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Another Highlight

Getting Out the Student Vote


The National Campus Voter Registration Project aims to turn out college students in record numbers on Election Day. For more information, read the news release or go directly to the Your Vote Your Voice website. 



Together We Can


Click here to view Together We Can, NAICU's policy "quick-take," which was sent to all 2008 presidential candidates, along with this accompanying letter.

Private Colleges Fight Sticker Shock


Replacing loans with grants, cutting tuition, guaranteeing no price increases, and more. Responding to consumer needs, private colleges are redoubling efforts to stay affordable and accessible. Download our compendium of innovative efforts (last updated June 12) to see examples of these initiatives. See our news release for NAICU's perspective on this accelerating national trend.

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NAICU's University & College Accountability Network

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News items, features, and opinion pieces posted on this site from sources outside NAICU do not necessarily reflect the position of the association and its members.  Rather, this content reflects the diversity of issues and opinions that are shaping American higher education.

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Nichols College President Testifies Before House Ways and Means Committee

NAICU Washington Update


May 14, 2008


Debra Townsley, president of Nichols College in Massachusetts, testified on NAICU's behalf before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue on the importance of a variety of higher education tax incentives. She was invited to testify by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the subcommittee. Nichols is located in Neal's district.

The hearing examined the many tax benefits available to students, families, graduates, and institutions. In her testimony, Townsley pushed for immediate and retroactive extension of the tuition deduction for higher education expenses, and the IRA charitable rollover. Both provisions expired at the end of 2007 and have not been renewed. "Just last month, I received a call from a trustee asking if he could use the IRA rollover to endow a scholarship to Nichols," she said. "I had to tell him, unfortunately, not right now."

Townsley also spoke on behalf of permanently extending several other provisions important to NAICU institutions. IRC Sec 127 (employer-provided education assistance), improvements to the student loan interest deduction, and the preferential tax treatment of Coverdell Education Saving Accounts are all popular and much needed higher education tax benefits, but all will expire at the end of 2010 if not renewed. Witnesses also discussed the complexity credits and deductions, and the possibility of consolidating and simplifying the provisions.

The committee is not currently planning legislation on consolidating the credits, but is looking at extending the provisions that have already expired. While no specific time frame was discussed, Townsley strongly urged immediate retroactive extension of the tuition deduction and IRA charitable rollover.


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