Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Charlottesville, sponsored his first bill, the College Learning Access Simplicity and Savings Act of 2009, last Friday in an attempt to simplify the process of claiming federal tax credits for students and their families. Discussion of the bill, which Perriello is co-sponsoring with fellow Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, has now reached the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.
Perriello’s press secretary Jessica Barba explained that the bill “consolidate[s] the Hope [Scholarship] tax credit and the above-the-line tax deduction for qualified tuition and expenses” into a single tax credit for $3,000. Both the Hope tax credit and the above-the-line tax deduction offer students and their families financial benefits for higher education expenses, Barba said, and the CLASS Act would do the same, but in a simpler way.
Through the CLASS Act, the maximum total a student could receive in his or her lifetime could not exceed $12,000, Barba noted, adding, though, that the CLASS Act also would cover a student’s first two years of graduate school in addition to his or her undergraduate years. Additionally, the new bill would expand the definition of expenses to include textbooks, which currently are not considered a qualifying expense, Barba said.
“What every college student will tell you after buying books for classes is that it will add up to a lot,” she said. “These are a requirement for learning.”
Compared to current methods in which the above-the-line tax deduction is currently deductible for $4,000 and the Hope Scholarship tax credit is available for up to $1,800, the CLASS act, Barba said, “is more generous in the sense that a tax credit is actual cash in your pocket.” The Hope credit, like the credit proposed in the CLASS Act, is a nonrefundable tax credit that is subtracted directly from the tax a student or a student’s family owes, but the CLASS Act’s credit is larger.
The proposed tax credit would be available to higher-income potential recipients who are ineligible for the Hope credit; the CLASS Act would make tax credits available to families with a maximum joint income level of $150,000 and a single parent income level of up to $75,000, Barba said. These figures are higher than the respective requirements for a Hope credit, she said. Students would have to meet certain other requirements to qualify for a tax credit under the proposed system; eligible students would have to carry “at least half the normal full-time work load for the course of study the student is pursuing,” the bill states.
The simplified process may also encourage students who were already eligible for assistance to take advantage of the opportunity. Barba noted that the Government Accountability Office “found that 27 percent of eligible taxpayers do not claim these credits and benefits because they are so complicated.” She added that the CLASS Act is “easier to use and easier to claim” because now there is only one process.
University Student Financial Services Director Yvonne Hubbard said she thinks Perriello is trying to put into place the federal government’s goal of simplifying the tax credit applications process. While the bill would not make aid applications easier, Hubbard said, it would “make claiming these credits easier.”
Though Hubbard said she expects no change in the number of lower-income applicants to the University as a result of Perriello’s new bill, she added, “I really do think it will help make college more affordable. They want you to use this money to fund your education.”
Barba noted that Perriello will be speaking Saturday about the CLASS Act in Charlottesville on the north steps of the Rotunda at 10 a.m.
Read More
U.Va. loses over $60 million in federal research cuts
By Bertie Azqueta | 20 hours agoThe impacted grants include three from the NIH, seven from the NEH, one from the United States Agency for International Development and four from the State Department.
Department of Education reverses course, awards Federal Executive Institute to U.Va.
By Ford McCracken | 3 days agoThe ED had previously awarded the institute to Charlottesville City Schools.
Students reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis
By Bertie Azqueta | 4 days agoAt the University, students shared a range of perspectives on his legacy of reform, inclusivity and his impact on the global Catholic community.
