In Ohio visit, Biden discusses college costs

Associated Press

GAHANNA, Ohio

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday stressed that a higher education continues to be worthwhile despite its high cost during tough economic times.

“It matters,” Biden repeated a crowd of roughly 800 people in a town-hall style meeting in Ohio that included high school juniors and seniors and their parents.

His visit to a suburban Columbus high school with Education Secretary Arne Duncan was their second stop to a presidential battleground state in as many months to talk about college affordability. Both visited Florida last month, and Biden planned to travel to Pennsylvania today to discuss the issue.

The Obama administration notes that more than two-thirds of Ohio college students take out loans to pay for school, and they graduate with an average debt of over $27,000.

The vice president told the audience at Lincoln High School in Gahanna that a college education is a part of the American dream that should not recede.

“If you took out of the American dream the promise of access to college, how much have you broken the dream?” Biden asked.

Both he and Duncan touted the Obama administration’s efforts to make college more affordable.