President Obama’s recently announced plan to tie federal aid programs to tuition hikes in order to offset rising costs of college garnered approval from university administrators.

“I’m telling Congress we should steer federal campus-based aid to those colleges that keep tuition affordable, provide good value and serve their students well,” Obama said in a Jan. 27 speech at the University of Michigan.

Georgetown’s Associate Vice President for Federal Relations Scott Fleming said that the university shares the president’s goal of making education more affordable.

“Georgetown has a longstanding commitment to making a Georgetown education accessible to all qualified students,” Fleming said. “It is reflected in our need-blind admissions and full-need financial aid policies that date back to the 1980s.”

Fleming lauded Obama’s plan because it ties federal funding to net tuition paid after accounting for financial aid, rather than the total tuition.

He added that despite the high total tuition cost, Georgetown students graduate with about half the average national debt rate.

The president’s plan involves expanding the Perkins Loan Program budget from $1 billion to $8 billion, and increasing funding for Federal Work Study. According to Fleming, the two programs are major components of most Georgetown students’ financial aid packages.

In his speech, Obama announced that he aims to reward “good value” in education with increased federal funding. The program would involve grading schools on their total costs, graduation rates, student loan repayment rates, average student loan debt and graduates’ earning potential.

Georgetown graduates’ low level of student debt default sets up the university to score well under the new system, according to Fleming. But he stressed that the full effects of the new policy are still unclear.

“There are still questions to be answered with regard to the specifics of the president’s proposal,” Fleming said. “We expect to see further details when his budget is released next week.”