During the 2008 election, it was reported that Barack Obama still owed more than $100,000 in student loans. (It may have even been $200,000...it was a lot.) I never heard if he paid off his student loans. I tried to google that subject, and nothing comes up. Does anyone know if he has paid off his student loans?

dlove. The ad said that he work his way through college when in fact he just did a summer job twice. By now we are used to daily lies by Obama.

The faster it catches with him, the better the country will be. He is such a disappointement.

I feel we went backward to the 80/90s.

I am confused with the point of this article. When did Obama say he paid for his entire tuition? Perhaps we should pay closer attention to the verbage and wording being used before we start to question ones integrity. This can make you seem as if your attempting to deframe someone. Please dont end up like one of these washed up disk jockey who's mad at the world and makes very poor judgement. "Yes we can, yes we will, yes we did it" -Deon Love. Remember these words ladies and gentlemen, for a time for change is now.

Yes, he's fudging a little bit, but everyone here is missing the point. The Republicans want to paint Obama as an out of touch elitist with his "Ivy League Education" as Giuliani put it at the RNC last night—as if that's something to be ashamed of.

Either way, the connotation of an "Ivy League Education" is that he's a rich boy who had advantages that others didn't have. Which is total and complete hogwash. He earned every thing he has and while he could have used his situation as an excuse to sit on the sidelines, he's done the opposite, excelling every stop of the way in his life.

Obama, in the meantime, is trying to convince voters that he's a regular guy and that going to Harvard was an achievement he *earned*, something every parent and person should be proud of.

Whether he's fudging a bit or not sucks, because it's not necessary. According to the NY Times, he still had his student loans until just a few years ago. I think 25 years of paying for school is good enough, don't you?

It is not just what the ad and the Obama campaign are saying about how he paid for his education, it is what they are NOT saying that is telling. If Obama had won a scholarship to pay for any of his education, his site would have that and his team would certainly have made that known when questioned regarding how he paid for his education. If his family had NOT contributed to his education, again, that would be touted on his site and by both him & his team. If he had had more than 2 summer jobs that most definitely would have been made known.

From what wasn’t said, we can deduce that his family DID contribute to his college and law school education, that he did not win any scholarships, and that he didn't work the other summers or during the year at all. Everyone I know personally who went to college, even those whose parents paid for tuition, room & board, the whole nine yards, worked more than that to contribute to their own education! Apparently Obama did not. Then again, he'd had a private school education up until that point so I am sure that he didn't feel that he needed to provide for his own education. Plus he was too busy doing drugs!

Obama has been extremely disingenuous regarding his past from proclaiming to be raised by a single mother from Kansas (his mother was single for 4 years during which time she lived with her parents and she left Kansas after grammar school and had lived in Hawaii years when Obama was born) to his connection with Rev Wright and his knowledge of Wright’s radical views, to his education and his legislative accomplishments. We’ve had a liar in the White House now for nearly 8 years who manipulates the truth and outright lies to obtain his hidden agenda. He also had no experience. So are we going to be fooled by another liar who has no experience and whose only criteria for the job is his promises of change when we know he has lied repeatedly about his past? Style over substance has won in the last 2 elections and in the Democratic primary. Sadly, it appears that the American public is poised make that same choice again, despite its previous disastrous results.

Let's see - worked part time my first year in college (tuition paid by scholarship), worked full-time for the remainder of my undergrad (employer paid tuition). Took out tuition only loans for 3 1/2 years of night law school, worked full time during the day, passed the bar the first time. Did I "work my way through school" - you bet your booty I did! Paid off said loans, which were less than a car payment, in a timely manner ....

I DID work my way through college by working 2-3 minimum wage jobs during the summer and part time jobs during the school year. My parents did not pay for any part of my education and I took out no loans. I graduated from a highly rated state university with high honors in science and was on Dean's list every semester.

There is a HUGE difference between actually working to pay completely for your college education, taking out loans and paying them off afterwards, and having a summer job during two summers and paying for Ivy League education with loans and family assistance. Obama had a privileged, private education, towards which he contributed LITTLE! It is an insult to those of us who did struggle and work so hard to get an education for Obama to take credit for something he didn’t do. Even if he took out loans to pay for his entire college education, which is highly unlikely, since his step father paid for his private education up to that point, paying off loans is MUCH easier than paying as you go. The first difference is that while you are in college if you don’t have to work, you can put all your time and energy into your schoolwork and actually do better. Secondly, you need to work more hours at minimum wage job to accumulate enough money to pay for college than you’d have to work at a higher paying job that you can get with an education to pay off loans. I also went to graduate school part time while working full time. I can tell you that it was MUCH easier to pay for my graduate education with my higher paying job than it was to pay for my undergraduate education working minimum wage jobs. Why do you think most students who can get student loans do so, rather than try to work enough to pay for college as you go?

Furthermore, in order for Obama to have gotten student loans, his step father would have had to contribute to his education up to his financial ability. So, Obama is being disingenuous about the roles played by others in his education and is trying to mislead the public about how difficult it was for him to obtain his education. That is the reason this is an issue. He is once again PURPOSELY misleading the public on his personal history and that directly relates to his character.

