President Obama talks education, school reform, with NBC News' Savannah Guthrie

VIDEO - As part of the NBC News 2012 "Education Nation" Summit this week, President Barack Obama sat down with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie to discuss his vision for the future of education in America.

TheGrio Staff

Sep 26, 2012

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE:
Let’s talk about college tuition. I know you’ve done a lot, you talk a lot, about what to do on the aid side. On the cost side, tuition is going up by leaps and bounds. It will make your jaw drop when you (CHUCKLE) find out–

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:
Right.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE:
–you know, what a little kid today is going to have to pay for college–

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:
Right.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE:
–in 20 years. In your State of the Union you said, “I’m putting you on notice, colleges. If you don’t reduce this tuition, you’re going to see your funding drop.” Is there any evidence that they’ve done anything to change, that they’ve listened to that threat?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:
There are some schools that have. And you’re right– our first step was to make sure that we were providing the aid and grants that were needed so that the burden wasn’t all falling on kids. And we expanded Pell Grants. We took $60 million out of the student loan program that was going to banks and middle men. We said, “Let’s cut out the middle men. Let’s use that to expand the assistance we’re providing the kids.”