Mitt Romney gave a high school student a reality check Monday afternoon at a town hall event in Youngstown, Ohio when the student asked Romney about his views on education.
Romney told the student that the cold hard fact is that college is expensive, and it’s not the government’s responsibility to pay for it.
“And I know it would be popular for me to stand up and say I’m gonna give you government money to make sure to pay for your college, but I’m not gonna promise that,” Romney said to cheers from the audience.
Education is a favorite topic of Barack Obama’s to address at campaign events in order to reel in young people – who are a huge voting block and a valuable campaign asset when they can be convinced to passionately support a candidate.
So far, none of the Republican presidential candidates has addressed education in a major way, with the exception of Rick Santorum, who received negative attention for saying that people who go to college are elitists.
Romney suggested the student shop around for something he could afford, apply for scholarships or join the military. In Massachusetts, he said, students who join the National Guard earn four years of paid tuition and fees.
Romney told the student not to got to the college that has the highest price – students can get just as good education of an education at a reasonably priced college.
“Don’t take on too much debt, and don’t expect the government to forgive the debt that you take out,” he said. “Recognize that you’re gonna have to pay it back.”
Romney made sure to get in a veiled dig at Santorum in his response as well.
“I want to make sure that every kid in this country that wants to go to college gets the chance to go to college,” he said.
