MADISON, Wis. When President Joe Biden came to Madison Area Technical College last week, he was hoping to fire up students here about his new plans to cancel student loan debt for millions more Americans.

I will never stop [fighting] to deliver student debt relief, Biden vowed in remarks laying out his latest proposals. By freeing millions of Americans from this crushing debt of student debt, it means they can finally get on with their lives instead of their lives being put on hold.

But his speech had barely ended before students were racing out of the building for something more exciting: a solar eclipse. Dozens of teenagers and early-20-somethings gathered outside, swapping crumpled pairs of paper solar eclipse glasses with each other and staring into the sun. Nobody was talking about the president or student loans. In fact, none of these students had even gone to Bidens event. It was invite-only.

I think the student Senate got in? wondered Matt, 19, a student from the nearby town of Verona. That shit is stupid! interrupted another student charging through, pointing at the sky and looking for a pair of glasses. That was the end of any student loan talk.

Biden picked this Madison school for his student loan speech because it checks two boxes for his presidential campaign: appealing to young voters and showing his face in Wisconsin, a swing state that will be pivotal to winning the election in November. Biden narrowly defeated former President Donald Trump here in 2020. Trump narrowly won it in 2016.

Six months before the election, both candidates are aggressively courting voters here. Beyond last weeks trip, Biden was in Milwaukee last month, fresh off his State of the Union address, pitching voters on what hed offer in a second term. Meanwhile, the GOP chose Milwaukee as the site for its partys nominating convention in July, and Trump stumped in Green Bay earlier this month. It was his first time in the state since 2022 .

Bidens latest visit here was also an attempt to show people who are six decades younger than him that hes listening to their concerns. At 81, hes faced months of scrutiny over his age and mental acuity. Trump has faced questions about his mental competency, too. But a March poll by The New York Times and Siena College showed voters more concerned about Bidens age, even though Trump isnt far behind at 77.

For college-aged voters in Madison, though, this didnt seem like a dealbreaker.

It does concern me, but it also doesnt, said Mack, 21, who is from Madison and planning to vote for Biden. I wouldnt be like, Oh, thats the reason Im not voting for him.

And even if they werent invited to his student loan event, at least some students were paying attention to what Biden is doing on this front.

His student debt relief plans absolutely resonate, said Yaakov, a 21-year-old from Minneapolis. I got a scholarship, but if I didnt I would be $180,000 in debt.

Even though he doesnt have loans, My brother, my friends, a lot of people I know are drowning in debt right now, he added. I got insanely lucky. Thank god someone is taking on this issue.