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College students face the constant issue of rising tuition fees. This issue is effectively being used by President Obama to rope in youth vote, with the mid-term elections approaching fast, as is evident with his tour of college campuses.

He warned colleges that most of what his administration has strived to achieve so far will be undone by the Republicans if they gained control of Congress in November elections. He also said that all college assistance programs including the student loan system will be affected to a great deal. He went on to say that this is a choice that could lead to big consequences.

Obama realizes that the key to his party’s success is in the hands of young voters. According to the CNN exit polls for the 2008 elections, at least 66% votes he received were between age group of 18 and 30. President stressed on how he wanted everyone to make an informed decision in the coming November elections.

However, as many college students struggle with the issue of rising tuition fee, voting is far from their minds. For instance the tuition fee rose around 107% in Rhode Island College in the past ten years. Almost every student at this college is affected by this.

Students there feel that the rise in tuition fee has hit their wallet hard and they really suffer every time they have to write out the check. When questioned about the cut in funding and rising cost of tuition, President Obama said that an important part of a solution towards this is what we are doing towards increasing student financial aid. He said that colleges face severe funding problems due to the crunch faced by state budget.

 Take for example, the Rhode Island College. This college had to struggle to balance their budget with at least 22% decrease in funding from the state since the year 2007. This year, the state funds received by them are just enough to cover 36% of the costs.

The efforts of this college’s staff, faculty and students were lauded by Nancy Carriuolo. She wrote in the April 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education that this college saved three quarter million dollars just by coming up with innovative measures.

President Obama said that it is essential to tap creative ideas such as those used at RIC as this will help refocus on priorities by controlling costs. For this, the administration has plans to work with college presidents and devise means to impart the necessary knowledge and skills to the optimum level to students.

Our President touched upon another area that has to necessarily be addressed at the earliest namely athletics and building expenditure. He said that colleges today had recreation centers and food courts that are built using millions of dollars. He reminded that all this is paid by the students and reiterated that students go to colleges to equip themselves with enough knowledge and skills for a lucrative career. They certainly do not go to universities to join a spa.

President Obama again expressed how vital voting in the mid-term elections was and how the results will seriously reflect on the higher education.