President Obama is right to put more pressure on colleges and universities as well as the states to make a college education more affordable.

A nation that keeps telling its children they need more than a high school diploma to succeed shouldn’t make it so hard for them to pay for college.

Obama wants to boost the Perkins federal loan program from $1 billion to $8 billion and change how the money is distributed. Colleges that fail to reduce costs will lose federal aid.

The president’s plan also calls for a $1 billion grant competition that would reward states that keep college costs down. An additional $55 million would be earmarked to help colleges find ways to increase their productivity.

The plan would reduce some student-loan interest rates. It would also offer more work-study opportunities.

Obama’s approach will go a long way toward helping students from low-income families. The sticker price of a college education, and the likelihood of being in debt for years, discourages many students from going to college. It is a major reason others never finish.

Obama put colleges and universities on notice that raising tuition can’t be the sole answer to meeting their budgets. But with 40 states cutting education funding last year, he knows the schools need more help.

It shouldn’t be so hard for the state legislatures or Congress to understand how much harm they are doing by failing to adequately fund education. They need to keep in mind the price tag for a poorly educated generation.