--- title: Hillary Clinton AmeriCorps: Candidate Proposes Major Expansion description: Hillary Clinton announced a plan to expand the AmeriCorps service program and increase aid to program participants for education payments. canonical: https://time.com/4005205/hillary-clinton-americorps/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-20T19:20:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:29.165Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Proposes Major Expansion of AmeriCorps og:description: To combat rising college debt. og:url: https://time.com/4005205/hillary-clinton-americorps/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0952814210d53c0d/69886049196cf4a23f037a8d/americorps.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Americorps reading tutor Kelly Meany, L, gives one-on-one reading instructions to 7-year-old 2nd grader Madissen Moody at C.W. Harris Elementary School on Friday, September 19, 2014, in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Proposes Major Expansion of AmeriCorps twitter:description: To combat rising college debt. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0952814210d53c0d/69886049196cf4a23f037a8d/americorps.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Proposes Major Expansion of AmeriCorps > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 20, 2015 7:20 PM UTC  Americorps reading tutor Kelly Meany, L, gives one-on-one reading instructions to 7-year-old 2nd grader Madissen Moody at C.W. Harris Elementary School on Friday, September 19, 2014, in Washington, DC. Americorps reading tutor Kelly Meany, L, gives one-on-one reading instructions to 7-year-old 2nd grader Madissen Moody at C.W. Harris Elementary School on Friday, September 19, 2014, in Washington, DC. The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 20, 2015 7:20 PM UTC As part of Hillary Clinton’s central campaign vow to rein in student debt and cut the cost of college, the Democratic frontrunner announced a plan Thursday to expand the AmeriCorps service program and increase aid to program participants for education payments. Clinton’s $20-billion plan would triple the number of AmeriCorps service members to 250,000, according to Clinton’s campaign. It would also increase aid payouts to AmeriCorps participants for college loans from a maximum of $11,550 to more than $23,000. “Young people willing to commit to public service deserve to live free from the crushing burden of student debt,” said Clinton in a statement Thursday. “In the same way we provided for our returning veterans with the G.I. Bill, we must commit to those who serve our communities at home.” Many AmeriCorps participants live on paltry budgets, earnings minimal cost-of living allowances that can amount to less than $1,000 a month, depending on their location and assignments. Jobs in the program, which was started under President Clinton in 1994, can range from disaster response and legal aid to academic support in public schools. AmeriCorps also awards service members with lump payments to pay off student loans. “Too many students graduate college with crushing debt,” wrote former volunteer Kendall Cloeter in [a Medium post](https://medium.com/@KendallCloeter/how-americorps-changed-my-life-and-could-change-thousands-more-f23ee5fd50ad) cited by the Clinton campaign. “AmeriCorps provides a unique opportunity for both the prospect of education awards to help pay off loans and the ability to put your loans in forbearance while completing service.” “Clinton’s plan would go further,” Cloeter added. The campaign’s proposal—like several of her proposals announced in recent months—hews close to already-proposed legislation, in this case, the Edward Kennedy Serve America Act. That act was passed into law in 2009 and also called for 250,000 AmeriCorps members, but has since withered due to lack of funding. Last week, the Clinton campaign rolled out a $350 billion plan that would allow graduates to refinance their debt, encourage states to reduce costs at public universities, lower interest rates on student loans and ultimately guarantee that students of public universities graduate free of debt. American graduates now face a total of more than $1.2 trillion in student debt, a figure that many economists say is hurting students’ ability to participate and grow the economy. Clinton’s rivals for the Democratic nomination, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have also called for plans to address the ballooning student debt, with Sanders calling for zero tuition at public universities. Clinton says the AmeriCorps plan announced Thursday would further help students pay off their loans. The plan will cost $20 billion in the next ten years and would be paid for by closing certain tax deductions and loopholes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4005205/hillary-clinton-americorps/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4005205/hillary-clinton-americorps/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Proposes Major Expansion of AmeriCorps","datePublished":"2015-08-20T19:20:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:29.165Z","description":"Hillary Clinton announced a plan to expand the AmeriCorps service program and increase aid to program participants for education payments.","url":"https://time.com/4005205/hillary-clinton-americorps/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0952814210d53c0d/69886049196cf4a23f037a8d/americorps.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0952814210d53c0d/69886049196cf4a23f037a8d/americorps.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Americorps reading tutor Kelly Meany, L, gives one-on-one reading instructions to 7-year-old 2nd grader Madissen Moody at C.W. 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