Senate OKs reducing tax refunds for college loan delinquents

The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday voted to allow the state Division of Taxation to reduce a person’s state income-tax refund if the person is delinquent on certain college loans issued by the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority.

The committee approved the measure, 6 to 0. The House unanimously approved it on June 26.

Rhode Island already allows for offsets against state income tax refunds for delinquent federal taxes, state taxes, college loans involving the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority and some other items.

At a State House hearing on Thursday, Charles Kelley, executive director of the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, said that the offset provision would make the agency’s borrowings more appealing to firms that rate bond issues.

As a result, the agency could borrow at lower interest rates, and issue loans to students and families at lower interest rates, he said.

State Sen. Daniel DaPonte, D-East Providence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said that the provision would allow the agency to borrow for less and pass those savings on to students and their families. “That’s the big-picture goal,” DaPonte said in an interview after the hearing.

The agency oversees a portfolio of about $1.1 billion in education loans, including loans that are guaranteed by the federal government and about $450 million in private education loans which are not federally guaranteed, Kelley said.

The bill would allow the offset for the agency’s private education loans, he said.