BOISE-- Lawmakers in Idaho have been talking about education all week. Friday, it was President Barack Obama's turn.
The president was at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor Friday morning talking about rising tuition rates and student loans.
Obama wants to make higher education affordable for everyone. To encourage schools to keep tuition down, Obama wants to give schools that provide students with the best value the most money.
Currently, the government gives the most student aid to schools with the highest tuition to help students fill the gap between what they can afford and what their education costs.
In his speech, Obama says he wants to reward schools that provide a good value. However, he did not say what classifies a school as a good value.
The College Board reports that the average cost of tuition at a 4-year college is $8,200 for in-state students per year.
In Idaho it is well below that. Students at Boise State University pay $5,566 a year. At the University of Idaho students pay a little over $5,856.
KTVB asked UI President Duane Nellis what he thought of Obama's proposal.
"You know we've made some tough budget decisions in the last few years," said Nellis. "We've either cut or consolidated programs, we've eliminated faculty positions to try to maintain our cost. If he (Obama) is truly looking to reward those that have more affordable rates as far as tuition then I think we can certainly benefit from that."
Newsweek Magazine ranks the University of Idaho the third most affordable university in the nation for 2012.
Right now, the university gets $100 million of federal financial aid for students each year. It is unclear how much money it would get if Obama's proposal was passed by Congress.
