During her campaign at the Exeter High School in New Hampshire yesterday, Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has announced what is called the "New College Compact." The "New College Compact" is her new major-spending proposal by the federal government to help undergraduates pay for their tuition at public colleges minus the loans.
Clinton promoted that the plan is one way of lowering the costs of college education, which will make it easier for Americans to send their children to school. Clinton viewed college affordability as one of the most important ways to ease the burden on families, as well as one of the single biggest ways to actually raise incomes. The plan hopes to make college affordable and available to every American.
Furthermore she said that, "College is supposed to help people achieve their dreams, but more and more paying for college actually pushes those dreams further and further out of reach." And this, she added, is "a betrayal of everything college is supposed to represent."
To be able to do this, incentives will be given to states that will agree to provide "no-loan tuition at four-year public colleges and universities." Grants from the federal government will be awarded to these states.
The proposal, which would cost $350 billion over ten years, was outlined by Clinton's advisers last Sunday. Some $175 billion would go to the states that will ensure that students will be covered without needing a loan.
In return, the states would need to end budget cuts so that spending on higher education will be increased over time. At the same time, they would have to work for the slow growth of tuition.
Clinton promised as well to continue the free tuition plan of President Barack Obama in community colleges. She wanted to ensure that the students will "never have to pay more than 10% of their income when repaying the loan."
"We need to make a quality education affordable and available to anyone who is willing to work for it -- without saddling them with decades of debt," Clinton concluded.
