Cap in hand and gown flowing, President William Jefferson Clinton made his bid to be the "education President" when he spoke recently at Princeton University. He offered a $1500 refundable tuition tax credit for students and their parents, and predicted that such a credit would make community college attendance essentially free.

What he didn't say was that the tax credit would cost about $25 billion in the next seven years, though the president did say that he could pay for the cost by reinstating a tax on international flights and imposing another set of new taxes.

Because issues of educational access are so important, this proposed tax credit merits attention. To be sure, it will help poor young people who don't have the wherewithal to attend a school like Princeton or Yale. But one has to wonder, as one always does when tax incentives are offered to modify behavior, if the tax will stimulate enrollment or if it will do less than is intended.

Good Intentions Not Enough

Let's talk first about the mechanics of a college tuition tax credit. How will students claim it? They'll have to get a credit against the taxes that they owe. If they owe less than $1500, they'll get a refund from the government. Sounds good, right?

It sounds good for the parent who sends her daughter to Princeton, whose $5000 tax obligation is reduced by a tuition credit. But what about the parent who has to scramble to make a tuition payment at a community college, or the adult student who, between making ends meet, cannot find the extra dollars to enroll for classes, Despite President Clinton's good intentions in using a tax credit to provide tuition relief, good Intentions may not be good enough for those who struggle with day-to-day survival issues.

If this tax credit is designed to help students on the bottom, then community college tuition should be free, The $25 billion that is spent reimbursing people for tuition might better be used to make sure that community colleges are open to everyone who needs them.