SCRANTON – Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to be in his hometown of Scranton this Friday along with President Barack Obama for a bus tour.
The president’s visit to talk about higher education is one that officials say they are honored to host and are already busy preparing for. Security details are already preparing at Lackawanna College’s student union for the visit Friday.
The college's president says it’s an honor to have President Obama here to talk about the importance of higher education and the value this two-year college can offer the middle class.
“99% of our students receive financial aid, they come out of a risk background so again what I think it does is it tells you the importance of Lackawanna College in our community, it tells you who our population is," said Lackawanna College President Mark Volk.
Security details have been in Scranton since Saturday getting ready for the visit, one that comes right at the beginning of the school year for students here.
"I think it`s really exciting, you know a lot of people are going to come out and get some insight and it`s really going to be exciting for Scranton so it`ll be cool," said freshman Jimmy Gillette.
"I definitely think it`s a big honor especially with everything that happened last semester it`s definitely like a big honor for him to come here and talk," said sophomore Megan Janderchick.
Details of the visit, including times and what may be shut down in Scranton, haven’t been released just yet, something that may disrupt a summer program for kids at the nearby children’s library on Vine Street.
"We don`t know precisely what time, we don`t know what the security measures are, we don`t know what access to the road will be like," said Albright Memorial Library Executive Director Jack Finnerty.
The college also has rescheduled its freshmen orientation that was supposed to be Friday, but the college’s president says for incoming freshmen it will be an added enhancement to kick off their academic year.
"We have some things that we`ll reschedule and we`ll move around but for the most part again, you just can`t turn down an opportunity like this," said President Volk.
Lackawanna College’s president says he does know tickets will be available for students, but is waiting just like everyone else to learn how many and when they might be available.
The last time the President made the trip here to Scranton was in November of 2011, when he spoke at Scranton High School.