August 10, 2015
That’s pretty much what the headline and article said, telling readers that Clinton wants to spend $350 billion “to make college affordable.” Is that a lot of money?
Well, the article doesn’t tell us whether the spending is over one year or twenty years, which would make some difference. If we assume that it is over ten years, the standard budget horizon, that comes to $35 billion a year. With total government spending a bit over $5 trillion in a 2017-2026 budget horizon, this would come to roughly 0.7 percent of projected spending. Alternatively, with a bit more than 20 million students enrolled in college (including community colleges), this would amount to roughly $1,700 per student per year.
Anyhow, it might have been useful to provide a little context on this one.
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