The White House laid out plans Wednesday for the steps it is taking to improve college affordability by making debt from student loans more manageable and contingent on post-grad earnings.

The current generation of college students has an all-time high amount of student loans, said Education Secretary Arne Duncan during a conference call hosted by the White House. He added the current outstanding total of federal student loans is $610 billion.

Duncan said the administration has introduced its new “Pay as You Earn” proposal in an attempt to combat rising debts. The proposal will lower more than 1.5 million college students’ monthly payments to 10 percent of their income that is left over after necessary expenses.

President Barack Obama has also put a more immediate action plan in place. Beginning this January, approximately six million college students and recent graduates will be able to consolidate their student loans and significantly lower their interest rates, Duncan said.

In addition, the President’s new plan will forgive all outstanding debts after 20 years, said Duncan.

Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said ensuring college students’ financial security is a priority for the Obama administration.

“Tuitions costs, costs of room and board – they’ve all been going up,” she said. “This president made a commitment to start moving forward with these intiatives. We’re looking to do all we can to make college a little more affordable.”

Raj Date, special adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury, said one of the highlights of the new proposal is the initiative to consolidate subsidized and direct loans. Rather than work with banks, he said, the government will “cut out the middleman” and give students direct loans.

Cutting out subsidies will generate such savings that nationwide pell grants will increase by $40 billion without the use of taxpayer dollars, Duncan said.

“We’ve decided we want to invest in our nation’s future and young people instead of banks,” he said. “For us, this was a simple moral, economic and educational choice.”

The Obama administration also emphasized the importance of fostering a well-educated and highly skilled work force.

Duncan said high rates of college graduation are the way for the U.S. to remain atop the global economy.

“Companies can go anywhere to find skilled workers,” he said. “We’re competing in a global marketplace, and the only way we can win is by increasing college graduation rates.”

Barnes said Obama has challenged the nation to have the highest rate of college graduates in the world by 2020. Currently, the U.S. is in sixteenth place.

Obama said he will take all necessary action to make college a possibility for more youth and thus help turn around the current economy.

“Steps like [this proposal] won’t take the place of the bold action we need from Congress to boost our economy and create jobs, but they will make a difference,” Obama said in a statement. “Until Congress does act, I will do everything in my power to act on behalf of the American people.”