Robert Torricelli: “The long fight to allow parents and students to deduct the cost of college tuition is now at a critical moment. It is…”

“The long fight to allow parents and students to deduct the cost of college tuition is now at a critical moment. It is not a usual moment in the life of the Senate when a Senator arises with the intent of having his own work replaced by a colleague's. That is exactly where I find myself. The Finance Committee, with the considerable help of Senator Grassley and Senator Baucus, has brought to the Senate Chamber for the first time the deductibility of college tuition from income taxes. Senator Schumer has built upon this work by expanding our $5,000 deduction to a full $12,000. It is, in my estimation, a more realistic approximation of the financial burden before American families. I therefore support the Schumer amendment. American families are mortgaging their futures. Parents are literally taking second mortgages on their homes. Families are postponing retirement. They are using retirement savings. They are borrowing against inheritance. They are doing anything and everything to get a college education for their child. Students themselves are working night jobs and borrowing endlessly to get themselves a college education. The average student graduating from an American university, on the day they graduate, owes $20,000. It is not uncommon for a business student, a law student, or a medical student to owe $50,000, $100,000, or $200,000.”