Hillary Clinton, who prides herself on the details of public policy, has said little about what is now the most ambitious and expensive proposal on her agenda: making public college tuition free for most Americans.On the campaign trail, she typically offers a sentence, maybe two, about the plan. Sometimes it goes unmentioned altogether. Her campaign has offered few specifics about how the program would work, hasn't said how much money states would have to provide or where the program would fall on her list of priorities.
The campaign website no longer lists a cost for the program, though campaign aides said they estimate it would take $500 billion in new federal spending over 10 years, $150 billion more than the college plan she put out last summer. Others estimate the costs would be much higher.
| Certainly when the deans, chancellors, chairpersons and university presidents get done the costs will be much higher... |
Besides, who would want to flesh out the terms of a bribe in public?
Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, who tracks higher education and other issues at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, said it was obvious that the plan was put together to win over Mr. Sanders.
Most of Mrs. Clinton's policy proposals "are five pages of dense text with very specific ways of how they're going to pay for it and how much it would cost," she said. "This sounded much more like something intended to energize a campaign rally."
The Clinton plan still is more detailed than most of the ideas put forth by her opponent, Republican Donald Trump, who doesn't typically give the cost of his plans and sometimes changes significant planks. Still, Mrs. Clinton prides herself on her policy chops and says candidates owe it to voters to be clear about their plans. Mr. Trump's campaign didn't respond to a request for comment.
Mrs. Clinton says she would pay for the college plan with higher taxes on the wealthy, including new limits on deductions.
| Does that include all the donors to the Clinton Foundation... |
Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said Mrs. Clinton is "deeply committed" to the revised plan. "Hillary Clinton put forward an ambitious proposal in the primary and, after listening to voters on the campaign trail, expanded it to more effectively reach the goal of erasing the barrier of debt to a college of education," he said.
Passing this program into law will be a challenge, though, particularly if Republicans continue to control at least one house of Congress. Even some Democrats think Mrs. Clinton's first proposal would have a better chance and worry that the revised version is too heavy a lift.
The new Clinton policy was described in a single paragraph issued by the campaign in early July amid talks with Mr. Sanders, who had campaigned against her in the primary on a more expansive free-tuition plan. His concept was that public colleges should be free for all, like public high schools.
Mrs. Clinton had already put forth a detailed plan last summer to assure that students could attend public colleges without borrowing money for tuition, but she said families should contribute what they could afford. To win over Mr. Sanders, Mrs. Clinton agreed that students in families earning $85,000 a year or less would be assured free tuition, with that threshold climbing to $125,000 over four years.
The political goals were clear. The policy was a priority for Mr. Sanders, and after her shift, he endorsed her. She also put herself in position to appeal to younger voters, who overwhelmingly backed Mr. Sanders in the primaries and are an important part of the coalition that twice elected President Barack Obama.
In his speech at July's Democratic National Convention endorsing Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Sanders specifically cited this policy shift. It was one of several she made that were key to winning his support, including an agreement to back additional funding for community health centers.
Mary Schwalm/Reuters Sen. Bernie Sanders, right, endorsed Mrs. Clinton at an event in Portsmouth, N.H., on July 12. At the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Mr. Sanders cited Mrs. Clinton's shift on college-tuition policy, which helped to win his support.
For now, the new plan appears to cut against two points Mrs. Clinton made during the primaries.
First, she had long described her plan, which she calls the New College Compact, as a balanced way of making sure all players have "skin in the game," including federal and state governments, universities, families and students.
"I think it ought to be a compact," she said during a Democratic debate last year. "Families contribute, kids contribute."
Under her new plan, 80% of families would qualify for tuition-free school, even if they could afford some contribution. A Clinton aide replied by noting that students are still expected to have a job that will help pay expenses, and said that it is most important that government pay its fair share.
Second, one of her chief criticisms of the Sanders tuition-free plan was that it relied on governors, including critical Republican governors, to put up one-third of the funding. But her plan requires substantial state contributions as well, though her campaign hasn't specified how much.
The Clinton aide said states will be more likely to fund her plan because it would be phased in gradually.
She did stick by her view, voiced often during the primaries, that the government shouldn't offer free tuition to very rich families.
Other aspects of the Clinton plan would lower borrowing costs for existing borrowers and those who attend private colleges, and would make community college free.
Where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Stand on Economic Issues
Meantime, Mrs. Clinton appears to be offering another change to her program that she hasn't yet explained. In an economic speech on Thursday, she promised "tuition-free" college for the middle class, and "debt-free college" for everyone.
Aides said debt-free is a goal meant to assure no student has to borrow money to pay any college costs, including room, board and other expenses, which can represent half the total costs. That goes beyond her original concept and isn't detailed in the pages of facts sheets provided by her campaign.
Many advocates welcome the expansions. Tamara Draut, of the advocacy group Demos, which promotes debt-free college, said it is essential that students be able to pay for all college expenses without taking loans, and that this is her understanding of the Clinton plan. She said she expects more details to come.
"I think we're a long way from governing and there is more detail there than her opponent's policy platforms, for sure," she said.