"They sound really good on the surface, but the question is how do you pay for those proposals when the country is at war and there's a looming budget crisis?" he said. "Can you do this in a way that isn't so political that it's just dead on arrival?"

Feitz said he hopes Republicans and Democrats in Congress can come up with a plan that doesn't include "phantom savings" and "partisan bickering." If they can, he said students may have a shot at saving some money.

"What we're trying to promote is a reasonable, rational approach to encourage higher education in an affordable way, but at the same time make it something the country an afford," he said.

Feitz added, however, that the bill is on the right track, addressing the main issues that are crippling access to an affordable education. As tuition continues to rise, federal aid and family incomes have remained relatively stagnant, Feitz said. That trend may start pricing potential students out of college and affect career choices as students try to repay their debts.

One provision in Kennedy's legislation specifically addresses the problem of students bypassing careers like teaching and social work because of their debt burden. The bill would put a cap on loan repayment at 15 percent of a student's income.

The bill would also allow loan debt forgiveness after 10 years of repayment for students who work in the public sector.

"Student debt is like quicksand — it swallows you up before you have a chance to gain your footing. Graduating from college should kick start a young person's professional life, but massive debt will just bog you down for decades," bill co-sponsor Charles Schumer, D-NY, said in a statement.

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Advantages of bill for Utah students

Estimated benefits of Democrat proposals on student loans:

• Utah college graduate could save $2,208 over the life of a 10-year loan

• 3,795 more Utahns would be eligible for federal Pell Grants

• The average Pell grant for Utahns would increase by $634

• Roughly 34,000 Utah families could benefit from a tuition tax deduction

Source: The College Cost Crunch: A State-by-State Analysis of Rising Tuition and Student Debt

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com