President Barack Obama’s recent proposal to tame the rapidly increasing cost of tuition overlooks the complexity of university budgeting, as well as advancements in financial aid, President David Skorton argued in an editorial published in The Huffington Post Monday.

Obama’s plan, which entails limiting government subsidies for universities that cannot control the skyrocketing price of admission, has provoked a flurry of responses from officials in higher education since the White House released the plan on Jan. 27. 

“This really is political theater of the worst sort,” University of Washington President Mike Young told USA Today.

Meanwhile, Kevin Carey of the think tank Education Sector called Obama’s aim a “welcome and necessary development,” and pushed the President in an editorial in The New Republic to overcome “the higher education lobby ... [which] will no doubt use its considerable resources to try and scuttle any meaningful reforms.”

Skorton forayed into this caustic and charged debate on Monday with his Huffington Post editorial that neither rebuffed nor endorsed Obama’s initiative. Instead, Skorton faulted the plan’s details while extolling the central focus — college affordability — of Obama’s public push. 

Distinguishing his stance from “the outcry of ‘the higher education establishment,’” Skorton insisted that Obama’s emphasis was the right one. 

“Vigorous cost containment must be pursued by all colleges and universities,” Skorton said. “As a higher education community, we have not made sufficient changes in how we operate our institutions that could reduce the price of college.” 

Yet Skorton also said the White House’s plan may inadvertently hurt some universities. Under the plan, colleges would lose federal dollars if they did not curb the growth of tuition. 

“College affordability is a complex issue, however, and there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model that can or should be imposed by the federal government,” Skorton said. 

While not denying the importance of lowering tuition, Skorton said attending Cornell has become cheaper, not more expensive, for most families. He linked the growth of tuition costs with the affordability of college for middle- and low-income students. 

“I recognize that Cornell’s policy has meant higher tuition for our wealthiest families, and that it has required cost containment in other areas,” Skorton said. “But for students from families with incomes up to about $112,000 … it actually cost less to attend Cornell in 2009-10 than it did in 2001-02.”