NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is rolling out a plan designed to promote debt-free-college in a wide-ranging attempt to address the higher ed crisis. The wraps were scheduled to come off during a Monday campaign stop in Exeter, N.H.

Called the New College Compact, it would take effect over ten years and cost an estimated $350 billion, with its benefits going chiefly to state institutions. Its goal would be to reduce the dependence on student loans--but not eliminate them or make college "debt free" across the board. Outstanding Federal loans are worth about $1 trillion. Federal and private student loans combined are edging toward $1.3 trillion.

Money to pay for the plan would come from a tax on upper-income earners, who would have new limits placed on itemized deductions on their tax returns. Clinton's plan would have to pass a Republican-controlled Congress. State governments would also have to buy in.

"Imagine what is possible in America if we tackle the runaway costs of higher education, make sure that students who start college can finish with a degree and relieve the crushing burden of student debt," Clinton's campaign said in a statement.

According to a Clinton campaign fact sheet, everyone who owes money would be allowed to refinance student loans at current interest rates--one of the plan's biggest selling points and a demand that has been made in higher ed circles, especially among Millennial student organizations. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has already introduced a student loan re-finance bill that was shot down in the Senate. Interest rates have been at historic lows.

Many of the details for the New College Compact are vague. Time is not on Clinton's side, especially for the loan refinance plan. Assuming she were the Democratic nominee and got elected, a Clinton administration would not take office until 2017. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, could start raising interest rates as early as this fall, perhaps signaling the end of cheap money and ushering in a new era where loans become increasingly expensive. The low-rate environment that has been in place since the financial crisis has been expected to end for some time.

The Clinton plan would give some $175 billion to states that promise not to force students to get student loans to finish four-year degrees at public colleges and universities. To get the funding, states would have to agree to not only end budget cuts, but increase higher ed spending. In states that won't get with Clinton's program, the Department of Education (ED) would create an unidentified path to Federal benefits.

Indeed, the New College Compact attacks the trend in some states to disinvest in higher ed, typically where fiscal conservatives occupy the governor's mansion. The 2014 election saw a wave of GOP victories in statehouse races. There are currently 31 Republican governors, 18 Democrats and one independent.

The Clinton plan puts her at odds with a potential presidential adversary, Scott Walker, the Republican Governor of Wisconsin and a poster boy for higher ed cutbacks. Last month Walker signed a two-year budget that includes $250 million in spending cuts for the University of Wisconsin that would be in place if Clinton were elected.

While the Clinton plan would not eliminate student loans, it would allow Pell grants to be used to for non-tuition purposes such as living expenses. AmeriCorps, a public service program championed by Clinton's husband, would be expanded.

The Clinton plan would revisit accountability benchmarks that failed when they were attempted by the Obama administration, including one that channels the Obama college rating plan, which the administration has backed away from since its introduction in the summer of 2013 in the face of bad reviews.

Clinton's demand that colleges be forced to have "skin in the game" when it comes to sending students into the world with debt they can't repay is co-opting a similar effort in the Senate. Last week a bill introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Orin Hatch (R-Utah) would hold colleges accountable for student outcomes and create a risk-sharing metric where the schools could suffer the consequences for loan defaults. Schools with loan repayment rates over 10% below the national average during a three-year period would lose Federal aid.

Clinton's campaign said she would "embrace bipartisan efforts" to require colleges to track underperforming loans and share default risk.