AMERICANA / WIPING OUT COLLEGE DEBT AS A CAMPAIGN PROMISE

Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. points to the pie in the sky hovering directly overhead.

GUEST BLOG / By Benjy Sarlin, NBC News--Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., unveiled a plan Monday that would offer free tuition at public colleges while canceling up to $50,000 in student debt for over 40 million Americans.

Warren said her proposal was designed to confront a recent surge in student loans, now totaling $1.5 trillion nationally. She blamed insufficient funding for higher education — the result of lower taxes — for the mounting student debt.

"The first step in addressing this crisis is to deal head-on with the outstanding debt that is weighing down millions of families and should never have been required in the first place," she said in a statement.

Reporter Benjy Sarlin

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