Hearing Sure On Bill to Cut College Costs

Hope for government tax aid to parents of college students rose over the weekend, when the American Council on Education announced that its bill to give tax credit for tuition payments was assured of a hearing.

The Council's bill would apply one to tuition, not room and board, and would give only 30 percent credit on this expense. But the credit would apply to actual tax payments, rather than as an exemption on the tax base. If passed, this bill would save $240 for every parent paying the full $800 Harvard College tuition.

The Kiplinger Tax Letter, a usually reliable and impartial judge of Congressional opinion, said last week that pressure from alumni groups and lobbyists made a hearing almost certain. The Letter also predicted that the bill would eventually pass, but said that "political consideration" would probably delay action until the next session.

The possibility of hearings on the Abraham J. Multer (D.N.Y.) tax resolution virtually disappeared at the same time, however. The Council attacked the plan as "impractical and undesirable," and experts consider Council approval for proposed educational legislation necessary to passage.

"A plan to exempt all college expenses looks very helpful," Raymond F. Howes of the Council said, "but this plan encourages student extravagance, costs the government a great deal, and affords most of the relief to upper income bracket parents who don't need it while doing little or nothing for the people who really feel the pinch."