These days, President Obama is running as much against Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney.

Having used the Medicare issue against Romney and his running mate Ryan -- who is chairman of the House Budget Committee -- Obama today zeroed in on education funding.

"Putting a college education within reach for working families just doesn't seem to be a big priority for my opponent," Obama told supporters today in Columbus, Ohio.

Speaking at Capitol University, Obama said Romney-Ryan plans for tax cuts will further enrich the wealthy while starving middle-class programs of money, including education. "We don't need an extra tax break," Obama told the students. "You do."

The Obama campaign said in a statement that the president is contrasting "his record of reforming our schools and investing in education -- to grow the economy from the middle-out -- against the Romney-Ryan approach of slashing investments in vital education reforms and financial aid that college students need."

Note the phrase "Romney-Ryan approach." Obama is trying to yoke the House Republican budget, authored by Ryan, to the Republican presidential candidate. Romney says he and Ryan don't agree on everything.

As for education, Romney and aides say Obama's stewardship of the economy has created problems for all students.

"Under President Obama, the costs of college have skyrocketed -- making it more difficult for students to attend college -- and his economic policies have made it harder for graduates to get jobs," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said.

Obama does not spare Romney himself in his education critique. In Columbus, the president hit Romney for telling high school students to borrow money from their parents or "shop around" to help pay for the rising expenses of college.

"That's his answer to young people who are trying to figure out how to go to college and not collect a mountain of debt," Obama said.

From the Associated Press: