[caption id=”attachment_144215″ align=”aligncenter” width=”3768″]Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton announces her college affordability plan, Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, at the High School in Exeter, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
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Hillary Clinton announced a $350 billion proposal to lower the cost of college for students Monday.
Called the “New College Compact,” it increases funding for schools that guarantee “no-loan” tuition and universities that accept larger numbers of low- and middle-income students. Half of the $350 billion will go to increasing state funding, a third for lowering interest rates on student loans, and the rest will support other initiatives in the proposal.
According to The Washington Post,
Whether Clinton can find $350 billion in tax revenue by closing loopholes is an open question. The plan has provisions for simplifying the application for financial aid, on-campus support programs to retain students who might otherwise drop out, consolidating student loan repayment plans, and other small-scale changes that would encourage college completion or lower costs.
With the New College Compact, Clinton has expanded on her higher education talking points and offered her alternative to plans from Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, both of whom have proposed “debt-free” college for students.
Neil McCluskey, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, wrote a blog post criticizing the proposal.
“Quite simply, when someone else pays your bills you are more likely to consume, and less likely to think efficiently about what you are consuming. That’s been the higher education problem for decades, and this plan would have someone else foot even more of the bill,” McCluskey said.
When students are more isolated from the real cost of their education, concerns about spending disappear and drive up prices in the long run.
