President Barack Obama is sending Congress a new budget that seeks to boost spending in areas like education.

The new plan for higher education centers on rewarding colleges and universities that keep the total cost of attending their school down.

President Obama wants to reward schools that have a responsible tuition policy, provide good value to students and their families and encourage schools to serve low-income students.

“I think that it’s great that the government is addressing education because education is valuable,” said Elisa Malile, Oakland University student congress vice president. “I believe that everyone should have an opportunity for higher education and if you look at middle schools and elementary schools, they lack the resources needed to enhance our education, so I think a program like this is perfect.”

The current formula that is used to decide how much federal funding a school will receive has no incentives for schools to keep tuition costs low.

President Obama’s new plan will shift money away from schools with rising tuition, and give it to schools that according to a press release from The White House, “act responsibly, focus on setting a responsible tuition policy, provide a good value education and ensure that higher numbers of low-income students complete their education.”

Students also will be rewarded depending on what college they choose to go to.

A student who is attending a college that met the new standards of keeping costs down will get substantially more in federal aid than a student attending a college that failed to meet these standards.

As part of the proposal the campus based aid will increase to $10 billion annually.

This increase will come at no additional cost to tax payers.

According to a statement, this increase will come at no additional cost to tax payers.

Per  statement from the White House, “President Obama is also proposing that new tools be provided to students and families with information on higher education, presented in a comparable and easy-to-understand format.”

According to a White House statement, President Obama has also increased the maximum amount a student can receive from the Pell Grant to $5,635. This number is up $905 since 2008.

President Obama also proposed to double the amount of work-study jobs that are available to students, according to a statement from the White House.

According to the Federal Student Aid website, “a work-study provides part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need, allowing them to ear money to help pay education expenses.”

Subsidized Stafford student loans are set to double this summer from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. To combat this President Obama has asked Congress to prevent the increase and save the average college student with loans over $1,000.

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama said, “Of course, it’s not enough for us to increase student aid … States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down.”

President Obama hopes that these new policies, “will promote change in the state systems of higher education.”

 

—-Contact senior reporter Christopher Lauritsen via email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ChrisLaurtsen