[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 112 (Monday, September 9, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8387-S8388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BIDEN:
  S. 2916. A bill to put a college education within reach, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, as another school year starts, many college 
students are worrying not only about their class loads and their 
coursework, but about where the money to pay for their educations will 
come from. Today, the average cost of attending a public 4-year college 
has jumped to $9,000, up 7.7 percent from last year. This represents 
the highest rate of increase since 1993. For those families that choose 
to send their children to a private institution, that number rises. Up 
4.7 percent from the year before, the average cost of a private 4-year 
institution is now close to $24,000 a year.
  What do these rising tuition costs mean? Hard working American 
families are spending a larger percentage of their incomes than ever 
before to send their children to college. To attend the University of 
Delaware, where I went to school, it costs nearly 20 percent of a 
Delaware family's average annual income to cover costs. To attend a 
private college or university, that number, in some instances can jump 
to over 40 percent of annual income.
  To help remedy this situation I come to the floor today to 
reintroduce legislation to help American families afford their 
children's tuition. This comprehensive package, ``The Tuition 
Assistance for Families Act,'' builds upon previous steps that others 
and I have taken to make it possible for more families to provide their 
children with a college education. I introduce this bill so that the 
decision to send one's child to college will not be overshadowed by the 
decision of how to pay for it.
  The ``Tuition Assistance for Families Act'' will provide middle class 
American families with a $12,000 tuition tax deduction each year. Based 
on legislation that I introduced with Senator Schumer last year, at 
$12,000 this deduction provides real, meaningful tax relief. Tax relief 
that American families have been waiting for. Tax relief that can go a 
long way in helping them afford room, board and tuition.
  The bill that I am introducing today also expands the two tuition tax 
credits enacted in 1997--the Hope Scholarship and the Lifetime Learning 
Tax Credit. Under current law, the Lifetime Learning Credit allows a 20 
percent tax credit on the first $10,000 in higher education expenses in 
year 2003. Under my bill, the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit percentage 
would jump from 20 to 25 percent and raise the amount of education 
expenses subject to the credit to $12,000. In terms of real dollars, 
this would mean that a student who files in tax year 2003 under my plan 
could get up to $3,000 back in taxes. Under current law, the maximum 
allowable credit is only $2,000. That is a $1,000 difference. $1,000 
that can go directly into a student's pocket to pay for books, a 
computer or tuition. The also raises the income limits for each credit 
to $130,000 per family, per year, so that more families are afforded 
the help that they need.
  This bill reintroduces the idea of a $1,000 merit scholarship to be 
awarded to the top 5 percent of each high school's graduating class. 
These types of scholarships not only reward student achievement, they 
help to ensure that the best and brightest students have the ability to 
go on to college--thereby increasing the pool of well-qualified 
American workers for the information technology age.
  This act also increases the maximum Pell Grant award from $4,000 to 
$4,500. During the 2001-2002 school year, the maximum Pell Grant award 
covered about 42 percent of the average tuition, room and board at a 
public 4-year university. During the 1975-76 it covered 84 percent of 
these same costs. Clearly, the purchasing power of these grants has 
dramatically declined. As such, the debt load of American families and 
American students has increased considerably over the years as students 
have looked to federal and private loans to finance their educations. A 
report released just this March by the State PIRG's Higher Education 
Project found that at the end of the 1999-2000 school year, 64 percent 
of college students graduated with student loan debt at an average of 
$16,928, nearly double the average debt load just eight years ago. 
Double the debt load in 1994.

[[Page S8388]]

  It is the dream of every American to provide for their child a better 
life than they had themselves. Helping families afford the increasing 
cost of a college education will move us closer to making that dream a 
reality. For this reason, I have spent a great deal of time in the 
Senate fighting to provide tax relief for middle class American 
families struggling with the cost of college. And while I was pleased 
when some of the ideas I advocated were adopted in the 1997 tax cut 
bill, it is clear that as tuition costs rise dramatically, working 
Americans need additional assistance. The ``Tuition Assistance for 
Families Act'' will provide extra help so that more families can afford 
to give their children a brighter and better future. Let's not allow a 
college education to become a luxury when, in the information 
technology age, it is an absolute necessity.

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