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"If universities
want access to all of these federal tax breaks and tax dollars
paid for by you," Trump told a rally in a Philadelphia suburb,
"they have to make good faith efforts to reduce the cost of
college."
Trump did not offer specifics on how he would tie federal
funding to changes in college tuition.
His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, has proposed making
in-state tuition for colleges and universities free immediately
for families earning $85,000 or less, and free by 2021 for
families making up to $125,000 a year.
Trump, a New York businessman, has not said much about the cost
of college while campaigning. But U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders,
who competed against Clinton for the Democratic nomination, made
government-funded college tuition central to his campaign
platform.
Sanders drew a great deal of support from the youngest group of
American voters, and Trump, who needs to win over more women and
young people before the Nov. 8 election, took up a similar theme
in his proposal.
U.S. student debt has surged about 24 percent to around $1.2
trillion since 2012, according to figures earlier this year from
the New York Federal Reserve, leaving many graduates with
mortgage-sized tabs before they enter the workforce.
(Reporting by Emily Flitter; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter
Cooney)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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