (applause) -- in the early days of the war, Timothy's helicopter unit served in some of the most remote parts of Afghanistan.  On another tour, in Iraq, his convoy was hit by an IED.  He endured three spinal surgeries.  Then he went to school on the Post-9/11 GI Bill.  Today he is helping at the DAV, helping veterans and their families access their benefits.  That's the kind of spirit the DAV represents.  Thank you, Timothy, for your outstanding service and work.  (Applause.)

We salute Staff Sergeant Jacare Hogan.  (Applause.)  Where’s Jacare?  In Iraq, she was hit by IEDs three times.  She’s endured surgeries, rehab -- which continue to this day -- but she refused to stop serving.  She deployed again to Afghanistan.  As a logistics specialist, she served at forward operating bases -- keeping them running, flying between bases, getting shot at along the way.  At those remote outposts, she was often the only woman on base.  She proudly wears the Combat Action Badge.  (Applause.)  But her service hasn't stopped.  So here at DAV, she counsels others as they recover.  "Helping [the] troops is what I’m about."  That's what she says.  And we are grateful to you, Jacare, for your extraordinary service.  (Applause.)

And we salute Jason Hassinger.  Where is Jason?  (Applause.)  Right here -- when Jason's unit was ambushed and pinned down, he was hit five times in the chest.  But he pushed on, helped lead his men to safety for which he earned the Silver Star.  (Applause.)  After months of care and rehab he returned to his unit -- going out on patrol, gritting his teeth through the pain in his chest.  And today, at DAV, Jason helps his fellow vets access the benefits that they have earned.  It is "my job" to "help people heal."  That's what Jason says.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

So Timothy, Jacare, Jason -- they're just examples of all who've served in these years of war -- the 9/11 Generation.  And now, you’re beginning the next chapter in your lives wearing a proud new title -- veteran of the United States Armed Forces.  So this time of war may be coming to an end, but the job of caring for our veterans goes on and our work caring for our newest veterans has only just begun.

Think about it -- we lost the last veteran of the First World War two years ago, but we still care for the children of our World War I veterans.  To this day, we still help care for children of men who fought in the Spanish-American War, even the daughter of a Civil War veteran.  (Applause.)  So when we talk about fulfilling our promises to all who serve, we’re not just talking about a few years, we’re talking about decades -- for as long as you and your families walk this Earth.

With a new generation joining your ranks, I believe that now is the time to make sure our nation is truly ready -- organized and structured to get this right not just for this year, not just for next year, but for decades to come not just for the veterans of today’s wars, but for all wars.  And I believe we need to focus on five key priorities.

Number one, we need to make sure we’ve got the resources, the budgets our veterans deserve.  (Applause.)  Since I took office, we’ve made historic investments in our veterans.  Even in these tough fiscal times, we’ve boosted the VA budget by more than 40 percent.  We now budget for veterans’ health care a year in advance.  (Applause.)  And I’ve proposed a further increase in veterans funding for next year.  (Applause.)

Now, some of you may be aware right now we've got these reckless, across-the-board budget cuts called the sequester that's hitting a lot of folks hard.  And it’s cost jobs.  It's hurting our military, slashing investments in education and science and medical research.  I made it clear that your veteran’s benefits are exempt from this year’s sequester.  I've made that clear.  (Applause.)  But I want to tell you going forward the best way to protect the VA care you have earned is to get rid of this sequester altogether.  (Applause.)  Congress needs to come together and agree on a responsible plan that reduces our deficit and keeps our promises to our veterans and keeps our promises to future generations.  That’s what I’m fighting for.  That’s what you deserve.  (Applause.)

Number two, we need to make sure you’re getting the veterans’ health care you’ve been promised.  We’re already making record investments -- more outreach, more clinics, more service.  For our Vietnam vets, we made sure that you and your families finally got the disability pay you deserved because of your exposure to Agent Orange.  (Applause.)  For our Desert Storm veterans, we made it easier for you to get the care you need for illnesses connected to your service.  (Applause.)  For our veterans with PTSD, we’ve made it easier for you to get the VA care you need as well, regardless of the war that you served in.  (Applause.)

For our women veterans -- and there are more of you than ever -- we’re offering more tailored care, more clinics just for women, more clinicians trained to treat you with respect and dignity.  (Applause.)  So all told, we’ve made VA health care available to more than 2 million veterans who didn’t have it before.  (Applause.)

I’ve proposed more funding for prosthetics for our disabled vets, to help you work and walk and run again.  And for you -- the caregivers and families -- we’re going to keep empowering you with the skills and support you need as you care for the veterans that you love.  (Applause.)

We also need to keep improving mental health services, because we’ve got to end this epidemic of suicide among our veterans and troops.  (Applause.)  Last year, I said this had to be an all-hands-on-deck approach -- not just at DOD and the VA, but across our government.  I issued an executive order to step up our game, and we have:  hiring more counselors, hiring more mental health providers, new awareness campaigns so that those who are hurting know that asking for help is not a sign of weakness; it’s a part of staying strong.  It’s a part of getting back up.  (Applause.)  Hundreds of medical and nursing schools have committed to improving research and care for our veterans and their families.  And I’ve proposed more funding for mental health.  We can’t just promise better care, we’ve actually got to deliver better care.

