Upskilling Our Workforce & Making College Affordable
Utilizing a combination of tax incentives, expanded Pell Grants and a streamlined loan application process, Raja’s plan for affordable college would tear down the barriers that are contributing to our nation’s increasing income inequality and hurting our economic growth by helping more children from working families obtain a higher education.
The Raja Krishnamoorthi Plan for Affordable College includes:
- A new Opportunity Tax Credit that allows families with up to $200,000 in annual income to claim a total of $15,000 in tax credits per student. These tax credits, of which a large percentage could be refundable, would reduce the amount of debt that students would incur in order to pay for college.
- Increasing the maximum Pell Grant by 75 percent — increasing investment in Pell Grants would enable more low-income families to afford sending students to college.
- Creating a 401k-style plan whereby employers match employee payments on student debt, with contributions exempted from income and payroll taxes. Businesses would benefit through tax incentives to hire a more educated workforce while helping their employees to retire their student debt.
- Streamlining the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) form through the use of prior-year data already available to the IRS. This would eliminate many questions on the application and allow students to more easily access financial aid.
At the same time, Raja believes we must continue to invest in alternative education programs such as career technical education (CTE) and skills-based training (also known as vocational training). He has ardently supported workforce development programs, authoring and passing the bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act which increased funding for career technical education programs nationwide by $1.3 billion per year. Raja believes in strengthening the CTE programs and making a world-class post-secondary education accessible to all students.