On Monday, February 6, Vice President Joe Biden visited Florida State U. and discussed higher education funding and the initiatives the government is taking to ensure that students and universities can afford education.

Before Biden took the podium, President of Florida State U., Eric Barron, said he was happy that Biden decided to visit Florida State.

“Anytime you have the vice president of the United States visit your university, that’s a good thing,” said Barron.

Barron said he hoped that Biden would send a message that does not lump FSU in with excessive tuitions raises that have occurred at other universities.

“I would hope that he sends the message of how important it is to support higher education and to make sure it’s affordable,” said Barron. “One of the interesting things that occurs is that everybody says, ‘What’s the percentage increase in tuition?’ But what they don’t realize is that a 15 percent increase at FSU is equivalent of a 4 or 5 percent increase at many other institutions.”

Biden began his address by saying that the students are the people who understand this issues the most and that he understands because he was once in their shoes.

“You know the realities of tuition and you know the realities of how hard it is to stay,” said Biden. “For me, it’s personal. I watched my father try to get my [siblings] and I through college.”

Biden said it is extremely important for the United States to provide funding for those who cannot afford college.

“The single most significant thing we can do is have the best educated nation in the world, “ said Biden. “It is literally the key that leads to everything else – from our economic security to our physical security.”

Biden said he hopes middle-class parents never have to tell their children they can’t afford college.

“There are millions of mothers and fathers who are going to bed and wonder whether or not they’re going to have to tell their daughter or son and say, ‘Honey, I’m not sure if we can get you back next semester,’” said Biden. “That is an absolute downer for a parent.”

Biden said, regardless of the cost, the prospect of education should inspire students.

“Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire,” said Biden. “Education is about […] creativity. College education is going to spark that fire and it’s going to burn for a lifetime for you.”

While the changes made to loans and grants have been mostly negative, according to College Board, Florida can boast a recent ranking of 45th lowest tuition in the nation – down from 48th last year.

In his address, Biden acknowledged Florida’s low tuition rates and said it reflects well on the average student debt bill the majority of students receive upon graduation.

“You’re average debt is good news [at FSU]. It’s [significantly] lower than the national [student] debt,” said Biden.

Biden said the Obama administration created a new loan payment plan in order to help ease the stress of paying back loans.

“We came along and said, ‘You are not going to have to pay more than 10 percent of your disposable income,” said Biden.

Biden also said another focus is adding more work-study jobs.

‘We want to double the number of [work study programs],” said Biden. “More than 1,000 students here are holding down work study jobs.”

He said they want to halt the doubling of interest on student loans- a proposal that would be enacted this summer.

“We’re able to go out and help a lot of folks out there from businesses to banks,” said Biden. “I don’t think it’s asking too much to ask the Congress to make sure students don’t end up having to double the interest on their loans.”

Biden said another major reform the government is taking in order to ensure quality and affordable education is reevaluating what schools they give aid to.

“Colleges have to do a better job of keeping tuition down,” said Biden. “We’re projecting a new policy to steer federal loan money and financial aid to […] deliver good value to their students and not send it to folks who don’t.”

Biden said he encourages schools to think of unique ways to fund programs.

“There’s [a lot] you can do to save tens of thousands of dollars,” said Biden. “We’re [asking them to do things] that won’t compromise your education. Just common sense things so that the dollars can go a lot of further.”

He broke down his speech to two factors: how important a college education is and the monetary promise of college.

“All of this is about doing two things: one is that 50 percent of Americans ask if a college education is still worth it,” said Biden. “[A lot] say it isn’t worth it because of the debt […] and the sacrifices you take. Well I’m going to tell you that it is worth it. 60 percent of the jobs in the future are jobs that are going to require a degree beyond high school.”

The vice president said the income is much better when you go to college.

“If you have a college degree today, […] you make on average $20,100 a year more than anyone who has a high school degree,” said Biden. “Folks, it’s worth it, and it’s most of all worth it for your country.”

When Biden opened the floor to questions, he addressed the tuition issues at FSU.

“We’re not looking for them to cut tuition,” said Biden. “We’re looking that for the next three years they don’t raise 300 percent again. FSU has great professors and you start at a very low tuition base […] so it’s unlikely that any of this will affect FSU. We want them [other universities] to do things to adjust to the modern age.”

Biden said government spending is all about what issues are truly important to people.

“Everything’s a matter of choice,” said Biden. “[…] For example, every [spending] that you make has an impact. There are really legitimate arguments against the arguments I’m making, but it’s about what your priorities are. My dad used to say, ‘Joey if everything’s equally important to you, nothing’s important to you.’”

Biden ended his visit and said his main focus is funding higher education.

“I end where I began,” said Biden. “This is fundamentally the single most important priority.”

After the event, recent FSU graduate, Anna Dike, said she felt Biden said significant things about a topic that is important to her.

I think he had a lot of important things to say,” said Dike. “As someone who just graduated, and I’m planning on going to grad school, affordability is a major factor as to whether I can even do it or not.”

Kirk Duchesne, an FSU freshman, said he has faith in the plans Biden laid out.

“I believe Joe Biden […] because I truly do believe that higher education is key for economical progress,” said Duchesne. “It will definitely take time, and it’s not something easy, but it’s well worth it.”

After Biden’s speech, President Barron said he praises Biden for investigating Florida State’s own monetary issues.

“I’m happy to have the attention and I’m also gratified by the fact that he obviously did some research about Florida State,” said Barron. “He knew how much money we lost, he knew that we were really a bargain compared to many other universities.”

Barron said FSU would continue to find innovative ways to cut costs while ensuring a quality education.

“We look at what can save us in energy, [and] we look at our administrative structure,” said Barron. “We have one of the fewest numbers of vice presidents in any university that I’ve ever visited and it’s because we’re constantly working to cut and this last year, the cuts we took, we worked really hard to protect academic programs.”

Barron said FSU would not cut costs for any major – including liberal arts.

“Students don’t know what it is often that they want to study and they change their minds and what’s very American is to be able to choose what it is that you want to study,” said Barron. “It’s as American as apple pie that people get to choose what they get to study.”