President Barack Obama used UNC-Chapel Hill Tuesday afternoon as a backdrop to push his plan to keep college affordable.

He wants Congress to renew a plan that cuts student load interest rates in half. He said it will let young people spend more money, improving the overall economy.

In the arena of politics, the speech seemed very much like a home game for the president, complete with a grand introduction, raucous fans and a guest who knew the right things to pump up the crowd.

“I just want to remind you right off the bat that I picked UNC to win it all in March Madness,” Obama told the crowd.

Obama told the students that college tuition has doubled since most of them were born and that Americans now owe more in student loans that in credit card debt.

He said colleges have to do their part to keep costs down and states have to put more into higher education.

He took what felt like a pep rally and turned it into a full-fledged political revival when he said the country has always had a commitment to making college affordable.

“That’s what kept us at the forefront of business and medicine and technology, and that’s a commitment we need to reaffirm today in 2012,” he said.

The message was one the crowd was all too ready to hear, including Fahim Nasim, a freshman from Charlotte.

“I think he’s an amazing speaker and his points were accurate. I agree with most of what he said,” Nasim said.

Congress passed a law to make college more affordable by boosting the amount on money available in Pell grants, but then-Senator Obama missed the vote.

Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Kerry and John McCain all missed the vote because they were campaigning for the 2008 presidential election.

Gov. Bev Perdue and other North Carolina delegates welcomed the president Tuesday morning after Air Force One landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Tuesday marked the president’s fifth visit to the Tar Heel state in the last eight months.

The Republican National Committee questioned the timing of the president’s visit because it follows a scandal in the state’s Democratic Party.

 “His visit highlights the dysfunction his ground game is experiencing in this key swing state. And voters are tired of politics as usual,” said RNC chairman Reince Priebus.

The president also took his tour to the University of Colorado and will be at the University of Iowa on Wednesday.

As Obama was wrapping up his visit, a Republican presidential candidate’s campaign moved into high gear in Charlotte.

Newt Gingrich toured the Billy Graham Library Tuesday afternoon. He has planned a series of stops across the state ahead of the May 8 primary.

Gingrich is hoping for an upset in one of Tuesday night’s primaries, but Mitt Romney is expected to win all five states.