While a recent poll conducted as part of the State of Young America report found that 79% of young people believe that higher education is more important for their generation than it was for their parents, education is also becoming more difficult to afford. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, prices for undergraduate tuition (adjusted for inflation) rose 25% at private institutions and 37% at public institutions between the school years of 1999-2000 and 2009-2010.Unsurprisingly, student debt is also rising- at both public and private universities average debt has risenat least 20%between 2004 and 2010.Last week, the Administration proposed an initiative to reform federal financial aid and encourage colleges to keep tuition down.

President Obama first touched on his proposal, which focuses on accountability and promoting affordability, during his State of the Union address last week, and outlined the plan in more detail in a speech on Friday. According to this new proposition, eligibility for $10 billion in campus-based aid programs such as Perkins loans, work-study jobs and supplemental grants for low-income students would be connected to an institutions ability to keep net tuition affordable for students and ensure that low-income students graduate. President Obama also recommended that Congress keep student interest rates low, double the number of work-study jobs available, and extend the American Opportunity Tax Credit. The Obama administrations recommendations also include:

• Expanding Perkins loans to $8 billion
• Creating a $1 billion Race to the Top grant competition to reward states and colleges that keep college costs down and improve outcomes
• Requiring colleges to compile a College Scorecard to give families an easier way to compare college costs, graduation rates, and post-graduate earnings and employment