Biden Releases Higher Education Plan

(AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is proposing higher education policies that would make community and technical college free while making existing federal college loan programs more generous.

The $750 billion plan represents a major expansion of the federal government's role in educating Americans beyond high school. But it stops short of the far more expensive proposals from Biden's progressive rivals Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Biden calls for the federal government to cover 75 percent of the cost of community college tuition, with states covering the rest. Sanders and Warren want universal free public college.

Biden proposes doubling the Pell Grant program and cutting in half the income percentage caps on student loan repayments.

Sanders proposes eliminating all student loan debt, while Warren proposes scrapping it for most debtors.

(KR)