Sound off: Obama Puts Colleges 'On Notice' Over Tuition Hikes

President Obama made headlines Friday when he put colleges and universities “on notice” that they would see their federal funding cut if they don’t find a way to reverse the trend in tuition hikes.

“You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year,” he said. “If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers every year will go down."

In July, the California State University Board of Trustees approved a 12 percent tuition hike for Cal State Schools.

The increase added $294 per semester. A full-time undergraduate at Cal State Long Beach now pays $5,472 per year, with additional campus fees bringing the total cost to about $6,422.

California residents attending a University of California school such as UCI, pay $13,200 in annual tuition. According to the University of California, families can expect to pay $31,200 annually for all expenses including room and board.

“Student loan debt has now surpassed credit card debt for the first time ever. Think about that. That’s inexcusable. In the coming decade, 60 percent of jobs will require more than a high school diploma. Higher education is not a luxury. It’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” Obama told a crowd of college student at the University of Michigan on Friday. “The bottom line is an economy built to last demands we keep doing everything we can to bring down the cost of college.”

At the same time, he challenged schools to improve the quality of education, calling for a report card system for schools’ success rate, calling it a “know before you owe” program.

What do you think? Can universities realistically cut tuition while improving the quality of education? Tell us in the comments.