Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton outlined a technology-focused agenda on Tuesday. Her plan also attempts to tackle student loan burden.
The Specifics
From a fact sheet released by a Clinton aide, the plan details include:
- Providing every American student a computer science education.
- Engaging the private sector to train 50,000 new computer science teachers in the next decade.
- Connecting every household to high-speed Internet by 2020.
- Connecting more public places, including airports and train stations, to the Internet and enabling them to offer free Wi-Fi hotspots.
- Helping to deploy next-generation 5G wireless.
- Allowing entrepreneurs and tech startup founders to put federal loans into special status while they get their businesses off the ground. They can defer student loan payments for up to three years, with zero interest and zero principal.
- Those starting new businesses in distressed communities can apply for student loan forgiveness for up to $17,500 after five years. This would also apply to innovators and activists that launch social enterprises which provide measurable social impact and benefit.
- Similar loan deferment options are also being explored for early-joiners of the business; the first 10 or 20 employees, for example.
Clinton and Millennial Motivation
Clinton will also participate in a live town hall from Los Angeles with 100 digital influencers and online content creators on Tuesday. During this moderated Q&A session, she will address issues important to those in the digital content world and further discuss her plans to forward entrepreneurship.
These events are part of the Clinton camp’s national effort to interact with and hear directly from millennial voters. Sarah Audelo, Hillary for America’s Youth Vote director, is heading the effort.
In addition, Kunoor Ojha, hired from Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign staff, will travel to colleges across the country as part of the Clinton effort to connect with young voters.