Obama Rolls Out New Higher Education Initiatives

President Barack Obama hits hard on college costs and calls for mandatory school attendance to age 18 in his State of the Union address.

—Evan Vucci/AP

By Alyson Klein

In his State of the Union address and a follow-up speech outlining a major new higher education initiative, President Barack Obama took aim at an issue that resonates with a constituency likely to be important to his re-election campaign: college students struggling to pay off their student loans.

A marquee piece would be a new, $1 billion version of his signature Race to the Top competition aimed at encouraging states to improve their higher education systems—while requiring that they maintain adequate levels of funding for higher education if they hope to win one of the grants.

The adminstration also is seeking to create a $55 million grant contest, dubbed the "First in the World" competition, to help institutions scale up promising strategies in areas such as...