The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act bill proposal has disastrous effects for college students and higher education. Under the new tax reform, introduced Nov. 2 by Rep. Brady Kevin, students will find they can debt crisis. In 2017, the total of all student loan debts in the U.S. amounted to a massive 1.4 trillion dollars, according to an Aug. 23 Experian article. New legislation should make it easier for the next generation of students to be financially independent in the future, not less so.

These changes may also serve as a disincentive to those who are on the fence about attending college, with debts becoming harder to pay and undergraduate enrollment at NIU continuing to decline, according to NIU’s Data Book for the 2016-17 school year. Many colleges and universities are forced to increase tuition and fees to offset the lack of new students. NIU being included, when comparing 2010 to 2016, the total cost of tuition and fees has increased by $2,823.52 alongside with state funding decreasing by 5.4 percent and 3,787 less fall undergraduate enrollments, according to NIU’s Data Book. It is trends like these that make higher education less and less accessible as the years go on.

With the proposed bill, reduction of state funding, consistent yearly decline in undergraduate enrollment, rising tuition rates and mandatory fees, it is easy to see that these are the ingredients to prepare an unsustainable system for higher education and students. Those who represent us in government should create legislation that allows education and communities to flourish.

The bill in its current state is much more forgiving to corporate entities as opposed to educational facilities and students. The corporate tax rate is planned to be cut from its current 35 percent rate to 21 percent, even further decreasing possible tax revenue that could have been put toward creating better public schools. This clearly demonstrates that when outlining the proposed tax plan, state legislators’ interests were not in favor of the everyday middle class citizen, but with preserving the wealth of the already-rich corporate executives.