Democrats need to learn to focus. If you, as a head of R&D, present a new roadmap/product line every six months, you will be out in 12 months. Republicans know how to take one item (abortion or "law and order") and generate party consensus.
I would be very happy if Democrats work on delivering just Medicare for all over 2020-2024 timeframe. One line item MBO. Go for it.
But every candidate has to take on everything imaginable right away, which I see as having no chance of getting through because that's not how you get an agenda through. You do one thing, you prove it works and more importantly that you can be trusted to make things work, and then you get a chance to do another thing.
Coming to college cost, this is a multi-faceted problem, just like Medicare for all. Just like Medicare for all is not about government taking on everyone's premiums, but actually pushing the drug companies and insurance companies to manage costs, the college problem should also be not just be about forgiving this or reparation that.
In the same way that we can think of many layered solutions, including high tech ones, to "border wall", there exist many layered solutions, including high tech ones, for higher education. Harping on trillion here and trillion there makes Democrats sound just like Trump and his wall.