Clinton Offers College Tax Credits

Anticipating major tax-cut proposals from his Republican challenger, President Clinton sweetened his own bid to middle-class voters Tuesday by offering two years of $1,500 tax credits for college tuition in return for good grades and drug-free conduct.

“Our goal must be nothing less than to make the 13th and 14th years of education as universal to all Americans as the first 12 are today,” Clinton said in a commencement speech at Princeton University, emphasizing access to schooling as the key to economic growth and social cohesion.

While noting that workers with two years of college earn $250,000 more over a lifetime than do high school graduates, Clinton said: “This is about far more than economics and money. It is about preserving the quality of our democracy.”

Dubbed the HOPE Scholarship Tax Cut, Clinton’s proposed break wouldn’t go far at Ivy League Princeton, where yearly tuition, room and board cost $29,400. Officials said the incentive was priced for enrollments at two-year community colleges, though individuals from families with incomes up to $100,000 could use the refundable credit toward the first two years at a four-year school.

The national average for community college tuition is $1,200, meaning that “education at the typical community college will now be free,” Clinton said. Clinton issued a challenge to high-cost states to “close the gap” through scholarship money.