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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 22, 2004

NEW SCHUMER STUDY SHOWS COLLEGE TUITION HAS MORE THAN TRIPLED SINCE ’83 IN UPSTATE NY– COSTS HAVE SHOT UP 2 ½ TIMES THE INFLATION RATE

Schumer details plan to let families deduct up to $12,000 of college tuition; New York families are now taking advantage of Schumer’s $4,000 tuition tax deduction but new study shows that the federal government must do more to help hard working families send their kids to school

New Schumer study finds college tuition in NY has gone up 224% over last 20 years while inflation was only 84%

Study shows tuition hikes at individual schools in every region of the state; Western NY colleges are up 205%; Finger Lakes 222%; Cap Region 240%; Hudson Valley 233%; Central NY 207%; North Country 216%; Southern Tier 237%

US Senator Charles E. Schumer today unveiled a new study showing that college tuition has increased by 224% in upstate New York over the last two decades and detailed his plan to let New Yorkers deduct up to $12,000 of college tuition. For the last two years, New Yorkers have been taking advantage of Schumer’s college tuition tax deduction which will be worth $4,000 this year and saving hundreds of dollars to help pay for a college education for their children. However, Schumer said that with tuition costs skyrocketing at more than two and a half times the rate of inflation, the federal government must do more to help hard working families send their kids to school.

“$120,000 for a four year college education is becoming the norm at some schools. At this rate, it could cost more than $300,000 for our children’s children to go to school,” Schumer said. “To hard working New York parents, skyrocketing tuition costs mean debt and second mortgages. It means lost family vacations and hard choices about how many children can be sent to school. The federal government has to do more to help these parents and students out.”

Schumer’s new study shows that on average tuition at colleges and universities in upstate New York have went from $4,462 for the 1983-1984 school year to $14,442 for the 2003-2004 school year. This means that tuition has shot up by 224%, compared to a Consumer Prince Index inflation rate of only 84.7% over that period. If college tuition had only risen according to the inflation rate, the average tuition would only be $8,240 at upstate New York colleges. To pay for these rising costs, students are now incurring record debt levels – an average of $17,000 per undergraduate according to the Center for American Progress.

The study, which detailed the tuition histories at individual colleges and universities in every region of the state, found specifically that over the last twenty years:
• Schools in the Capital Region have increased their tuition by an average of 240% from $4,956 to $16,830.
• Schools in the Hudson Valley have increased their tuition by an average of 233% from $4,934 to $16,452.
• Schools in the Westchester area have increased their tuition by an average of 234% from $4,918 to $16,426.
• Schools in Central New York have increased their tuition by an average of 207% from $4,484 to $13,758.
• Schools in the North Country have increased their tuition by an average of 216% from $5,683 to $17,937.
• Schools in the Southern Tier have increased their tuition by an average of 237% from $3,969 to $13,384.
• Schools in the Rochester/ Finger Lakes region have increased their tuition by an average of 222% from $4,272 to $13,761.
• Schools in Western New York have increased their tuition by an average of 205% from $3,538 to $10,789.

Schumer’s $4,000 tax deduction for college tuition, which Congress originally passed as part of the 2001 tax cuts, will be available to New Yorkers through 2005. Schumer today proposed increasing this tax break by tripling the deduction to $12,000 and making it a permanent resource for those struggling to put their children through college. The measure that he is sponsoring in the Senate would let single filers with taxable income of up to $65,000 and joint filers with income of up to $130,000 deduct $12,000 in tuition costs from their taxable income. Schumer’s plan would also create a new $1,500 tax credit to help college graduates pay off their student loans.

Schumer today urged Senator Charles Grassley and Representative Bill Thomas, Chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, respectively to include his plan in the middle class tax bill that is expected to come to the floor for final passage this week. “Now that the college tuition tax deduction has proven to be valuable to the families who have taken advantage of it since its 2001 enactment," Schumer wrote yesterday in a letter to Grassley and Thomas, "I urge you to make this program permanent and increase the deduction to $12,000 per year.”

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