[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17201]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      ON INTRODUCING THE ``REDUCING EDUCATION LOAN REPAYMENT ACT''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 18, 2002

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, millions of American 
parents sent their children off to college. For many of them, however, 
the worry about how to pay for college dampened their excitement. To 
case that burden for parents and students alike, I rise today to 
introduce legislation that will make the interest on college loans 
fully tax deductible, permanently, for every student.
  Over the course of a lifetime, a college graduate can expect to earn 
$1 million more than someone with a high school diploma alone. Yet, as 
higher education has become more necessary, it has become more 
expensive. A study released in May by the National Center for Public 
Policy and Higher Education shows that the price of tuition is now 
beyond the reach of many working families. Private colleges are just 
plain unaffordable, and public colleges are becoming less affordable 
each year. To pay these high costs, students and their parents 
increasingly take out larger and larger educational loans. The average 
college graduate with loans begins working with $11,000-$18,000 of 
debt.
  I believe that education is the single most important investment we 
can make in our children's future. Our government believes that home 
ownership is an investment that the government should support, and it 
allows the interest on home interest loans to be tax deductible. 
Congress should extend the same kind of support to student loan 
interest.

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