Hillary Clinton’s College Plan Appeals to the Left, but Educators Have Doubts

Hillary Clinton announced her new higher education plan this summer with a burst of fanfare, promising to invest $500 billion to eliminate tuition for millions of students at public colleges and universities across the country. The move was an expansion of an earlier, less ambitious proposal, and was seen as a conciliatory gesture to her left-leaning primary opponent, SenatorBernie Sanders of Vermont, and his supporters ahead of the Democratic Party’s convention.“We appreciate that Mrs. Clinton understands that states are disinvesting from higher education in their states,” said Peter McPherson, the president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, who expressed approval that a candidate was trying to broaden access to higher education in a bold way. “But her plan at this juncture doesn’t fill out the details.”