Clinton doing better after getting ill, Kaine assures crowd in Dayton

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine came to Dayton Monday to talk about Hillary Clinton’s college affordability plan but ended up fielding a bevy of questions about Clinton’s health.

Kaine said Clinton is doing well after a health episode Sunday in New York that forced her to leave a memorial service for Sept. 11 victims.

Kaine said Clinton would return to the campaign trail “soon,” but had no specifics on when.

“I lived through something very similar in my first race (for elected office) and I kind of know what the thinking was, which was ‘OK, we’ve got a diagnosis, it’s serious, but something a lot of people manage,’” he told reporters today.

Clinton’s doctors say she has pneumonia. She is taking a break from the campaign trail today and will not show up for some events planned in California.

During his speech at Stivers High School. Kaine said Clinton’s college affordability plan will enable as many as 150,000 Ohioans to attend an in-state public university tuition free.

Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is started speaking at Stivers School for the Arts at around 2:30 p.m. He is focusing on how Clinton's plan would eventually help families making less than $125,000 a year. The Clinton campaign said it would also unveil an online calculator tool to show Americans how the plan would work.

Tuition and fee increases, often driven by cuts in state funding, put college out of reach for thousands of students and drive thousands more to take on staggering debt to finish their degrees.

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Clinton unveiled her plan last year. It calls for money from the federal government, universities cutting costs and improving outcomes and students working 10 hours a week to defray expenses.

Two-thirds of Ohio students borrow to get through college, taking on an average debt of $29,353 by the time they graduate from a four-year public institution, according to the Project on Student Debt.

Clinton’s plan would initially cover families that make less than $85,000 a year but expand by 2021 to cover those making up to $125,000 a year. Clinton unveiled her college affordability plan last year. It includes funding for child care for student parents, restructuring of student debt, and tuition free community college.

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The Clinton campaign said the plan would mean 1.18 million Ohioans could refinance their student debt. It would also give loan breaks to aspiring entrepreneurs, teachers in high-need districts or shortage subjects, and those who perform national public service.

It is expected that Clinton’s college plan would cost $350 billion over 10 years.

Clinton’s health

During his Dayton event, Kaine mentioned that Clinton is doing well after a health episode Sunday in New York that forced her to leave a memorial service for Sept. 11 victims.

Kaine said he spoke to Clinton Sunday and said she is doing well.

Clinton’s doctors say she has pneumonia. She is taking a break from the campaign trail today and will not show up for some events planned in California.