TEMPE, Ariz. — President Obama didn't shy away from the snub by Arizona State University officials who said he hadn't accomplished enough yet to earn an honorary degree. In his first commencement speech as president yesterday, Obama told a stadium full of young graduates that the officials are right.

"I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven't yet achieved enough in my life," Obama said. With a smile he added: "First of all, Michelle (Obama) concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home.

"But more than that, I come to embrace the notion that I haven't done enough in my life. I heartily concur," the president said. "I come to affirm that one's title, even a title like 'president of the United States,' says very little about how well one's life has been led."

Obama, who has a real law degree from Harvard, challenged the graduating class to find new sources of energy, improve failing schools and never rely on past achievement. He congratulated them on earning a degree, and said the next steps matter more than a piece of paper or a tassel.

Commencement speakers typically are awarded honorary degrees as a sign of appreciation. Arizona State, however, did not award any such degrees this year.

To quell the controversy, the university instead renamed a scholarship for the nation's 44th president. At the beginning of his remarks, Obama thanked the school for the gesture.

He also met six recipients of the scholarship named for him and commissioned a group of Army and Air Force cadets.

The outdoor ceremony at Sun Devil Stadium drew more than 63,000 people, who sweltered in the 94-degree heat. The audience included hundreds of security officials along with graduates' families and friends, including 1970s shock-rock star Alice Cooper, whose son was one of the graduates.

Obama will hold a town hall-style meeting today in Albuquerque, N.M., on proposed restrictions on credit card companies. Then Obama plans to give commencement addresses Sunday at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.