Permanent Extension of American Opportunity Tax Credit

This tax credit is truly an investment in America. The students at higher education institutions are strained both ways: cost of education and time to study for higher grades; and more interaction with their professors/instructors.

The end goal of higher education is to prepare a certain percentage of the population to be the ones that will be the leaders of America, developers of the new technologies that will take America into the future. These people will be the ones who earn higher incomes, and eventually pay higher taxes. We are only talking about 20-30 percent of those who graduate from high school. The rest will blend into society with low to slightly higher wages and in some cases be a burden to society in the fact that they will be the one who apply for the various relief benefits that are only available to lower wage earners.

The end result of a higher education or a vocational education is to reduce this group, and in turn, their demand against the social programs that cost the government dollars and do nothing. I could go on and on with other examples. The end result of this statement is KEEP the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanently.
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I think the college tax credit should be extended permanently too, but I don't necessarily agree with your perception. I don't think that the country should extend it to reduce the demand for social programs (not a given, by the way). It should be extended to give everyone the opportunity to go to college. It's the right thing to do, just as the G.I. bill was the right thing to do. Nobody ever tried to justify that economically, and this does not have to be rationalized, either.