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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014
PAGE 7A
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NATIONAL
Higher-income students get more public money for education
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - It's not just colleges and universities that are shifting their financial aid from lower-income to higher-income students.
Tuition tax credits and other tax breaks to offset the cost of higher education - nearly invisible federal government subsidies for families that send their kids to college - also disproportionally benefit more affluent Americans.
So do tax-deductible savings plans and the federal work-study program, which gives taxpayer dollars to students who take campus jobs to help pay for their expenses.
The tax credits alone cost the government a combined $34 billion a year, or $1 billion more than is spent on Pell Grants, the direct government grants for low-income students.
And even though only one-fifth of American households earn more than $100,000 per year, that group got more than half of the deductions for tuition, fees and exemptions for dependent students, according to the Tax Policy Center, an independent research group run jointly by the centrist, and sometimes center-left Brookings Institution and Urban Institute.
"We might be sympathetic to those upper-income folks
This has occurred despite research showing that 13 out of 14 students whose families received tax breaks on tuition would have gone to college anyway.
who are struggling with what are — yes — extremely expensive private colleges," said Julie Strawn, a former senior fellow at the Center for Law and Social Policy, which advocates for greater access to college for the poor. "But do the tax credits really need to go to the wealthiest fifth of American households, which is what's happening now?"
Who gets tax-based student aid
A new coalition of advocacy organizations, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is pushing for the tax credits to be streamlined and redirected to the poor. The Gates Foundation is among the funders of The Hechinger Report and the Education Writers Association, which co-produced this story.
Though only 20 percent of U.S. households earn more than $100,000 a year, that group got more than half the deductions for tuition, fees and exemptions for dependent students. The percentage of education incentives for 2013, by income group:
And a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives sponsored by Democrat Danny Davis of Illinois and Republican Diane Black of Tennessee, co-chairs of the Tax Reform Working Group on Education, would gradually lower the income eligibility to $86,000 from the current $180,000.
Households by income group (using adjusted gross income)
"In general, federal financial aid was created to help low-income students go to college and the purpose of the tax credits was to make college more affordable for middle-income students," said Stephen Burd, a senior policy analyst at the New America Foundation. "The problem is that the tax credits are going beyond the middle class."
Source: The Hechinger Report, Tax Policy Center
But even supporters say the prospects of Congress lowering the income eligibility are dim, even at a time of
$ \textcircled{2} $ 2014 MCT
belt-tightening in Washington. "Belt-fitting you must kill fight."
It's definitely an upbeat night, Burd said. "It's politics. Upper-income families tend to vote more than lower-income families."
which institutions.
The higher-education lobby also opposes lowering the income eligibility for tuition tax credits.
"We think it's important to have mechanisms in place to help those students go to college who otherwise wouldn't go to college, but it's also about
Bloom said even families that earn more than $100,000 annually can be hard-pressed to pay for college without help, depending on how many children they have enrolled at one time, for instance, and at
being able to help all students pay for college, including middle-income students," said Steven Bloom, director of federal relations for the American Council on Education, the preeminent association of U.S. colleges and universities
"We just don't buy the argument that there isn't enough room in the federal budget to help different families in different income brackets in different ways," said Sarah Flanagan, vice president for government relations and policy at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
MCCLATCHY TRIBUNE
And higher-income families, Flanagan said, "bring money to the table to keep the colleges
going so they in turn can give more support to low-income students."
STATE
The university associations "have a point," said Deborah Santiago, co-founder and chief operating officer of Excelencia in Education, which advocates for Latino and other underrepresented students. It can be a stretch these days even for wealthy families to pay for college, she said.
Kansas woman seeks leniency for fake goods sales
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The court filing Friday came days before Glenda Sue Morgan is due Monday in U.S. District Court in Wichita for sentencing on one count of trafficking in goods bearing counterfeit trademarks.
WICHITA — A Wichita business owner has asked a federal court to spare her from serving prison time for trafficking in counterfeit luxury items, arguing publicity the case has received serves as a deterrent to future criminal conduct.
Morgan and her Wichita business, The Fabulous Store LLC, were indicted in April on charges of conspiracy and trafficking. In exchange for
Morgan's plea in October, prosecutors agreed to drop at sentencing the remaining charges against her and dismiss the indictment against the store.
the companies.
"Ms. Morgan is sorry for her actions. Prior to these events, she had no criminal history. She knows that she exercised poor judgment and made a horrible mistake," her attorney, Sylvia Penner, wrote in the court filing. "However, she has demonstrated regret, acceptance of responsibility, and amenability to probation." Prosecutors allege Morgan 55
the companies.
Morgan faces a fine of up to $2 million and up to 10 years
Morgan did not profit substantially from her conduct, receiving a modest income of $1,200
Prosecutors allege Morgan, 55, sold handbags, wallets, sunglasses and jewelry bearing trademark designs and brand names that were not made by
"She knows that she exercised poor judgment and made a horrible mistake."
SYLVIA PENNER Attorney
imprisonment, although she is likely to receive far less, if any, prison time under federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors agreed in the plea deal to recommend a sentence at the low end of the guideline range, including a low-end monetary fine.
a month from the store's sales, according to the court filing. "Moreover, the details of the offense conduct and this case have appeared on television, in newspapers and online," her attorney wrote. "The publicity the case has received affords deterrence from any repeat
conduct by Ms. Morgan."
conduct by Ms. Morgan." Morgan has also been sued civilly by Coach, Inc., for allegedly selling phony items bearing its brand name. Penner told the court that settlement negotiations are proceeding in that case, and her attorney argued that the civil lawsuit and any judgment ultimately imposed in it will further serve to deter her client from criminal behavior.
In April, two undercover agents bought about $500 worth of items at the store, including a fake Chanel bracelet and sunglasses, a pair of counterfeit Ugg boots as well as several purses bearing the counterfeited trademarks of Michael Kors, Coach, Luis
Investigators raided the store nearly two weeks later, seizing 400 replica items with a retail value of $14,000, according to a court document. The goods would have been worth $140,000 had the trademarks been genuine.
Vuitton and Prada.
The store's business practices first came to light in 2009 after a postal carrier assigned to the store's route told the Department of Homeland Security the shop received about six to seven packages a month from China, according to a DHS affidavit. Agents eventually seized nearly 2,600 items that would have been valued at about $1.5 million had they been authentic.
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