Dan Seals - Democrat for Congress

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Seals Unveils Plan to Make Higher Education More Accessible and Affordable

Advocates Simplifying and Expanding College Tax Credit

May 8, 2008

NORTHFIELD—Today, Democratic Congressional Candidate Dan Seals held his first-ever press conference with high school media outlets from across the 10th district, where he unveiled his plan to make higher education more affordable and accessible for middle class families. Since 2001, the average cost of tuition at a public university has risen 40%—from $3,739 to $6,185—pricing out an estimated 200,000 students every year. Seals was introduced by Buffalo Grove resident and recent college graduate, Heidi Gould, who discussed the challenges her family faced when she was applying to college.

“The cost of higher education hit my family hard, eating away at savings accounts and retirement funds. Today, the critical decisions I make about where to live and what job to take are overshadowed by the student loan debt that I graduated from college with,” Gould said. “Had the tax code been simpler, my parents and I would have been able to take advantage of some of the breaks that we so desperately needed.”

Seals highlighted the confusion many families face when deciding to send their children to college. The IRS 970 booklet, which outlines tax benefits for education, is over 80 pages in length and details 12 different higher education tax benefits, which apply to different income levels, expenses, and kinds of schools. As a result of this complexity, the Government Accounting Office estimates that over 600,000 tax filers every year fail to claim higher education tax benefits they are entitled to.

“A college diploma today is what a high school diploma was for the previous generation. It is a requirement to fully participate in today’s economy and is also the key to a better life,” Seals said. “While our tax code is meant to make it easier for our children to go to college, it offers too much complexity and not enough help.”

Citing the “Universal Higher Education and Lifetime Learning Act” sponsored by Rep. Rahm Emanuel in the House of Representatives, Seals proposed collapsing all of the different higher education tax incentives into one, easy-to-understand $3,000 tax credit, which would cover half of the cost of tuition at the average public university. He advocated for expanding access to the credit to more families middle class by making it available to individuals making up to $80,000 and married couples making up to $160,000. Also, under the current law, families who have no income tax liability—nearly half of all families with children—are not eligible for the available tax credits. Seals’ proposal would benefit these families for the first time by making the credit partially refundable.

“At the end of the day, this proposal is about expanding opportunity,” Seals said. “It will help more of our students get into college and leave them less indebted when they get out. In Congress, I will fight to bring this change so that the promise of the American dream is within reach of all of our children.”

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