Obama outlines plan to curb college costs

By Tim Goral. Saying “We've got a crisis in terms of college affordability,” President Obama outlined a three part proposal to reign in the cost of higher education before a capacity crowd at the University at Buffalo Thursday. The appearance was the first of the president’s two-day bus tour through New York and Pennsylvania designed to call attention to high education costs.
“We can’t go about business as usual,” Obama said. "Our economy can't afford the trillion dollars in outstanding student loan debt.”
The centerpiece of the proposal rests on tying financial aid to college performance, based on a new college rating system, before the 2015 school year. Higher-rated schools would qualify for larger federal grants, making them more affordable. More...