“What I want to do is just to go speak to young people directly and remind them of what I said during the campaign, which was change is always hard in this country. It doesn’t happen overnight. You take two steps forward, you take one step back. This is a big, complicated democracy. You can’t sit it out.”

“(Young people) have got to get reengaged in this process. And they’re going to have to vote in these midterms elections. You’ve got to take the time to find out, where does your congressional candidate stand on various issues, where does your Senate candidate stand on various issues and make an educated decision and participate in this process — because democracy is never a one-and-done proposition. It’s something that requires sustained engagement and sustained involvement.”

On transparency in university spending:

“And part of what I think we’ve got to examine is, are we designing our universities in a way that focuses on the primary thing, which is education? You’re not going to a university to join a spa — you’re going there to learn so that you can have a fulfilling career. And if all the amenities of a public university start jacking up the cost of tuition significantly, that’s a problem.”

“And so one of the things that we’re going to be doing is working with university presidents and college presidents to figure out how can we get control of costs generally and refocus our priorities and our attention on what the primary function of a university is, and that is to give students the knowledge and skills that they need to have a fulfilling career after they get out — not to provide the best situation for the four years that they’re there. … I do think that you’ve got to think about what we can do to generally make universities more cost-effective for students.”

On the job market and the “lost generation”:

“Your generation is going to be just fine. I mean, we’ve gone through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and so things are real tough for young people right now. But having said that, if you are getting a college degree, if you’ve got skills in math and science or good, sound communication skills, there are still jobs out there even in a tough environment.”

“Now, in the meantime, there are some specific things that we can do to help. … One was you being able to stay on your parents’ health care until you’re 26. That gives you a little bit of a cushion in the initial jobs that you’re getting coming out of college. The second thing that I’ve already mentioned is that starting in 2014, we’re going to be in a situation where young people can cap their debt at 10 percent of their salary, regardless of what that salary is.”

On college and university retention rates:

“So what I’ve done, starting with this past year’s State of the Union address, is proposed that by 2020, we once again are No. 1 and have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. And we’re trying to put in place some policies to help us meet this goal.”

“We’re tripling the investment in college tax credits for middle-class families. We’re raising the value of Pell Grants and we’re going to make sure that they keep up with inflation.”
“It’s up to students to finish, but we can help remove some barriers, especially those who are earning degrees while working or raising families. So that’s why I’ve long proposed what I call a college access and completion fund, which would develop, implement and evaluate new approaches to improving college success and completion, especially for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds.”