Can everybody give Emilio a big round of applause for a great introduction? (Applause.) I think

Emilio's parents are probably here. Where are Emilio's parents? Wave your hands. There

they are right there. He did pretty good, didn't he? We're very proud of him. We might

have to run him for something.

In addition to Emilio, I want to mention a couple other people. You already heard from

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who's doing a great job every day. (Applause.) You've

got Mayor Stephanie Miner here. (Applause.) There she is. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

is here. (Applause.) Your Congressman, Dan Maffei, is here. (Applause.) The superintendent

of the Syracuse City School District, Sharon Contreras, is here. (Applause.) Your principal,

Robert DiFlorio, is here. (Applause.) And most importantly, a bunch of students are

here. (Applause.)

My understanding is there are students from all five Syracuse high schools here. You got

Corcoran in the house. (Applause.) You got Fowler in the house. (Applause.) Nottingham.

(Applause.) The Institute of Technology. (Applause.) And our host, Henninger, is here. (Applause.)

We're all one family.

Now, I especially want to thank the students because I know that you're still on summer

vacation. You've got a few more days. So taking the time to be here when you've still got

a little bit, that last little bit of summer break, that's a big deal, and I'm very honored

to be here with you.

I am on a road trip -- by the way, if people have seats, feel free to take a seat. I'm

going to be talking for a while. If you've got no seats, then don't sit down -- (laughter)

-- because you will fall down. (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!

THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applause.)

So I'm here on a road trip through New York into Pennsylvania. This morning, I was at

the University at Buffalo. Tomorrow, I'll be at Binghamton University and Lackawanna

College in Scranton. But I wanted to come to Syracuse -- (applause) -- because you're

doing something fantastic here, with programs like "Say Yes" -- (applause) -- Smart Scholars

Early College High School -- these are programs that are helping Syracuse kids get ready for

college, and making sure that they can afford to go.

And this is a community effort. All of you are coming together and you have declared

that no child in the city of Syracuse should miss out on a college education because they

can't pay for it. (Applause.) And so we're hoping more cities follow your example, because

what you're doing is critical not just to Syracuse's future, but to America's future.

And that's what I want to talk about briefly here today.

Over the past month, I've been visiting towns across the country, talking about what we

need to do to secure a better bargain for the middle class and everybody who's working

hard to get into the middle class -- to make sure everybody who works hard has a chance

to succeed in the 21st century economy.

And we all understand that for the past four and a half years, we had to fight our way

back from a brutal recession, and millions of Americans lost their jobs and their homes

and their savings. But what the recession also did was it showed this emerging gap in

terms of the life prospects of a lot of Americans.

What used to be taken for granted -- middle-class security

-- has slipped away from too many people. So, yes, we saved the auto industry. We took

on a broken health care system. (Applause.) We reversed our addiction to foreign oil.

We changed our tax code that was tilted too far in favor of the wealthy at the expense

of working families. And so we've made progress. Our businesses have created 7.3 million new

jobs over the last 41 months. (Applause.) We've got more renewable energy than ever.

We are importing less oil than in a very long time.

We sell more goods made in America to the rest of the world than ever before. Health

care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. Our deficits are falling at the

fastest rate in 60 years.

So there's good news out there. And thanks to the grit and the resilience of the American

people, we've been able to clear away the rubble from the financial crisis, and start

laying the foundation for a better economy. But as any middle-class family will tell you,

we are not --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: I hear you. I got you.

AUDIENCE: Booo --

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no, that's fine. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We're okay. We're

okay. That's okay. Hold on a second. Hold on. Hold on. Hello, everybody, hello. Hold

on. Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. Hold on. So, now -- hold on a second. (Applause.)

Can I just say that as hecklers go, that young lady was very polite. (Laughter.) She was.

And she brought up an issue of importance, and that's part of what America is all about.

(Applause.)

But what America is also all about is making sure that middle-class families succeed, and

that people who work hard can get into the middle class. And what I was saying was is

that we're not where we need to be yet. We've still got more work to do. Because even before

the most recent financial crisis, we had gone through a decade where folks at the top were

doing better and better; most families were working harder and harder just to get by.

And we've seen growing inequality in our society and less upward mobility in our society.

The idea used to be that here in America anybody could make it. But part of that was because

we put these ladders of opportunity for people. And, unfortunately, what's happened is it's

gotten tougher for a lot of folks. So we've got to reverse these trends. This has to be

Washington's highest priority -- how do we make sure everybody gets a fair shake. That's

got to be our priority. (Applause.)

Unfortunately, you may have noticed that in Washington, rather than focusing on a growing

economy and creating good, middle-class jobs, there's a certain faction of my good friends

in the other party who've been talking about not paying the bills that they've already

run up; who've been talking about shutting down the government if they can't take away

health care that we're putting in place for millions of Americans.

Those are not ideas that will grow our economy. They're not going to create good jobs. They're

not going to strengthen the middle class -- they'll weaken the middle class. So we can't afford

the usual Washington circus of distractions and political posturing. We don't need that.

What we've got to do is to build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America

-- a good job, good wages, a good education, a home, affordable health care, a secure retirement.

That's what we need to focus on. (Applause.)

