Transcript: Obama’s remarks on college affordability plan:

Transcript: Obama’s remarks on college affordability plan

By Valerie Strauss, Published: August 23 at 12:15 amE-mail the writer

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(By Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

Here are remarks that President Obama made on Thursday when  announcing his new college affordability plan at the State University of New York in Buffalo. This transcript is from the White House.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

ON COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY

State University of New York Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Buffalo! (Applause.) Hello, Bulls! (Applause.) Well, it is good to be back in Buffalo, good to be back in the north. (Applause.)

I want to begin by making sure we all thank Silvana for the wonderful introduction. Give her a big round of applause. (Applause.) Her mom and dad are here somewhere. Where are they? I know they’re pretty proud. There they are right there. Give mom and dad a big round of applause. (Applause.)

A number of other people I want to acknowledge here — first of all, our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who’s doing a great job. (Applause.) One of the finest governors in the country, your Governor, Andrew Cuomo, is here. (Applause.) Your outstanding Mayor, Brian Higgins, is here. Give him a big round of applause.

AUDIENCE: Congressman!

THE PRESIDENT: What?

AUDIENCE: The Mayor is Byron Brown!

THE PRESIDENT: Byron Brown. That’s — I’m sorry, Byron. (Applause.) What I meant was — your Congressman, Brian Higgins, is here. (Applause.) Your Mayor, Byron Brown, is here. (Applause.) This is what happens when you get to be 52 years old. (Laughter.) When I was 51 everything was smooth. (Laughter.) But your Congressman and your Mayor are doing outstanding work. We just rode on the bus over from the airport, and they were telling me that Buffalo is on the move. That was the story. (Applause.)

A couple other people I want to acknowledge — SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, is here, doing a great job. (Applause.) University president Satish Tripathi is here. (Applause.) And we’ve got all the students in the house. Thank all the students for being here. (Applause.)

Now, today is a check-in day at the dorms. So I want to thank all the students for taking a few minutes from setting up your futons and — (laughter) — your mini-fridges just to come out here. I hear that the last sitting President to speak here was Millard Fillmore. (Applause.) And he was actually chancellor of the university at the same time — which sounds fun, but I’ve got enough on my plate. (Laughter.)

This is our first stop on a two-day road trip through New York and Pennsylvania. (Applause.) And after this I head to Syracuse — (applause) — yay, Syracuse — to speak with some high schoolers. Tomorrow I’m going to visit SUNY Binghamton and Lackawanna College in Scranton. But I wanted to start here at University at Buffalo. (Applause.)

And I wanted to do it for a couple reasons. First, I know you’re focused on the future. As I said, talking to the Mayor, he was describing a new medical school — (applause) — and new opportunities for the high-tech jobs of tomorrow. So there’s great work being done at this institution. I also know that everybody here must be fearless because the football team kicks off against Number 2, Ohio State, next weekend. (Applause.) Good luck, guys. (Laughter.) It’s going to be a great experience. (Laughter.) It’s going to be a great experience. It could be an upset. (Applause.)

And third, and most importantly, I know that the young people here are committed to earning your degree, to helping this university to make sure that every one of you “Finishes in Four” — (applause) — makes sure that you’re prepared for whatever comes next. And that’s what I want to talk about here today.

Over the last month, I’ve been visiting towns across the country, talking about — yes, feel free to sit down. Get comfortable. (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. I love you, too. (Applause.)

Over the last month I’ve been out there talking about what we need to do as a country to make sure that we’ve got a better bargain for the middle class and everybody who’s working hard to get into the middle class -– a national strategy to make sure that everybody who works hard has a chance to succeed in this 21st century economy. (Applause.)

Now, I think all of us here know that for the past four and a half years, we’ve been fighting back from a brutal recession that cost millions of Americans their jobs and