Biden, in a swing state, addresses student anxiety over college costs (+video)

Vice President Joe Biden on Friday sought to convince high-schoolers that the Obama administration has their back when it comes to reining in runaway tuition costs, acknowledging that many parents are questioning the value of a college education in today's economy.

His mission was to acknowledge their concerns – and remind them (and their families), in an election year, of what the Democratic-led White House has endeavored to do on their behalf. The challenges to his message are that states, not the federal government, have control over tuition rates at public colleges and universities, and that education costs remain stressfully high despite some relief due to an expansion of financial aid and tax credits.

“A college education is slipping out of the grasp of an awful lot of people now," Mr. Biden acknowledged before at a town-hall-style meeting of students from Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, Pa. "For the first time you have a slight majority of American parents ... questioning whether or not the cost of a college education is worth it.” 

In Pennsylvania, average debt was the fifth highest in the country for the college graduating class of 2010 – $28,599 for students at public and nonprofit four-year institutions – and 70 percent of that class graduated with some debt, according to The Institute for College Access & Success.

Biden said the United States has slipped to 16th in the world in the proportion of young people earning a college degree. Thus, improving affordability “is not just about helping you, this is not just about keeping a commitment to the middle class," he said. "This is about making sure America’s the strongest nation in the world.”

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