By the end of 2016, student loan debt will have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. In fact, estimates report that approximately 43 million students in the United States will owe nearly $1.3 trillion. That means the average class of 2016 graduate has nearly $38,000 in debt--a six percent increase from last year.

Hillary Clinton, a longtime education advocate Hillary Clinton emphasizes education policy in her presidential agenda--pushing for early as well as higher education reform.

“The public school system has been, I believe, second to the Constitution, the most important institution in making America the great country that we have been over the last 200 plus years,” Clinton said in 2015.

Her original plan cost $350 billion over a decade, but she expanded the college affordability portion of the plan significantly in July. There has not been an updated cost estimate. The plan would be paid for by increasing taxes on the wealthy.

Here are the key components to Clinton’s educational policy:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton released an open letter on Tuesday to Wells Fargo customers who were the victims of "widespread illegal practices," saying she was "deeply disturbed" by revelations earlier this month that bank employees created sham accounts for personal gain.

"Our economy depends on a strong and safe banking system to help keep it moving. But even after Americans spent years working hard to recover from the Great Recession, the culture of misconduct and recklessness that preceded that crisis too often persists," Clinton wrote in the letter.

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In the letter, Clinton also lays out her plan for addressing this type of misconduct. Specifically, she wrote that she would defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and "enhance accountability" on Wall Street.

"Executives should be held individually accountable when rampant illegal activity happens on their watch," she argued. "Their compensation should take a hit if their companies pay major fines. And they must face appropriate legal consequences if they break the law."

In the past two weeks, Clinton has taken informal and formal questions from traveling reporters on at least eight occasions, while Trump has not taken questions at a formal press conference for more than 50 days.

Clinton welcomed reporters onto her plane on Labor Day, got chummy with the press photographers, spoke with reporters after recovering from pneumonia and most recently took questions twice in the two days after the bombing in New York City that injured 29 people.

She has answered questions on a wide range of topics from handling ISIS, the structure of her family foundation, cybersecurity and about a television series she is watching, The Good Wife. At her recent appearances, she always appeared with a minder, the besuited press secretary Nick Merrill, and sometimes unexpectedly in the aisle at the back of her plane. She has taken a total of 63 questions, according to a tally provided by her campaign.

Trump, meanwhile, spoke briefly with a handful of reporters on Labor Day Monday and took a few questions. But his more controlled campaign since the installation of image maven Kellyanne Conway has meant Trump sticks much closer to the script.

We hear a lot of things about the millennial generation. But too often, the people who are busy trying to define you are the ones who have spent the least time listening to you.

Here's what I have learned: Your generation is the most open, diverse and entrepreneurial generation in our country's history. And if we work together to take on the barriers that are holding you back and unleash your full potential, that won't just improve your lives — it'll make our entire country stronger.

From the first days of this campaign, you have shared the problems that keep you up at night and the hopes that get you up in the morning. You've reached for the opportunities that come with a college education at the highest rates of any generation in history — but faced ballooning tuition costs and crushing student debt like never before. Many of you entered the workforce during the worst recession since the Great Depression. And you've come of age during two deadly, costly wars in the Middle East.

And yet, despite all these challenges, you've never given up. Not even close.

Before we go any further I should tell you that no, I’m not affilliated with the Clinton campaign. Yes, I’ve worked on Democratic campaigns and will probably work on others in the future, but so far, they’ve all been local or statewide races.

This is all me, and I’ll say it again: I’m proudly voting for Hillary Clinton. She’s not just the best candidate for the job in relation to the other possibilities, she’s the best we’ve seen in a long time.

Right away, more than a few commentors on Facebook are going to start off by saying, “But Hillary wasn’t even for same-sex marriage until a couple of years ago and only because public opinion changed!” Seriously, wait a few hours after this gets posted and go check NCRM’s Facebook page. At least one person’s going to say this.

Here’s my response: So what? She’s there now. There are lots of folks who were involved in the fight, whether on the ground or at a policy level, who gladly take wins however we can get them.

Black girl magic, which isn’t in the dictionary just yet, is a phrase used to celebrate the awesomeness of black women.

The event was hosted by the Black Women’s Agenda Symposium Workshop, which is the organization dedicated to addressing disparities faced by black women.

Clinton said that all women have to work harder at the office while still bearing responsibilities at home ― a challenge that can be even more difficult for black women.

Black women, she said, “leave the house every morning, put on that game face that well all practice, and enter a social that consistently challenges your worth ― with the images you see, the lower pay that so many take home; that try to silence your voices and break your spirits. That you remain fierce in the face of the challenges.”

Around Monday or Tuesday of this week, Hillary Clinton's favorables went up about four points and Donald Trump's went down four points. In Clinton's case, maybe her pneumonia generated some sympathy? In Trump's case, it's hard to figure out what might have happened. David Fahrenthold's big story about Trump's charity scams came out around then. The whole "deplorables" thing was getting some attention. And...that's about it. Nothing really comes to mind that might account for a sudden downward spike.

So what's going on? It could be that this is nothing but reversion to the mean after a couple of weeks of Emailgate and Foundationgate taking a toll. That would actually make some sense, since attitudes toward Clinton and Trump have been remarkably stable for the entire past year. In any case, maybe this will help panicky Dems to panic a little less.

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"They want to see someone who's going to protect us and be strong and tough," Fallon added.

Clinton responded:

"It's especially tricky for women. And it just is because you know there's a lot of serious things. The other night, I was on a show and being asked about ISIS and Iran and I was serious. These are important issues that the country needs to talk about. And the Republicans were saying, 'Oh she looks so serious.' Well you don't talk about ISIS with a big grin on your face. They're a barbaric, evil group that we have to defeat and wipe out. But it is a constant balancing act. How do you kind of keep the energy and the positive spirit while taking seriously what you need to."

Clinton was referring to NBC's Commander-In-Chief Forum that news anchor Matt Lauer hosted on September 7, where both she and her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, discussed national security.

Kurt Pilgeram was outside doing chores at his home five miles west of Dutton on Friday morning when he saw what he thought was a couple of guys on four-wheelers in a field to the southeast of his place.

Dutton is on Interstate 15, about 35 miles northwest of Great Falls.

When the four-wheelers began moving in single file, Pilgeram realized it was four bears — a sow grizzly and three roly-poly cubs — moving across the wheat stubble field, not four-wheelers.

“They are smaller, but they’re not small,” he said of the chubby cubs.

If you visit Jar's home in the summer months, you can watch what happens when children and horses are brought together. Sunshine Acres, a farm in Northern Maryland with the ambiance of the American West, is graced with buildings that feature exposed wood and Native American motifs: carved totem-pole door frames, ceiling murals of horses and riders, and Indian blanket pillows tossed on the furniture.

At 69, Jar exudes an intense and joyful energy, not unlike that of the wild horses he loves so dearly. High cheekbones and dark, deep-set eyes hint at a Native American lineage—Blackfoot on his father's side and Cherokee on his mother's. But for his mother's extraordinary strength and pioneering drive, he might have been one of the struggling children he now welcomes onto his farm.

Dorothy May White was Baltimore’s first female radio disc jockey. She was an inspiration to Jar and his sister, Evonne, and worked hard to get them out of Baltimore’s Somerset Court Housing projects. Her efforts paid off when Jar became Baltimore’s first black male national recording artist of the era.

Dorothy May also gave her children another gift: a means of escape from the city. She regularly took Jar and Evonne to visit their great-grandfather’s farm in Virginia, where Jar experienced the most pivotal event of his life: “When I was three years old my great-grandfather lifted me up and put me on the back of his old mule. I realized then and there, that’s where I needed to be.”