Federal higher-ed tax breaks now exceed cost of grants for lower-income students

February 27, 2017
  • Industry News

The cost of tax deductions that previous research has shown disproportionately help wealthier families pay for college continues to outpace what the federal government spends on grants for low-income students, a new study points out.

The total amount of tax credits has increased 13-fold since 1990, when adjusted for inflation, and reached $34.5 billion in 2014, the last year for which the figures are available, according to the study, by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

That’s $4.1 billion more than went to the government’s Pell Grant program to help low-income students pay for college.

Read more at The Hechinger Report: http://hechingerreport.org/federal-higher-ed-tax-breaks-now-exceed-cost-grants-lower-income-students/