The debt students face after college will start to decrease nationally if the government listens to the voices of graduate and professional students.
The Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act (HEAEA), introduced by Rep. Phil English of Pennsylvania in October, is a piece of legislation that enlarges tax incentives for all levels of higher education. The bill would expand the tax-exempt status of graduate scholarships by allowing room and board to qualify as an educational expense.
The bill would raise the income threshold level to make student loan interest tax-deductible for those who make up to $115,000 per year instead of the current $65,000 mark. It also increases the amount of allowed contribution to tuition savings accounts to $5000.
Graduate and professional students from across the United States met with Congress in Washington D.C. on Feb. 12-13. The group spoke with numerous senators, representatives and their aides, asking them to co-sponsor the bill.
Jamie Depelteau, president of the Council for Graduate Students at Ohio State, was part of the Ohio delegation that attended the meetings.
“I left the whole event with a positive feeling. A lot of representatives and their aids were receptive to the idea,” Depelteau said. “They just asked for more time to look at the bill more closely.”
Whitney Holley, a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati, also made the trip and feels as though the graduate student population is making progress.
“I think our government is finally starting to realize that higher education is as important as primary education to the nation,” Holley said. “It is necessary to make it as financially feasible as possible for our entire population, not just for those with pre-existing means or those few who are willing to live with extreme financial hardship for an extended period.”
The entire higher education community is supporting the bill, said Richard Stoddard, a spokesman for the government relations office on campus.
“You have to look at the trade-offs being given to see how much this would cost the government if it is passed. There may be little cost in deductibility for the government, but until the congressional budget office takes a look, we will not be sure of how cost-neutral the bill is,” Stoddard said.
The bill, co-sponsored by eight representatives , needs to have 25 to 50 co-sponsors for it to gain momentum, Depelteau said.
“We are looking for all of the items on the bill to be passed at one time. Most likely the HEAEA will be tacked onto another bill if it is passed through,” Depelteau said.
Graduate students also met with members of Congress in November and are scheduling their next visit to the capital in June.
“One of the most important developments is that the issues do not seem to be splitting along party lines. We have a relatively equal number of co-sponsors from both parties,” said Vicki Hunter, a graduate student at Kent State University.
Graduate students will give the legislators two weeks to respond before they follow up. At that point, they will restate their claims and then wait to talk to them again at the June meetings, Depelteau said.
In the meantime, there is still a lot to accomplish.
“The next thing for us to do is increase awareness of this bill among students. There are many schools and states lacking representation at our lobby days so far,” Holley said. “We need as many people as we can get to write to their representatives and tell them this bill is important and it matters to people who vote. We also need to raise some awareness for the organization that put this bill and the lobby days together, the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students.”
