Mixed Reviews of Obama Plan to Keep Down College Costs

In a campus visit Friday morning, President Obama outlined his plans to keep college tuition costs in check, getting a wildly enthusiastic response at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Students cheered his oratory on the importance of a college degree, expanded student aid, affordable college costs — and, of course, his many references to Michigan, a key swing state.

But out in the world, the reaction to the president’s proposals — tying colleges’ eligibility for certain federal aid programs to their affordability and outcomes — was far more tempered.

Most people stressed that they, too, wanted to make college education more affordable. But when it came to the particulars of the plan — and paying for it — there was no consensus.