The state Senate’s Standing Committee on Higher Education is outlining a plan to help families and students afford the rapidly increasing cost of a college education.

The Senate’s 2012 College Affordability Plan is intended to help parents save for higher education for their children and give students and families access to low interest student loans, as well as providing clear information about the size of the loan debt they are taking on.

“We’re looking to tackle one of the biggest cost-drivers in a family’s household budget,” said 47th District Senator Joe Griffo, Republican from Rome and committee member. “The ability to achieve a degree has shown to mean tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of an individual’s earning potential, but the catch is that the cost of getting that degree has sharply risen too.”

The plan would also encourage young New Yorkers to stay in the Empire State to begin their careers by creating a new “Stay-In-New York” tax credit, to provide up to $12,000 in tax relief over four years for students who graduate on time or early from a college in New York, perform community service work, and stay and work in New York for at least four years.

Highlights of the College Affordability Plan include:

• doubling the existing tuition tax deduction from $10,000 to $20,000

• doubling the maximum tuition tax credit from $400 to $800

• creating the four-year, $12,000 “Stay-in-New-York” tax credit

• establish a new $100 million Linked Deposit Student Loan program to make low interest student loans available to middle class families. Loan interest rates could be cut in half

• enable parents to pre-pay tuition for a SUNY or CUNY school

• designate the Department of Financial Services to serve as a “truth-in-lending” clearinghouse for reliable information on college loans and interest rates.

Griffo added, “The plan’s incentives to help keep New York graduates in the state encourages that a strong, educated workforce has a reason to remain in the State. When coupled with strong economic development initiatives that we’re working to keep in place and expand, I’m convinced that we will have created a foundation for the State’s economy into the far future.”

Information from The Project on Student Debt (annual surveys conducted by U.S. News & World Report, the College Board and Peterson’s College Guide), illustrate the financial problems created by rising tuition costs and the debt owed to pay off those costs.

In 2010, graduates from colleges in New York had an average loan debt of $26, 271, the 10th highest amount in the country. Just six years ago in 2005-06, the average loan for New York schools was $19,249 and New York ranked 20th in the nation. Sixty-one percent of students who attend college in New York have college loan debts.

Nationally, college tuitions have increased well beyond the rate of inflation, income and health care costs. It’s estimated that by 2016, the average cost of a public college will have more than doubled in 15 years. The amount of student debt is now more than one trillion dollars, surpassing the amount owed on credit cards and auto loans.

“Today the State Senate is clearly standing up for student aid with a creative mix of proposals that will help families with college expenses,” said Laura L. Anglin, President of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, a statewide association for more than 100 private, not-for-profit campuses. “Our new college graduates have just spent several years getting to know their adopted towns, cities and neighborhoods. With these timely proposals, particularly the ‘Stay-In-New-York’ incentive, we are closer to the goal of encouraging more of our college-educated talent to remain in New York following graduation. We thank the Senate for supporting our students and their families as they seek to make their college dreams a reality.”