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On Saturday, President Obama gave the commencement address for the graduates of the University of California-Irvine.

The theme of President Obama’s commencement address centered on climate change, but the president missed a golden opportunity to highlight or put forth a substantial new policy concerning student loan debt.

He had a captive audience with many of the graduates entering the workforce with on average of $25-30,000 in debt.  Hardly a way most of the graduates thought they would be leaving college and beginning their careers.

The president devoted one sentence to the student loan debt by stating, “You’re graduating into a still-healing job market, and some of you are carrying student loan debt that you’re concerned about.”

This was a far cry from last week when the president stated, “Once the glow wears off, this can be a stressful time for millions of students.  And they’re asking themselves, how on Earth am I going to pay off all these student loans”?

Even after the White House released data in which USA Today reported, 71% of students earning a bachelor’s degree graduate with debt, averaging $29,400. This year, the student loan debt balance stood at $1.1 trillion — second only to mortgages for households.

The president laid out his plan to tackle this issue, but unfortunately it focuses on the states to spend more money on higher education.  The president also focuses on refinancing of student loan debt and other cosmetic changes to how college is financed but leaves out the most important element driving cost of education.

Why does higher education and other education related training cost so much?  Why are we not looking into the astronomically rise of tuition cost associated with education.

A generation ago when I graduated from college I was able to work my way through college, tough as it was, a college student could work your way through college.  Today it’s virtually impossible to do so, especially for the middle class.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is a press release, ““The President is also calling for the Senate to pass Senator Elizabeth Warren’s student loan legislation, which does nothing to address the growing costs of higher education and puts taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars of existing loan debt. During this week’s Senate debate, l look forward to offering alternative higher education reform ideas that will make higher education more affordable and accessible for young Americans.”

So far I haven’t seen or heard of any proposal being offered or discussed that would make an immediate impact to this crisis.  Republicans need to make this a priority as this has a dramatic impact on the economy.

It’s also ironic that in attendance former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano now the 20th president of the University of California educational system.

As president of the UC system she receives a base salary of $570,000, an auto allowance of $8,916, and received a one-time relocation fee of $142,000 to move to California from Washington D.C.

Also in attendance were many of the Regents of the University of California system, who have astronomical compensation package all the while stating we need to hire the best and the brightest, but tuition continues to rise each year.

University and College administrative costs continue to skyrocket all on the backs of the students, in which administrators say they care so much about.

The time has come to reform the costs of higher education in this country and not just give lip service or only look at the symptom instead of the cause.

The other question not even mentioned, but needing to be asked is, will there be a bailout of student loans?

It’s time for Republicans, Democrats, and the president to do their jobs and stop trying to score political points in the run up to the mid-term election in November.