It should be affordable, I don't understand how the cost can rise so much, there is no costs to the school beyond paying the professors and building maintenence/taxes. What makes the price go up so much every year?

But to the people that want or think their debt will be forgiven, let me be the first to tell you that will never happen. College shouldn't and will never be free, otherwise it will be abused, how will free college sustain itself when anyone can, for any length of time, take unlimited free classes?  Are we building new universities to cover all these people or is it only for new college aged students so anyone over 21 won't be considered but will still be expected to pay for the younger generations free college.  The debt is yours, you earned it, you got free school from kindergarten through high school, at that time you are 18 and an adult and as an adult you have to make decisions and live with those choices. If college were free, you would lose and extra 5-10% of your income to pay for other people's "free" tuition. I paid off my debt 10 years ago by putting all my money on my bills and not living it up for a year and a half. I am not going to lose 10% of my income to make school free for others and with Trump in for at least the next 4 years I would suggest you start paying it down because even if HIllary got in, you are not getting free college or tuition forgiveness.

Nothing is free, nobody is going to eat your 50K in loans, you could have gotten a job that helped pay for college, you could do it online, you have choices.

Starting your career approx. 1/4 million dollars in debt, jesus you must really have a great plan for getting that cash back when you graduate. That is insane you could have 2 houses for the same amount and be happily renting one of them out to pay the mortages on both.

Just a thought, but damn I genuinely hope that everyone who goes into a level of debt for education which involves the word "million" in any way really has an end game plan lined up.

Well the end result is that I will be a doctor and will be making a doctor's salary. Plus if the debt is too bothersome then I can always practice medicine in a rural community for 5 years and have the state pay off all of my loans. 

And my total debt will be closer to $400,000 when it's all said and done because of undergrad + masters tuition that I have to pay off too. It's a viscious cycle but if it's towards something rewarding, then I think it's worth it.

Cut the military budget in half and you can give 10k per year to every man, woman, and child in the US to attend University. No additional taxes are required to do this. Just stop being a warmongering nation. Simple.

Assuming your stats are correct, that is only about 1 year of school and that is generous, books, fees, and dorms could inflate that another 50-75%.  So we will be back to the same problem, but with half the military budget.  

It still doesn't address how school will do with the influx of the other people suddenly signing up for classes, are we hiring more professors, building more schools etc.  There are 300 million Americans, if a fifth of people currently attend college, are we able to squeeze in another 240 million people to go to college?  And yes I know some are under 18 but still.  

Plus the 10K doesnt solve any problems, it either gives people at best a free year of school or knocks down a little debt, most people would end up just pocketing the money if it wasn't a credit for a nearby college anyway.  And people will still complain if they owe 40K vs. 50K or every resume will have 30 credits under high education and that's that.  

And again half the military budget, guess we are not going to have new technology or enough soldiers or vechicles to do what we gotta do.  

Many people will never pay it off, so they'll be trapped in a cycle of paying for tuition. What happens when so many people are endlessly paying off their tuition? They buy a lot less. In a consumer-based economy, many people not buying would be disastrous. It would also probably prevent manymany people from having children, and in a capitalist society that creates a demographic crisis.