The new legislation, which passed the state House this month by a margin of 94-13, would increase the tuition tax credit from $250 to $500. The bill would also nullify a previous stipulation that made University students ineligible for the credit. The bill now goes to the state Senate for approval. The Senate should follow the House's strong bipartisan support for the bill and address the fact that students' needs transcend party lines.
With tuition, room and board expenses and high textbook prices, many students struggle to keep their checking accounts in the black. The tuition tax credit could help students and their parents manage through the financially tumultuous tax season. An extra $500 could go a long way to prevent students from falling further into debt.
The state's present policy of denying tax credits to University students is unfair and illogical. Under the policy, students attending schools that do not keep tuition in line with inflation - including the University - are ineligible for the tax credit. Instead of the standard Consumer Price Index, the University uses its own system to calculate annual inflation rates, including items that students purchase and excluding items that most families purchase, like homes and cars. Because of its unique method for calculating inflation, the University Board of Regents consistently raises tuition at a rate slightly above the CPI inflation rate. The former policy indirectly penalized students for the regents' actions and punished them for attending a university priced above inflation. The new policy would eliminate the ill-conceived rule and make the University a more viable option to students with limited financial resources.
For the past several years, the University failed to keep its tuition increases in line with CPI's standardized rate, hitting students disproportionately harder every year. Regardless of state tuition tax-credit policies, the regents should moderate tuition increases to keep a University education accessible. When making tuition-increase decisions, the regents should keep in mind that most students' financial resources grow at a rate close to inflation.
State Rep. Harold Vorhees (D-Wyoming) said that his problem with expanding tax credits is that it does not solve the underlying problem of the raging inflation rate. While controlling inflation rates is a good long-term goal, forcing students to wait is impractical. Tax credits are a good way to provide a temporary fix to students' problems; their expansion could open up avenues of opportunity that students never had before.
The state should work to break down financial barriers preventing qualified students from taking advantage of opportunities to attend the University. Expanding tuition tax credits could go a long way to making the University an option for students that lack extensive financial resources. The state Senate should pass the bill to make higher education a feasible goal for families.