Column: Clinton's college plan defecit

Going to college isn’t cheap, especially at UNC. Just tuition alone can put financial stress on students.

Americans already owe more than a trillion dollars in student debt, with that number continuing to increase as lenders across multiple sectors continue to give funds to young borrowers.

In an effort to decrease this amount, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her plan to make college more affordable early this month.

The initiative, titled the New College Compact, would allow students to attend a four-year public university without taking out loans for tuition while also providing states that have larger percentages of low and middle-income students with more funding.

The compact would cost $350 billion over the next ten years and would primarily be paid for through closing tax loopholes and capping tax deductions for wealthy families.

Clinton certainly conceived her plan with good intentions. After all, the average college tuition for a four-year public institution grew more than 150 percent between 1980 and 2012, with one reason being reductions in public investment from the public sector, leaving students with more of the bill.

But while students are left paying a large portion of the bill, Clinton’s plan does not solve the overall problem of high tuition costs. Instead, it ignores the larger issue surrounding loans.

While the decrease in public investment has played a major role in the increase of tuition costs, another contributing factor is the rise in federal aid.

According to a study conducted by the New York Federal Reserve, institutions are more open to changes that likely increase tuition disproportionately. In other words, when federal aid increases, so does tuition.

The Reserve found for every additional dollar given towards subsidized student loans, tuitions rose by 65 cents.

While Clinton’s plan might briefly make college more affordable, it doesn’t necessarily solve the main problem as a whole.

Based on the findings from the Reserve, a swelling of tuition could occur as a result of an increase in government investment, failing to solve the problem at its root.

There are also concerns from some economists about the government creating an economic bubble by pushing more people than necessary into college, which would increase the amount of loans taken out and could result in a situation similar to the 2008 housing and economic crisis.

Instead of supporting a plan that builds a false sense of affordability, we should pressure both college administrators and legislators to lower costs in a reasonable manner by cutting unnecessary expenditures and services.

Future students cannot afford to make heftier investments into their futures, especially if that investment could result in the implosion of their goals and plans.