The second White House college summitheld Thursday was bigger and focused on a broader range of institutions than the inaugural January event.
And it also, in part, more vividly illustrated what seems to be an ongoing tension of the Obama administration's higher agenda: how to promote the value and importance of colleges while also seeking to hold institutions more accountable, especially for their tuition prices.
The contrast in tone between separate speeches on Thursday by President Obama and Vice President Biden underscored the balancing act for an administration that has sought to both cheerlead successes and innovations in higher education and clamp down on rising tuition prices -- approaches that tend to draw opposite reactions from college leaders.
Although Obama's remarks referenced a growing "frustration" with rising tuition, his speech was largely geared at making the case for why boosting college completion is crucial both for enhancing the nation's global competitiveness and pushing individual families into the middle class.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/12/05/second-higher-ed-summit-obama-administration-mixes-praise-and-accountability