She spoke of making college more affordable and gave a nod to Obama, her Senate colleague and Democratic primary opponent, while drawing on the university's 1960s-era demonstrations.

"Think about the students from this university who braved tear gas and water hoses and beatings and bullets to protest the injustice of segregation and usher in a new era of equality and never lived to see the day of an African-American man running for president," Clinton told the crowd of around 4,000 gathered for Claflin University's commencement.

Claflin students and those at neighboring South Carolina State University know well the civil rights history and battles in South Carolina. In 1968, three demonstrators were killed and 27 wounded when white South Carolina Highway Patrol officers fired into a crowd.

Clinton stopped at a memorial to the dead on the S.C. State campus three weeks ago when she attended the Democratic Party's first presidential debate.

During her speech, Clinton called the class of 320 graduating students a minority who are able to afford and complete the college degrees they began pursuing.

"But what I'm finding is that so many students and their hardworking parents and families are balking at the cost of higher education," Clinton said. "When they see the price tag their hearts sink."

With fewer than half of the nation's students completing the degrees their start, government must have a larger role to play, Clinton said.

"We need to begin by making college more affordable and accessible," she said. "I think we need to take on the student loan industry and send a clear message they will be held accountable for the way they treat and mistreat students and families."

She is pushing a "student borrower bill of rights" that locks payments at a percentage of income and keeps fees and interest rates reasonable. "I don't believe that you should be subjected to bait-and-switch programs where they tell you what it's going to be and then they change it on you," she said.

Clinton also singled out Ernest Finney, the first black chief justice of South Carolina's Supreme Court. The 1952 Claflin graduate built his legal career defending more than 6,000 civil rights protesters and served on the state's highest court from 1985 to 2000.

"Believe it or not, he actually attended his first meeting of the South Carolina Bar as a waiter serving the members because membership was not open to African Americans at the time," Clinton said.