Unless you live under a rock, it is evident that college debt has become a nationwide epidemic.
According to fastweb.com, in 2016 there is $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, with an estimated 38 million Americans who have it.
Both Democratic party candidates, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have proposed comprehensive plans to combat college debt.
On his website, Sanders spells out his six-step plan to make college debt free, where he will:
- Make tuition free at public colleges and universities.
- Stop the federal government from making profit on student loans.
- Substantially cut student loan interest rates.
- Allow Americans to refinance student loans at today's low interest rates.
- Allow students to use need-based financial aid and work study programs to make college debt free.
Which will all be paid for by step number six: imposing a tax on Wall Street Speculators.
Clinton's plan, "The New College Compact," states that she will:
- Ensure no student has to borrow to pay for tuition, books, or fees to attend a four-year public college in their state.
- Enable Americans with existing student loan debt to refinance at current rates.
- Hold colleges and universities accountable for controlling costs and making tuition affordable.
On the other hand in GOP land, candidate Donald Trump has been quoted saying, "These student loans are probably one of the only things that the government shouldn't make money from, and yet it does," in his book "Crippled America."
A visit to his website brings forward the notion that Trump does not have a plan to combat college debt.
In a country where nearly one-in-five households had student debt in 2010 (I can almost guarantee that number has remained the same in 2015, if not increased), it is shocking to me that Trump has no plan on combating college debt. It looks like the millennial population is being forced to vote blue this election.
