President Barack Obama announced a three-step plan on June 9 to help students pay back college debt. First, students would only pay 10 percent of their income. Second, students could renegotiate with private loan companies to make sure that students and loan providers understand each other. Lastly, every student will know what options are available to them.

As students, this sounds like a top notch plan. In the live broadcast given by the president on June 9, however, even Obama did not seem too sure that the bill would pass in Congress. But with an issue as important as this, Congress and the president should work together to improve the situation that affects so many.

The bill would help 5 million students pay off their student debts at a rate with which they are comfortable. As Obama mentioned in his broadcast, it has become nearly impossible for students to pay off both their bills and their student loans while still having money left over to save for their future lives. If this bill passes through Congress, students will hopefully have it much easier.

Obama also pointed out that the way the tuition and student loans work now punishes young adults for doing what society has always told them to do — go to college. Those who make the right choices and follow all the rules should be praised and helped, not burdened with high student loan debt.

Some members of Congress, however, seem to be more concerned about fighting over tax breaks and funding or just following along party lines rather than ensuring young people can stand on their own two feet. It has been suggested many times by politicians that we students should pay for our education on our own by working hard and borrowing money from our parents. If only it were that easy.

The average college student is graduating with nearly $30,000 in debt. The cost of college is increasing, so the amount of student debt is continuing to go up as well. What could possibly be a good reason for not wanting to help the suffering college graduates?

It is important that our senators and representatives make a bipartisan effort to help make a college education more affordable for Americans. Educating young adults can only help the United States in the long run, so it seems to be the perfect issue for both sides to get behind.

President Obama is making a good choice — which is not said all that often — by trying to help college graduates have money to live on, but just like many other things that go through Congress, this will more than likely either get shot down or take an excessive amount of time to go through the legislature.

One flaw that could be brought out of Obama’s plan for student debt is the fact that only paying 10 percent of our income would mean that we are paying for a much longer time. The solution is to pay more when you can. The 10 percent incentive is not supposed to last forever — it is just to help students get back on their feet after graduating, without having to eat ramen noodles for dinner every night. When graduates get to a point in their career when they can start paying more, they more than likely will.

In the meantime, it seems like a great plan to have a set percentage on how much students owe after college. Some may be able to pay more and some may have to set something up to pay less, but 10 percent is a good place to start. It would be a shame if it took too terribly long to implement it, or even worse, never be implemented at all.

Whether it is this new plan or another to support college students, our government representatives need to work together to improve the difficult situation young adults are facing. It only seems right that our elected officials work together to make the lives of every citizen — including college students — better.