Elitist doesn't mean taking credit for something you didn't do. It means having things paid for without your having to work, because your family is rich. Obama paid for his education himself, either working during his college years or working to pay off his college loans. He paid for college through his own work. If this is how far the anti-Obama ppl have to stretch to find fault with him, then bring on November!!!!!

My daughter worked while in college She had a side job thru most of her years but know way did she work her way thru college. Without parents help & student loans she would not have made it & that was a state school. I would like to know what kind of job Obama had that paid for a private school & Harvard law plus room & board. And who of you students turn down well paying jobs to help out a specially intrest group With students loans hanging over your head.You may want to help society latter but your 1st order of business to to pay of your loans & other bills. Also I don't know anyone who read his book. Was it really that good to get such a large signing bonus. We need some one with the ability to look into the whole thing. It almost looks like some group our organisation has been setting him up to be the the President & that's scary

this is soo stupid, of all the times i've seen n heard this ad it never once made me think poor Obama, he had to work and go to college at the same time

ridiculous

Yes CarloslsDown, I get your question, I doubt even working full time will pay for all of college, but all I am saying is to say "work their way through college" is working while going to school and helping pay for it with the money you make.

That still might not imply they had paid for all of their expenses, yet working to help pay for as much as possible.

queenofit

then no one can really pay their way through college. Can they? how much is the average college tuition per year?

Well, maybe if they get a really good job and don't eat that much, i guess it's possible.

I had a summer job, but that in no way paid for my college education. If someone tells me that "they worked their way through college" my view is they worked at a job during college and paid for most of their education. I have never heard of calling summer work "working your way through college" to me, that is a stretch.

Now the most important thing here is honest use of language, or we can go back to the Bill Clinton line, "depends on what the definition of Is, is...?" shez...

maybe he should say i didnt get a free ride like some of our recent presidents ..living in Big daddys pocket...and skating by with a "C" average...but im not saying no names

Elitist in this case means that you are taking credit for something you really did not do.

It insults people and make them feel that you must think of yourself as being superior.

It does not mean that he may have gotten a loan which many students do/

Biiiiiiig jew. Big jew. Elitist Jew.

Why is being an elitist bad again?

Yeah, they hate being lied to. They hate what George Bush has done to them most of all.

Krag is one of the most loved smart asses on this board.

It is interesting how many of you are trying to wiggle your way out of this or blame the messenger.

It is called denial

A candidate should at the minimum tell the truth about himself.

I am not saying that Obama did the ad himself but clearly some of his people are doing him a terrible diservice because voters hate to be lied too on such basic facts of life.

If he previewed the ad and did not stop it, then he has lost touch with reality

I

It's using "worked his way through college" as saying he worked for a certain wage to pay for it. At least it's leaning that way. But you can still work through college and not flip a single burger. College IS work. You work your way THROUGH the work college gives you.

Loans aren't free money. You'll have to pay them off and work through those too.

Lots of people get loans. It's the not-elitist thing to do.

Working your way through college means you paid your own tuition. What difference does it make if you paid up front, as you went or took out loans? The point is he paid is own way. Seems like an admirable thing to me, I didn't do it.

Not sure how it makes him a liar. Or a lyar.

I'm positive it doesn't make him an elitist.

Sort of the opposite of that in fact.

I understand everybody's opinions and agree that it's not that big a deal,but obama needs to be careful because he's treading a slippery slope.He's not reaaly lying BUT,he's being a little disingenuous.He knew how we would understand the statement

Yeah, I think everyone is reading way too into this.

Working your way through college could mean several different things.

I'm taking out loans for school and I'm not working right now but I will pay off my loans later by working. What is the differance? He paid all his loans none the less.

Hint Mozilla Firefox not only has spell check, but a little grammer check. Sorry, no fact check though.

Obama misled the country by claiming to "work through college" when he only worked a little bit while attending college and didn't techincally put in 40hrs a week for 4 years as the ad clearly implies.

George W. Bush said Saddam had nuclear weapons and planned 9/11 with Osama bin Laden and launched a full scale invasion of Iraq.

Hmmm. Which is worth getting upset about?

Clearly Obama is a dangerous out-of-control liar that will get us all killed!

Vote McCain!

(Don't ask why. Just do it. The Republicans command you!)

And you might want to fix the grammar of the title. Tense disagreement.

Um, guys, I think they mean "work your way" as in "did all your work well" through college. That's the way I've viewed schooling, something you need to work through, because it's seriously a full-time job.

I don't know about his first four years, but law school in itself is a job. When you're not in class full time, you're studying.

it doesn't say he worked to be able to go to college, it says he 'worked his way through college', I understand it differently

and you realize you do have to work to pay for your student loans, right?

Who gives a rat's behind? Did McCain?

Whoever created this ad is sabotaging Obama' s campaign.

Based on this definition of "working through college", 90% of college students in this country are working through college.

This is a very poor ad. It makes Obama a liar and an elitist just like John Kerry.

I am not even for Obama.