U students lost a chance to save some bucks.
House Bill 35, which passed on the last night of the recent Utah legislative session, initially offered public university students in Utah the option of receiving a tax credit that could be used toward tuition and student fees. Amendments to the bill, however, eliminated tax credits to current students, leaving students and some legislators confused.
“It won’t make any difference to current students,” said Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. “It will help a 5- or 10-year-old that will be in college in the future.”
The bill now requires people to donate the entire tax refund to the Utah Educational Savings Plan, which allows families to save money in a non-taxable account for future education.
The bill was originally proposed to help
students in the present economic climate, taking into account rising financial problems and increasing tuition costs.
“We need to help these students, especially now,” said Cecilia Foxley, former commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education and CEO of the Utah State Board of Regents. “In rough economic times, higher education tends to be the balancing wheel.”
Some students agree, but aren’t feeling the love.
“It’s not helping the people who need help right now,” said Rebecca Rogers, a freshman in biology. “It would have helped me. I’m paying out-of-state tuition right now, so the bills are pretty steep.”
A large obstacle to the bill being passed was the presence of advocates of public education, who feared that increased spending on the higher education level would limit funds for elementary and high schools.
“We are opposed because of what it will take from the public education system, with over $2 million in the first year and only increasing over the years,” said Lisa Kirchenheiter, a member of the Park City Board of Education.
Although bill sponsors shared their concerns, they saw the need to help university students as greater.
“Any time you take a tax refund, it’s going to affect education,” Niederhauser said. “Public education hates that higher education gets part of the income at all8212;they think they own all the income tax revenues, but they don’t. We have to fund higher education as well.”
Niederhauser and his co-sponsor, Rep. John Dougall, R-American Fork, attempted to allow students to continue receiving the tax credit even after graduation as long as they were still paying Utah state taxes.
“That part of the bill had a fiscal note of $3 million attached to it,” Niederhauser said. “Rep. Dougall and I were unable to get it funded. It doesn’t mean that it can’t happen in the future, but for now it’s not going to happen.”
A factor in the bill not passing, Niederhauser believes, was the lack of student voice in the Legislature. He cited a bill in the Legislature concerning access to land that had considerable public voice8212;it passed.
“Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” he said. “If students get vocal and raise their voices, we can help. It definitely would help the Legislature get interested. There has to be a huge public interest and there was hardly any this year. We’re passing billion dollar budgets and the biggest issue is getting access to a river? It’s important, yes, but they got more interest in that and it’s cutting a billion dollars out of the budget.”