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Hillary Clinton Has Unveiled a Massive New Plan to Curb Student Loan Debt

Her campaign has dubbed her $350 billion, 10-year college affordability plan the "New College Compact."

Pretty much everybody who's been to college in America over the last decade now finds themselves shackled with an overwhelming amount of debt. Americans as a whole are around $1.2 trillion in the red thanks to student loan debts, and unfortunately, just deciding not to pay it off isn't really a viable option. Democratic politicians have been talking about how to deal with this problem for months, and now Hillary Clinton has kicked off the week with her own $350 billion, ten-year plan for loan-free tuition.

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More on the Student Debt Crisis:
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Here's What You Should Do If You're Buried Under Student Loan Debt

Clinton's college affordability plan, dubbed the "New College Compact," doesn't promise an end to student debt across the board like her Democratic opponent Martin O'Malley has proposed, or impose Bernie Sanders' Wall Street-pillaging "Robin Hood tax" to make college tuition free. Under Clinton's plan, parents may still have to shoulder some loans. But the proposal would also dangle $175 billion-worth of grants in front of states who guarantee "no-loan tuition at four-year public colleges and universities" and maintain President Obama's free tuition plan for community colleges.

During a speech outlining the plan in New Hampshire on Monday, Clinton said that affordable higher education for all Americans is "one of the most important ways we can ease the burden on families and one of the single biggest ways we can actually raise incomes."

The plan would dramatically expand the role of the federal government in higher education, and cost taxpayers $350 billion over the next 10 years. would cost taxpayers $350 billion over the next ten years. According to Clinton's proposal, that cost would be offset by capping itemized tax deductions for wealthy families at 28 percent, a move that Republicans say amounts to a tax hike.

"College is supposed to help people achieve their dreams," Clinton said. "But more and more, paying for college actually pushes those dreams further and further out of reach. That is a betrayal of everything college is supposed to represent."

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