President Obama addresses a crowd of mostly students at SUNY Buffalo about rising tuition costs as part of a two-day tour through New York state and Pennsylvania.  SYRACUSE — President Obama was in full campaign mode Thursday as he barnstormed across upstate New York in an armored bus to promote his plan to combat the soaring costs of higher education.  Obama kicked off his bus tour with a speech to a packed auditorium on the University of Buffalo campus and then made stops near Rochester and Syracuse, telling the student-heavy crowds that holding down tuition costs and reducing student debt were vital to promoting a vibrant middle class.  RELATED: OBAMA TO PROPOSE NEW SYSTEM FOR RATING COLLEGES  “We’ve got a crisis in terms of college affordability and student debt,” Obama said in Buffalo, noting that he was in his 40s before he paid off his student loans.  At the heart of Obama’s plan is a new rating system to be completed by 2015 that would score colleges and universities on affordability and student performance.  RELATED: PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SIGN STUDENT LOAN BILL FRIDAY  It would help parents and students choose the best bargains and foster greater accountability and competition among schools to keep prices low.  The President said the new system would also determine future federal allotments.  RELATED: MOST JULY JOBS ADDED WERE PART-TIME AND LOW-WAGE: REPORT  Obama was greeted in Buffalo by Gov. Cuomo and his three daughters — including twins Cara and Mariah who are headed to college later this month.  Cuomo said he fully understands the problem of soaring tuition. “You’re telling me,” Cuomo said, joking that he could barely afford the sausage he had with the President at the State Fair in Syracuse.  RELATED: DIFFERENCES ARE SMALL BETWEEN STUDENT LOAN BILLS  On a mobile device? Watch the video here.
The president, who met Gov. Cuomo and his college-bound daughters, says his plan to create a college affordability rating system will reduce student debt