Joint interview of Obama and Romney on Univision: on Education

Barack Obama: More education funding from early childhood thru Pell grants

A: Some of the work that we've done over the last four years to make sure that the student loan interest rate stays low, expanding Pell grants for millions of students, including millions of Latino students, so that we are seeing the highest college enrollment rate among Latino students in history--all that is going to help to contribute to us being able to deal with the problem of secondary and high school educations by inspiring a whole lot of students to say, I can do that, too; I can achieve that dream. One of the things we know is going to make a big difference is early childhood education. So we've put enormous effort not only in providing additional funding for early childhood education, but also to improve the quality. 46 states have initiated reforms.

Barack Obama: Recovery Act avoided layoffs; now hire more teachers

A: What happened in Chicago was of concern, and we're glad that it finally got resolved. But you're going to see school districts dealing with this issue because part of what has happened is a lot of teacher layoffs. Part of what the Recovery Act was all about--was to help states and local communities not lay off teachers. Unfortunately, though, we've still seen a lot of school districts lay off teachers. That has an impact on the students themselves because when you have larger classes, it's harder to provide the individualized attention on those kids, especially at the younger grades. And what we say to school districts all across the country is, we will provide you more help as long as you're being held accountable.

Mitt Romney: Put kids & teachers first; teachers' unions go behind

Mitt Romney: Free tuition at MA college for top 1/4 of high school grads

Under that program, those who graduated from high school and passed our graduation exam, those who passed it in the top quarter of their high school got a four-year tuition free ride to the Massachusetts institutions of higher learning that are public. So I care. I care about your education and helping people of modest means get a good education and we'll continue a Pell Grant program.

Mitt Romney: Cap Pell Grants to increase only at rate of inflation

A: We're going to continue a Pell Grant program. [Paul Ryan's] Republican budget called for a Pell Grants being capped out at their current high level. My inclination would be to have them go with the rate of inflation. I think it's important in higher education that we get serious about the fact that the inflation of tuition has been much faster than inflation generally. And my view is we have to hold down the rate of tuition increases and fee increases in higher education. We've got to find a way to keep those costs down and we'll be able to keep up with costs by having Pell Grants grow at the rate of inflation.

Mitt Romney: Don't overwhelm college students with loan debt

A: The best thing I can do for young people graduating is make sure that when you get out, you have a job. That's a key thing. Because right now, half the kids in this country that are graduating from college, half couldn't find a job or a job consistent with their college degree. We've always, as a nation, snapped up young people coming out of college. But that's changed in these last few years. And so the best thing I can do is not to [say], "Hey, I'll loan you more money." I don't want to overwhelm you with debts. I want you to make sure you can pay back the debts you've already got and that will happen with good jobs.