--- title: Barack Obama Will Answer Questions on Tumblr description: President Barack Obama will log on to Tumblr next Tuesday to answer students' questions about the cost of college and student debt. canonical: https://time.com/2827361/obama-tumblr-town-hall/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-05T17:35:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:02:24.708Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama Will Answer Questions on Tumblr og:description: President Barack Obama will log on to Tumblr next Tuesday to answer students' questions about the cost of college and student debt. og:url: https://time.com/2827361/obama-tumblr-town-hall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62535fbe804362db/6986966336176094b390c7bc/170848803.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: US President Obama Visits Berlin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Will Answer Questions on Tumblr twitter:description: President Barack Obama will log on to Tumblr next Tuesday to answer students' questions about the cost of college and student debt. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62535fbe804362db/6986966336176094b390c7bc/170848803.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Will Take Student Debt Questions on Tumblr Town Hall > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jun 5, 2014 5:35 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama speaks to the media after his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Chancellery on June 19, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. US President Barack Obama speaks to the media after his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Chancellery on June 19, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Thomas Trutschel—Photothek/Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jun 5, 2014 5:35 PM UTC President Barack Obama will log on to [Tumblr](http://news.yahoo.com/president-obama-to-field-college-debt-questions-on-tumblr-150123285.html) next Tuesday to answer students’ questions about the cost of college and student debt. The live Q&A event is the latest example of Obama using live social media events to reach young audiences — he’s previously used [Twitter](http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/12/03/president-obama-answers-my2k-questions-twitter), [Google+](http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/01/30/president-obama-s-google-hangout) and even Reddit to reach out to voters on various issues. Nearly half of Tumblr’s users are between the ages of 18 and 34—including the discussion’s moderator, 27-year-old Tumblr founder David Karp—a demographic likely pondering the issues of college costs and student loan repayment. This year’s college graduating class will enter professional life with an average of $33,000 in student loan debt, nearly double that of students who graduated in 2000, according to government data. Overall student loan debt has topped $1 trillion and is the fastest-growing debt category, the [_Wall Street Journal_ reported](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304081804579559813544267206) in May. 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