So today I’m proud to announce the next step in this fight.  We’re unveiling a new national action plan to guide mental health research across government, industry and academia, so that we’re going to focus on developing more effective ways to prevent, diagnose and treat mental health conditions like TBI and PTSD.  And to get it done, we’re moving ahead with more than $100 million in new research.  (Applause.)  So I’m not going to be satisfied until every veteran and every man and woman in uniform gets the support and the help they need to stay strong.  (Applause.)

Now, on the subject of veteran’s health care, you may have noticed there’s still a lot of misinformation out there about the new health care law -- Affordable Care Act.  Some folks are out there trying to scare people, including veterans.  So let me say this as plainly as I can.  If you already have health insurance, or health care from the VA, you do not have to do a thing; your VA health care does not change, it is safe; there are no new fees.  Don’t let them hoodwink you.  (Applause.)

But the good news is if you’re among one of the more than 1 million veterans who don’t have health insurance, starting October 1st, you’ll have a new option.  Online marketplaces will let you shop and compare and buy private health insurance plans, just like you can go online to compare prices when you buy a TV, or airplane ticket or a car.  And because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against you or deny you coverage because of preexisting conditions -- like PTSD.  (Applause.)  So you’ll have more security in being able to get health insurance.  So don’t let them fool you.  No one is taking away your benefits.  Your veterans’ health care is safe.  We’re not reducing veterans’ access to health care, we’re expanding it.  That’s the truth.  (Applause.)

And that leads me to the third priority we’ve got to focus on.  We’ve got to attack this claims backlog.  (Applause.)  Now, the last time I was with you, I pledged to cut the backlog, slash those wait times, deliver your benefits sooner.  And I’m going to be honest with you, it has not moved as fast as I wanted.  Part of it is all these new veterans in the system who came in -- Agent Orange, PTSD.  It means a lot more claims, and despite additional resources, it’s resulted in longer waits.  And that’s been unacceptable -- unacceptable to me, unacceptable to Secretary Shinseki.

So we put more of our VA folks to work as claims processors, we hired more claims processors as well.  We’ve got them working overtime -- completing more than a million claims a year.  We prioritized the oldest claims.  Veterans groups like the DAV have pitched in as well, helping vets with their claims, getting them ready, so when they bring them, they’re in better shape and they can move a little quicker.  And today, I can report that we are not where we need to be, but we’re making progress.  We are making progress.  (Applause.)  So after years when the backlog kept growing, finally the backlog is shrinking.  In the last five months alone, it’s down nearly 20 percent.  We’re turning the tide.

And we’re not going to let up until we eliminate the backlog once and for all.  And we’ll keep moving ahead with paperless systems so the backlog doesn’t come back, and so your claims are processed right -- the first time, on time.  (Applause.)  After years of military service, you shouldn’t have to wait for years for the benefits you have earned.

Fourth, just like you fought to defend our rights and freedoms, we need to uphold the dignity and rights of every veteran.  And that starts by keeping up our campaign to end homelessness among veterans.  (Applause.)  We’re not just bringing our veterans off the streets, we’re doing more to reach at-risk and low-income vets, so they don’t become homeless in the first place.  And we’re not going to rest until every veteran who has fought for America has a home in America.  (Applause.)

Yesterday, I was proud to sign into law the Helping Heroes Fly Act -- to end those intrusive airport screenings so you, our wounded warriors and disabled vets, especially those of you with prosthetics, can travel with dignity.  And I know how disappointing it was last year when the Senate failed to approve the Disabilities Treaty despite the fact that we had a former senator and World War II veteran, Bob Dole, in the Senate chamber.  But we’re going to keep fighting to ratify that Treaty, because the United States has always been a leader for the rights of the disabled.  We believe that disabled Americans like you deserve the same opportunities to work and to study and to travel in other countries as any other American.  It’s the right thing to do.  We need to get it done.  (Applause.)

Which brings me to the final priority we need to stay focused on, and that’s making sure that our veterans have every opportunity to pursue the American Dream, starting with the education and jobs worthy of your extraordinary talents.

With our new transition assistance program we’re doing more to help departing service members and their spouses plan their careers and find that new job.  We’re going to keep helping our newest veterans and their families pursue their education under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.  We’re building on the executive order I issued last year to protect you as you go looking for schools.  I said we’re going to stand up against dishonest recruiting and predatory practices that target our veterans.  So we set new standards.  And so far, more than 6,000 schools across the country have signed on and pledged to do right by you and your families.  We don’t want our veterans cheated.  (Applause.)

