A recently announced major bill, the Debt-Free College Act of 2018, aims to reduce student debt.

According to Michael Inacay, Communications Director for Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, the legislation was officially announced on March 22, and will make college more affordable, eliminating the need to take out student loans.

The bill proposes to accomplish this through a partnership with states. “States would receive a one-to-one federal match to state higher education appropriations in exchange for a commitment to help students pay for the full cost of attendance without having to take on debt,” according to the proposing document from Inacay.

The first year investment would be $80 billion meeting the debt-free goal to 10 states. The goal for national debt-free for all is $95.4 billion.

Beyond helping students, 10% of these incentives will be available to finance improvements to the institutions and programs as necessary.

“In California, there are 4.2 million student loan borrowers that carry more than $1 billion dollars in debt,” said Inacay. “As a former student, I know how tough it is to carry this debt after you graduate and understand the possible impacts it can have on families and even students considering college.”

The Debt-Free College Act aims to meet their goal within the next five years.

Tisha Cheney can be reached at [email protected] or @orionnews_TC on Twitter.