College costs test Obama’s policies

In campaign stops across college campuses, and again in the debate Tuesday, President Barack Obama has touted his efforts to make college more affordable.

His record, more activist than any recent predecessor, includes greatly expanding the federal government’s role in granting college loans, increasing aid to community colleges and taking steps to stem soaring tuition.

Although none of the questions in the town hall- style presidential debate were on college affordability, Obama pivoted to that topic.

In answering a question about gender equity, he said, “We’ve expanded Pell Grants formillions of people, including millions of young women.”

Many education experts laud his efforts, but analysts of varying political stripes also have questioned howmuch impact some of the president’s policies will have, noting the prices charged by colleges, and student borrowing, are climbing.

“I think the president deserves a lot of credit for putting emphasis on things that weren’t being talked aboutmuch — raising educational attainment, expanding community college, cost containment,” said Derek Bok, the former Harvard University president. “But I think the jury’s out on whether it’s effective.”

During his time in office, Obama has increased aid to low- and middleincome students, notably through the Pell Grant program, which grew from $ 14.6 billion in 2008 to nearly $ 40 billion this year.

But conservative critics of the Pell Grant program contend that as government pours more money into higher education, the lawof supply and demand dictates that it contributes to price increases.

“Could the colleges charge what they’re charging now in the absence of federal aid?” said NealMcCluskey, an education analyst at the Cato Institute. “The answer is no.”

Mitt Romney’s education plan says he would “refocus Pell Grant dollars on the students that need them most.” His stance was interpreted as meaning he would cut the program by making fewer students eligible.

Yet in the presidential debates, Romney seems to have shifted his position. In the first debate Oct. 3, he said, “I don’t have any plan to cut education funding and grants that go to people going to college.” He went further Tuesday, touting a state aid program he created as Massachusetts governor.