Julian Castro unveils education plan with focus on pre-K, tuition-free college

[jxla]

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/13/julian-castro-education-plan/

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The proposal calls for a "universal, high-quality, publicly-funded, full-day Pre-K for USA program for three- and four-year-olds"

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Castro's plan would also nix tuition at public colleges and universities, community colleges, and technical and vocational programs. To achieve tuition-free higher education, the proposal says it would "share the financing of tuition costs with state governments and provide incentives to reduce the cost of college programs."

Also on higher education, the plan aims to dramatically rein in student loan debt by allowing borrowers to make a healthy living before having to worry about loan payments. Under the proposal, a borrower would make $0 monthly payments until he or she is earning above two and a half times the federal poverty level — $64,375 for a four-person household, for example. And even then, payments would be capped at 10% of the income that person makes above two and a half times the poverty level. Finally, after 240 payments, including the $0 installments, the borrower would receive nontaxable forgiveness on the remaining loan.

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Castro's campaign estimates that the plan costs about $1.5 trillion. A spokesman said Castro would pay for it by rolling back the 2017 Republican tax cuts, which he would replace with a "more fair tax plan" to be released at a later date.