Obama Promises College Tuition Tax Credit to Help Ease Student Loans
Presidential candidate Barack Obama has stated that he would give students a $4,000 tax credit in return for 100 hours of community service. With the rising cost of tuition and the difficulty getting student loans, Obama shared his story with Michigan voters citing the huge debt that both him and his wife Michelle graduated with. He reported that they each had student loan debt of approximately $60,000 a piece.
In the case of Obama and his wife, the costly degrees seem to be well worth it at this point. Many students pay way to much for a degree that is not ultimately that useful to their future, but Obama attended a great school and left with a degree that advanced his professional status and allowed him to get the jobs he had and work his way up to the position he now finds himself in.
Hopefully this tax credit will help others achieve their goals. Time will tell.
Student Loan Watcher @ June 18, 2008
Well, a tax credit would be nice but what happens with a lot of these bills is that they put so many stipulations on them that they only pay off for a very small portion of students. But hey it makes the creator of the bill look like he has done something when they have done nothing at all. For instance, in the last act if you work for a government agency for 10 years you can have the rest forgiven but DOE has put so many stipulations on it that if you miss a payment, if you leave the program and come back etc.,. it is no longer valid and you have to start the 10 years over. Not ot mention that they increased the amount the minimum payment can be to 15% of your income. This essentially leaves very little to discharge at the end of 10 years. It’s all a smoke and mirrors. The government needs to restore credit rights to student loans just like all othe loans. This would force schools to lower tuition as they don’t want students bankrupting. Currently as is there is no checks and balances in the student loan system.