Obama campaign touts efforts on student loans with new website

President Obama's campaign launched a new website Tuesday highlighting the president's student loan program, looking to target the youth vote that buoyed his efforts in 2008.

The website touts the "Pay As You Earn" program, which caps federal student loan payments at 10 percent of discretionary income. Users can plug their income and student loan debt into the calculator to see what their monthly payments would be.

The program was announced last October as part of the president's "We Can't Wait" initiatives, a set of executive orders and regulations intended to stimulate the economy — and create distance from an increasingly unpopular Congress.

"Obama for America also released new state reports today that highlight the key differences between President Obama’s efforts to build a world-class, competitive education system and the Romney-Ryan approach to education, which would gut resources that children, teachers, schools and college students depend on," the campaign said in a statement. "The president believes that education is critical to building an economy from the middle out — not the top down."

The president will be campaigning at universities in Nevada and Ohio on Tuesday.

When asked what he would do on student loans during a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on Monday, Republican candidate Mitt Romney drew a contrast with the president's policies.

"I'm not going to promise all sorts of free stuff that I know you're going to end up paying for," Romney said. "What I want to do is give you a great job so you'll be able to pay it back yourself. And I want to get the government off your back so you can keep more of what you earned."

And the Romney campaign looked to tie the president to rising tuition costs in a statement later Tuesday.

“Under President Obama, the costs of college have skyrocketed – making it more difficult for students to attend college – and his economic policies have made it harder for graduates to get jobs," said spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg in a statement. "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a Plan for a Stronger Middle Class to get our economy back on track and ensure that young Americans – and all Americans – have the brighter future they deserve.”

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