Hillary Clinton Unveils $350 Billion Plan for Students

Calling for a “new college compact”, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday unveiled a $350 billion plan aimed at making college more affordable and reducing the crushing burden of student debt.

Her plan would devote more than half the money to increasing state higher education funding, particularly through grants to states that guarantee “no-loan” tuition at community colleges and public universities.

The total cost of Clinton’s proposals would be $US350 billion over 10 years and would be paid for by capping itemized tax deductions for the wealthy.

The second part of Clinton’s college affordability plan is directed to college graduates who are now repaying loans and would allow them to refinance their outstanding debt at lower rates.

Clinton would expand income-based repayment programs, allowing student borrowers to enroll in plans that would cap their payments at 10 percent of their income, with remaining debt forgiven after 20 years.

“It’s time to show some tough love to colleges and universities”, Clinton told the crowd at Exeter High School this afternoon. Because Pell grants, a form of federal aid for students from families making less than $60,000, are not included in the no-debt calculation, Clinton anticipates lower income students could use that money to cover books, as well as room and board.

O’Malley wants a debt-free college while Sanders proposed a tuition-free college, providing $47 billion of federal funds to states for 4-year public colleges.

It would offer free tuition for two-year courses at community colleges and extend generous subsidies to help students attend four-year courses at public universities with no or minimal loans. In this case, Clinton says it will come from effectively raising taxes on the rich, but that can only go so far. Her plan has a price tag estimate of $350 billion over 10 years. It shares similarities with the plan announced earlier this year by former Maryland governor Martin OMalley.

“It’s an ambitious proposal that demonstrates the Clinton campaign has been listening to grass-roots Democrats’ calls for big, bold ideas to address our growing income inequality crisis”, Charles Chamberlain, the executive director of the political action committee Democracy for America, said in a statement.

States that agree to increase spending on higher education would be eligible for federal grants to help reduce the gap between what families can afford to pay and full tuition.

Clinton will continue rolling out her plan during a two-day swing through New Hampshire with events in Exter and Manchester on Monday and with another town hall in in Claremont and a community forum on substance abuse in Keene on Tuesday.

Now, for many millions of Americans, a college degree has been the ticket to a better life. Rubio highlighted the student loan issue in the Republican debate as a struggle that Clinton might have trouble relating to given her current financial status. State universities will be “accountable to improve their outcomes and control their costs”, and families will be made to contribute to their child’s education based on a formula of how much money they earn.