I also said that schools need to step up their support so we’re doing more to help our veterans succeed on campus.  So today, we’re announcing what we call "8 Keys to Success" -- specific steps that schools can take to truly welcome and encourage our veterans.  And so far, more than 250 community colleges and universities have signed on, and today I’m calling on schools across America to join us in this effort.  Let’s help our veterans get that degree, get that credential and compete for the high-skilled jobs of tomorrow.  (Applause.)

Now, I’m also going to make sure that the federal government keeps doing its part.  I’m very proud of the fact that, since I took office, federal departments and agencies have hired nearly 300,000 veterans -- including many disabled veterans.  (Applause.)  And I’m going to keep calling on Congress to pass the Veterans Jobs Corps, to put our veterans to work protecting and rebuilding America.

And we’re also doing everything we can to help you get those private sector jobs.  More help with job searches.  More tools like our online jobs bank to connect veterans to jobs that are open right now.  Making it easier for you to transfer your skills to the licenses and credentials you need for civilian jobs.  And because tens of thousands of our veterans have already been helped, Congress needs to make permanent tax credits for companies that hire our veterans and wounded warriors.  It’s the right thing to do.  (Applause.)

And we’re going to keep urging companies across America to do the smart thing -- hire some of the best workers you’ll ever find; hire a vet.  Michelle and Jill have done great work on this.  And responding to our challenge, working with Joining Forces, America's businesses have already hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses and they’ve committed to hiring over 400,000 more.  More companies are signing up all the time.  We are going to get companies to understand that you can’t get a better deal than hiring a veteran.  (Applause.)

Because of all the efforts I’ve described, and because of a growing economy, veterans unemployment is going down, more veterans are finding jobs, and we’re going to keep at this.  Because with your skills and drive, we don’t just want you fighting for America overseas, we want you to be right here, building a stronger America, fighting for a better future for our kids.

So ensuring the resources and budgets you deserve, delivering the health care that you’ve earned, making sure you can count on it -- continuing to reduce the backlog, standing up for your rights and dignity, creating jobs and opportunity so you can realize your dreams -- that’s what I’m focused on.  That’s what I have told my entire administration to be focused on.  That’s what our country needs -- to stay focused for the many years to come.

And nobody knows this better than you, our disabled veterans.  The road of recovery is often such a long haul.  And America needs to be there for you during that long haul.  And that’s the lesson of the extraordinary young man I told you about when I spoke to you three years ago -- an Army Ranger, Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg.

A massive IED in Afghanistan nearly killed him.  He was in a coma for months, with severe traumatic brain injury.  And I told you then how, when I saw him in the hospital, he had come out of the coma, but he still couldn’t speak.  And when I asked how he was feeling, he slowly brought his hand up and he pulled his fingers together and he gave a thumbs up.  His mom was sitting there with him.

A few days ago, I saw Cory and his family again, this time in Phoenix where they live.  So I wanted to give you an update on how he’s doing.  I suspect it won’t surprise you to know that for Cory, the years since he was injured have been very hard -- brain surgeries, half dozen of them; surgeries to replace part of his skull; eye surgeries; special procedures on his lungs; skin grafts and skin flaps -- all told, dozens of surgeries and procedures.

Rehab has been grueling.  On a typical day, Cory wakes up and spend hours in therapy -- physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy.  Progress has come slowly, but it has come.  He had to learn the simple things all over again -- how to speak, how to write his name, how to throw a ball.  And this past spring, he reached another milestone.  After years in the hospital and rehab facilities, he finally came home greeted by hundreds of neighbors and friends waving American flags.

And so when I saw Cory a few days ago, he is still blind in one eye.  He still struggles to move his left side.  But the young man I had seen in that hospital bed unable to speak, barely able to move, this time he was in a chair sitting up -- alert, smiling, talking.  And then, he wanted to show me something.  And he leaned out of his chair.  And he reached out and grabbed his walker.  And with the help of his parents, he pulled himself forward and he stood up.  And he looked at me, and he gave me a sharp salute.  (Applause.)  He said, "Rangers Lead the Way."  (Applause.)

And his stepmom held one arm for balance and I held the other.  And then, Cory took a step -- then another, and then another one after that all the way across the room.  Little by little, Cory is learning to walk again.  (Applause.)  And he's starting to get good on his recumbent bike.  He hopes to bike in a race this fall -- 42 miles.  He’s scheduled to move into his own home adapted to his needs with the help of a caregiver -- another step towards the greater independence he seeks.  And so Cory says, "My recovery has not been easy.  Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy."  But he says, I don't "give up."

The war in Afghanistan may be ending, but for Cory and our disabled vets, the work has only just begun.  Cory is 30 years old.  His recovery -- like so many of yours -- will last a lifetime.  But he won’t give up, because you haven't given up.  And when it comes to our work, to making sure that our nation is fulfilling its promises to the men and women who served and sacrificed, America cannot give up either.  I will not give up.  We cannot give up.

So long as I'm the United States' President, I will make it my mission to make sure that America is right there beside you every step of the way, every step with Cory, every step with the DAV.  God bless you.  God bless our veterans.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END 12:42 P.M. EDT