[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 15, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H5184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         COLLEGE SAVINGS PLANS

  (Mr. NUGENT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss a simple solution to 
a straightforward problem. A constituent of mine came to me with this 
issue. He had created college funds for each of his grandchildren in a 
529 college savings plan.
  Some of his grandchildren decided not to go to college, while others 
went to college and graduated, but with student debt. While he wanted 
to use the leftover college savings to pay off those loans, which makes 
sense because the loans were the same expenses that the 529 plan money 
is intended for, he was not able to spend that money on the loans 
without being hit with both the capital gains taxes and an additional 
10 percent penalty, the same as if he were using the money for some 
other purchase.
  Today, I am introducing a bill to strike the additional penalty when 
the 529 college savings plan money is used to pay for student loans 
that were taken out for qualified educational expenses. In this age of 
rising college costs, there is no reason to penalize families for 
paying down student debt.

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