And we've got to create as many pathways as possible for people to succeed as long as

they're willing to work hard. That's what's always made America great. We don't judge

ourselves just by how many billionaires we produce. We've got to focus on our ability

to make sure that everybody who works hard has a chance to pursue their own measure of

happiness.

And in that project, in that work, there aren't a lot of things that are more important than

making sure people get a good education. That is key to upward mobility. That is key to

a growing economy. That is key to a strong middle class. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!

THE PRESIDENT: Love you back. (Laughter.)

Now, everybody here knows that. That's why you're here. That's why a lot of your families

are making big sacrifices to send kids to college. You understand that in the face of

global competition, a great education is more important than ever. A higher education is

the single best investment you can make in your future. (Applause.) Single best. And

I'm proud of all of the students who are working toward that goal.

And in case any of you are wondering whether it's a good investment, think about these

statistics: The unemployment rate for Americans with at least a college degree is about a

third lower than the national average. The incomes of people with at least a college

degree are more than twice what the incomes are of Americans who don't have a high school

diploma. So more than ever before, some form of higher education -- two year, four year,

technical college -- that's the path into the middle class.

But the main reason I'm here is to talk about the fact that we've seen a barrier and a burden

to too many American families, and that's the soaring cost of higher education. (Applause.)

The fact is, college has never been more necessary, but it's also never been more expensive.

Think about this: Over the past three decades, the average tuition at a four-year public

college has risen by more than 250 percent. The typical family income has gone up 16 percent.

So I wasn't a math major, but let's just think about it -- college costs, 250 percent; incomes,

16 percent. What that means is, is that more and more, it's getting harder and harder for

students to be able to afford that college education. And families are making bigger

and bigger sacrifices -- including a lot of parents who are putting off their own retirement,

their own savings, because they're trying to help their kids afford a college education.

In the meantime, over the past few years, you've got too many states that have been

cutting back on their higher education budgets. Colleges have not been cutting back on their

costs, and so what you end up with is taxpayers putting in more money, students and families

picking up the tab, but young people are still ending up with more debt.

The average student who borrows for college now graduates owing more than $26,000. And

a lot of young people owe a lot more than that. I've heard from a lot of these young

people, and they're frustrated because they're saying to themselves, we've done everything

our society told us we were supposed to do, but crushing debt is crippling our ability

to get started in our lives after we graduate. It's crippling our self-reliance and the dreams

that we had.

At a time when higher education has never been more important or more expensive, too

many students face a choice they should not have to make: Either they say no to college,

or they pay the price of going to college and ending up with debt that they're not sure

will pay off. And that's not a choice that we should ask young people to make. That's

not a choice we should accept.

If you think about what built this country, this is a country that's always been at the

cutting edge of making a good education available to more people. My grandfather, when he came

back from World War II, he went -- he had the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

My mother got through school while raising two kids because she got some help. (Applause.)

Michelle and I, we didn't come from rich folks. We did not come from privileged backgrounds.

So we're only where we are today because scholarships and student loans gave us a shot at a good

education. And we know a little bit about paying back student loans, because we each

graduated from college and law school with a mountain of debt. And even with good jobs,

I didn't pay it off and she didn't pay off her loans until I was almost a U.S. senator.

I was in my 40s.

So over the past four years, what we've done is to try to take some steps to make college

more affordable. First thing we did -- we enacted historic reforms to the student loan

system. What was happening was student loans were going through banks; banks were making

billions of dollars. We said why don't we just give the loans directly to the students,

cut out the banks, then we can help more students. (Applause.)

Then we set up a consumer watchdog that's already helping families and students sort

through all the financial options so they really understand them and they're not ripped

off by shady lenders. And we're providing more tools and resources for students and

families trying to finance college. And, by the way, high school seniors, you guys want

to start figuring this stuff out -- go to studentaid.gov. That's a website -- studentaid.gov.

And it will give you a sense of what's available out there.

We took action to cap loan repayments at 10 percent of monthly income for a lot of borrowers

who are trying to pay their debt but do so in a responsible way. (Applause.)

So, overall, we've made college more affordable for millions of students and families through

tax credits and grants and student loans. And just a few weeks ago, Democrats and Republicans

worked together to keep student loan rates from doubling, and that saves a typical undergraduate

more than $1,500 for this year's loans. (Applause.)

So, now, that's all a good start. But it's not enough. The system we have right now is

unsustainable, because if it keeps on going up 250 percent a year, your incomes are only

going up 16 percent -- not 250 percent a year -- over a decade -- but your incomes are only

going up 16 percent, it's just at a certain point, it will break the bank. There won't

be enough federal aid to make up for the difference. And families, at a certain point, aren't going

to be able to send their kids to school.

And state legislatures, they can't just keep cutting support for public college and universities.

Colleges can't just keep raising tuition year after year, and pushing these state cutbacks

on to students and families, and federal taxpayers are not going to be able to make up all the

difference.

Our economy can't afford the trillion dollars -- $1 trillion in outstanding student loan

debt. Because when young people have that much debt, that means they can't buy a home.

It means they can't start the business that maybe they've got a great idea for. And we

can't price the middle class and everybody working to get into the middle class out of

a college education. (Applause.) It will put our young generation of workers at a competitive

disadvantage for years.

So if a higher education is still the best ticket to upward mobility in America -- and

it is -- then we've got to make sure it's within reach. We've got to make sure that