Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Monday unveiled a comprehensive plan to cancel student loan debt and provide free public college.
After making headlines by calling for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, Warren laid out in a Medium post her plan to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for everyone who makes under $100,000 per year. Those making between $100,000 and $250,000 would see that $50,000 cancellation figure decrease by $1 for every $3 the person makes above $100,000.
More than 44 million Americans have student loans, which add up to $1.5 trillion in total. Forbes reports that after after mortgage debt, student loans are the second highest source of consumer debt in the country.
Under her plan, Warren says, over 75% of Americans will see that debt vanish “entirely.”
“The enormous student debt burden weighing down our economy isn’t the result of laziness or irresponsibility,” Warren said in the post. “It’s the result of a government that has consistently put the interests of the wealthy and well-connected over the interests of working families.”
Wiping out student debt would be “step one.” Step two: Getting rid of the cost of public college tuition and fees altogether.
“Like K-12 education, college is a basic need that should be available for free to everyone who wants to go,” Warren states. “That’s why I’m proposing a historic new federal investment in public higher education that will eliminate the cost of tuition and fees at every public two-year and four-year college in America.”
The plan’s total estimated price tag is $1.25 trillion over ten years, which Warren says would be “more than covered” by her proposed Ultra-Millionaire Tax.
While battling tepid fundraising figures among the crowded field of 2020 Democratic campaigns, Warren’s caught more attention recently as the first candidate to call for impeachment proceedings against Trump after the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report on his Russia probe.
She’s also rolled out many other policies over the past several months to provide universal child care, break up tech giants, and address climate change.
