President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Congress and colleges across the country to reduce the skyrocketing costs of higher education.

Obama asked lawmakers to hold institutions accountable and offer incentives, like tying a university’s federal funding to its affordability and value, to keep costs down.

He pitched the idea as an amendment to the Higher Education Act, which Congress must reauthorize this year.

“Taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize the soaring cost of higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it’s our job to make sure they do,” Obama said.

To help students compare the value of colleges, Obama also announced that the White House would release a “College Scorecard” Wednesday.

Officials revealed a draft of the document to students at the University of Michigan earlier this month, including a college’s cost, average student debt, and job prospects after graduation. It is similar to information collected by a financial aid “shopping sheet” launched by the Department of Education last summer. GW administrators are still mulling the shopping sheet’s merits.

Delivering the Republican rebuttal, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, agreed on at least one point: the need to make students aware of true college costs.

“We must give students more information on the costs and benefits of the student loans they’re taking out,” Rubio, who said he recently paid off his own student loans, said.

While both commended federal programs that make a bachelor’s degree more affordable, Rubio and Obama called for new approaches to college affordability.

“All these measures are key to helping the economy grow,” Rubio said. “But we won’t be able to sustain a vibrant middle class unless we solve our debt problem.”