Friday, January 27, 2012

President Barack Obama wants to shift some federal dollars away from colleges and universities that aren't controlling tuition costs to those that are. He's also proposing competitions among higher education institutions to encourage them to run more efficiently.

President Obama will spell out his plans Friday during a speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor focused on college affordability.

On Tuesday during his State of the Union address, President Obama put colleges and universities on notice to control soaring tuition costs or face losing federal dollars.

The money President Obama is targeting is what's known as "campus based" aid given to colleges to distribute in areas such as Perkins loans or in work study programs. Of the $142 billion in federal grants and loans distributed in the last school year, about $3 billion went to these programs.