President Obama may have misrepresented the impact of his own student loan debt during a speech at the University of North Carolina Tuesday. According to Jonathan Karl of ABC News:
President Obama told students at the University of North Carolina Tuesday that he knows what it is like to struggle with student loan debt because he and his wife didn’t pay off their student loans until eight years ago.
That may be true, but a quick look at the Obamas’ tax returns shows they were making enough to be considered "wealthy" by the president’s own definition in the years before his loans were paid off. …
Here’s a rundown of the president’s income, according to his tax returns, in the years before he paid off his student loans:
2004: $207,647
2003: $238,327
2002: $259,394
2001: $272,759
2000: $240,505