Hillary Clinton proposes $350 billion college affordability plan; Offers debt-free education to young Americans

Democrat presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton, has rolled out a $350 billion (AU$478.56) college affordability plan that pledges voters "costs won't be a barrier" to secondary education. With this, all the Democratic hopefuls, including former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders have made college affordability a main plank of their campaigns.

In Clinton’s "New College Compact” the cost of college education will be reduced by way of low interest grants and loans to make sure that the federal government "will never again profit off student loans for college students,” reports CNN. In her speech at Exeter High School in New Hampshire, Clinton said, "college is a place to achieve dreams, but paying more and more for college actually pushes those dreams out of reach. That is a betrayal of everything college is supposed to represent."

Debt-free tuition

"For many students, it would translate into debt-free tuition," said Carmel Martin, executive vice president for policy at the Centre for American Progress, who advised Clinton on the plan. "It will depend on the student circumstances and the institution they are going to," he added. It will also help those repaying loans to refinance their outstanding debt at lower rates. This, Clinton's aides claim, will save an average of $2,000 (AU$2730) for 25 million borrowers over the life of the loan.

The states will be given incentives to provide "no-loan tuition at four-year public colleges and universities." States agreeing to the Clinton plan will win grants from the federal government. In practice, the proposal will work around a $200 billion (AU$273.25) federal incentive system for states to expand investments in higher education to cut student costs.

Criticism

Clinton’s proposal came under fire from Republicans and tax conservatives, who flayed the tax-and-spend part of the plan. “Clinton has to figure out who to raise taxes on, so this is about doing business in America even more expensive, raising taxes and then taking all that money and pouring into an outdated higher education system,” reacted Sen. Marco Rubio.

However, some debt-free groups praised Clinton’s proposal and said the issue was long ignored by the Washington mainstream. “Hillary Clinton’s plan is very big and ambitious – leading to debt-free college and increased economic opportunity for millions of Americans,” noted Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. He noted that the centre of gravity on higher education has shifted from debate on interest rates to making college debt-free and Clinton’s proposal is emblematic of the rising populist tide in American politics.

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