Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is planning on reaching out to college students by bribing them into voting for her.
The Washington Post reports that Clinton is proposing a postponement of three months on repaying student loan debt. Those who have taken out these loans will receive counseling on how to preserve their money and payments will be reduced to a “proportion of the borrower’s debt.”
The plan is expected to cost the federal government over $1 billion due to “the lost interest when borrowers refinance to cheaper loans.”
Clinton touched on the issue of student loan debt in a meeting with the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
“I want everyone to be able to refinance your student loans so you never have to pay more than you can afford and for people who go into public service, and I include teaching because it is the first and primary public service,” Clinton said. “Any remaining debt after you refinance will be forgiven after 10 years.”
Clinton’s proposal is painfully obvious pandering to college students since 18 to 29-year-olds viewed Clinton with a favorability of 37 percent, while giving Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) a favorability of 54 percent, according to the Harvard’s Institute for Politics. She will need their vote in order to defeat real estate mogul Donald Trump in November.
Her proposal itself wouldn’t alleviate the burdensome cost of college. A 2015 New York Federal Reserve Bank report found that government-backed student loans resulted in a 70 percent increase in sticker-price college tuition, and that Pell Grants resulted in a 55 percent increase in sticker-price tuition. Neither resulted in an increase in college enrollment due to the resulting higher cost of college.
“I want everyone to be able to refinance your student loans so you never have to pay more than you can afford and for people who go into public service, and I include teaching because it is the first and primary public service.”
Hillary Clinton
Overall, college tuition has risen at four times the rate of inflation, and Clinton’s proposal won’t do anything solve the problem, as it’s nothing more than a bribe to college students.