INDIANAPOLIS -- President Barack Obama entered the Ivy Tech Community College auditorium Friday with a big, bold “Go Hoosiers!”
The President visited the state capital's Ivy Tech campus to discuss middle-class economics days after his new federal budget proposal went to Congress. The budget includes breaks for the middle class in areas of healthcare, childcare, paid leave, home buying and retirement.
Before taking audience questions in an casual, town hall-style conversation, Obama addressed a prominent component of his new budget: two free years of community college.
“Here in America, it shouldn’t matter how much your folks make. And students shouldn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt,” Obama said. “We can afford to pay for all of this if we fix a tax code that is filled up with special interest loopholes for folks who don’t need them.”
The free community college aspect of the budget could help dissolve the socio-economic polarization in America, Obama said.
“Are we going to be a nation where a few of us do spectacularly well and a few of us are struggling to get by?”
The President credited the State of Indiana and Gov. Mike Pence for its dedication to providing community college to students. Friday was a very special experience for the 80 Ivy Tech students sitting in the audience and behind the podium, Ivy Tech Senior Vice President for communications and marketing Jeff Fanter said.
“Indiana is unique in that we’re one of the few states with one statewide community college, and it’s the largest statewide community college in the country,” he said before Obama’s arrival. “The changing workforce is beginning to dictate the tracks people are choosing to take to go into in college."
These 80 students had the opportunity to ask the President questions following his speech. They were joined by a high school student, an Indiana University student representing IU College Democrats, a veteran and others.
“So that’s what’s on my mind,” Obama said. “I want to know what’s on your mind.”
Isabel Keller, a local high school student, asked the President for advice on how best to get her peers engaged in the political system. Obama acknowledged her inquiry as one of the core issues in America.
“One of the big challenges we have in this country is the lack of civic engagement,” Obama said, adding that roughly 30 percent of registered voters voted in the last American election, while Ukraine had a 60 percent voter turnout rate despite being in a war.
The President emphasized the importance of getting young people engaged in politics in high school.
“They need to understand that politics is not some side show in Washington,” he said. “It’s how we work together as a community to make decisions about our priorities.”
Ivy Tech’s student government president inquired about free tax credits for textbooks and access to more academic advisors. The President acknowledged both items as issues in higher education.
“When Michelle and I first got married, we had the bonds of love, and the bonds of debt,” Obama said, adding that for the first ten years of his marriage, he and his wife’s monthly student loan payments were higher than their home’s mortgage.
The President did not provide a solution to the issue of student loan debt and rising textbook prices, but offered his pledge to help find ways to lower the supplementary costs of attending college for both community college and traditional university students.
He also addressed questions from the audience regarding education for veterans and historically black colleges and universities.
The “only blue you see in Indiana is on a Colts sign,” and the only red you see in Illinois is on a Bulls sign, the President joked.
“There is no liberal America or conservative America," Obama said. "There is the United States of America."
IDS reporters Hannah Alani, Daniel Metz and Ike Hajinazarian had live updates. Check our timeline on Twitter.
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