In just over half an hour, President Barack Obama laid out aspects of his plan to make higher education more affordable while speaking to 3,000 students at the University of Michigan Jan. 27.

For those perseverant enough to get tickets, the wait was worth it.

“I didn’t think I’d get a chance to do this again,” said U-M mechanical engineering student Kyle Taylor, who stood 10 hours in line overnight outside the Student Union for tickets to see the president speak.

Deleise Cole Wilson, a recent college graduate, had the same mindset.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime for me,” she said.

She said she wanted to hear Obama’s plan for dealing with student debt, but just to get the chance to see the president, whom she voted for in the 2008 election and plans to do so again in the upcoming election, was enough.

“He could sing, he could talk, he could do whatever,” she said. “He has a free pass with me.”

Before the speech, Sen.Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, stressed the importance of higher education and the need for a federal plan to address its rising costs.

“We can’t have students coming out of college owing more on their tuition debt than if they bought a house,” she said. “We’ve got to continue to focus on bringing down the cost of college.”

Students waiting in the crowd cheered along with the U-M fight song and other fan favorites as they waited anxiously for Obama’s appearance, and as he mounted the stage, a wave of applause and shouts greeted him.

“It is good to be back in Ann Arbor,” he said, referencing the spring commencement speech he gave to U-M graduates in 2010.

Obama spent the majority of his speech discussing higher education and its importance. The right to an education, he said, is a universal right that applies to all Americans, not only a privileged few.

“In this economy,” he said, “there is no greater predictor of individual success than a good education.”

In 2010, Obama said, college graduates ended up having to pay back an average of $24,000 in loans. He called it “inexcusable” that student debt is now higher than credit card debt in this country.

To combat this, Obama said, his administration has dedicated billions of dollars to go toward federal student aid and is capping student loan payments so that nearly 1.6 million students will only have to pay 10 percent of their monthly income toward loans after graduation.

He called on Congress to stop the student interest rates from doubling in July and double the number of work-study jobs over the next five years, but acknowledged that continued subsidization of tuition alone is not the answer. Universities and colleges must also work to keep higher education affordable for students, he said.

“We are putting colleges on notice,” he said. “You can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down.

“We should push colleges to do better. We should hold them accountable if they don’t.”

States, also, are accountable, according to Obama. Last year, more than 40 states cut their budgets for higher education, which in turn puts a strain on colleges and universities. For the 2012 fiscal year, Wayne State lost $32 million in state funding, causing WSU to raise undergraduate tuition rates 6.9 percent.

States who work to support higher education will receive backup funding at the federal level, Obama said.

He also took time to reiterate points from his Jan. 24 State of the Union address, including his appeals to Congress to give incentives to businesses who choose to remain in the U.S. rather than outsource jobs overseas.

Rebuilding the American manufacturing industry is key to rebuilding the economy, he said, as is the need for realization that not all the jobs that have gone overseas are likely to return.

Another route to improving the economy, he said, is through pursuing green energy such as wind and solar power and biofuels.

“Congress needs to stop giving taxpayer dollars to an oil industry that’s never been more profitable, and double down on a clean energy future that’s never been more promising,” Obama said.

Michigan, and Detroit in particular, he said, could play a part in the drive toward clean energy by creating more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

In discussing the national deficit and tax rates, Obama advocated following the Buffett Rule – those who make more than $1 million per year should have to pay at least 30 percent in taxes, while those who make less than $250,000 a year would not face increased taxes.

“This is part of the idea of shared responsibility,” he said. “I know a lot of folks have been running around calling this class warfare. I think asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes is just common sense.”

People in this country don’t begrudge wealth, Obama said, but rather, they need to understand that it’s important for everyone to do their share in creating a stronger America.

“Here in America, we don’t give up,” he said in closing. “We make sure everybody has a chance to get ahead. And if we work in common purpose with common resolve, we can build an economy that gives everybody a fair shot.”