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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


As I write this, New York is abuzz with excitement and interest triggered by President Obama’s upcoming bus trip through the state. Early reports have the President focusing on four-year college/university affordability, which he has stated several times will be the higher education priority in his second term. As Politico noted yesterday, when the President wants to talk about college affordability, he frequently mentions SUNY. (The President, like Governor Cuomo, also draws a clear line between higher education and economic revitalization, which likely explains his visits to UB and Binghamton in particular.) Given that these upcoming speeches may be the very first in which he more specifically defines his higher education affordability agenda and the path for achieving it, they are likely to gain significant attention.

One route for this agenda will be through the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the federal legislation that—among other things—gives authority for distribution of Title IV funds (financial aid) and gives authority to regional accrediting agencies as gatekeepers of these funds. Both the Senate and the House have already started staking out some positions regarding the reauthorization, as has the Department of Education. Some topics have been consistent across all three groups, and they all related to funding: for example, the desire to link access to federal financial aid to college affordability, to a college’s success in moving students to degree in a timely manner, and to the success of a college’s graduates in finding employment in field. Without question, the HEA (or HEOA, as it’s sometimes called) is the most impactful piece of federal legislation we face.

In this context, President Obama’s comments this week will be especially meaningful, so Thursday morning at UB, I’ll be listening closely.

If you could advise the President on higher education, what would you tell him is the most important issue facing our students? Share it on the blog.

Anne M. Kress
President's Office
08/21/2013