President Clinton wants to widen access to higher education by offering tax credits to less affluent families.

The "College Opportunity Tax Cut" would provide $30bn for a 10 year scheme designed to assist families struggling to fund their children through university.

This would allow families to gain up to an annual tax deduction of $2,800, which would help offset the costs of student fees and accommodation.

As well as families supporting children through college, the tax breaks would be available to adults wanting to re-train or gain further qualifications.

Although aimed at making university more accessible to the disadvantaged, the proposals are also intended to appeal to the middle classes, with the college tax breaks extending up to families earning a joint income of $100,000.

A similar scheme, proposed last year, did not pass Congress, but White House officials claim there is now greater support for promoting such access-to-education projects.

There were also calls from the president for an additional $1bn in other direct grants targeted at supporting students who might otherwise not enter higher education.

These include $35m for grants aimed at helping college drop-outs to return to higher education and $40m for students from under-represented minorities.

Also proposed by President Clinton is $400m funding for a scheme to encourage disadvantaged pupils to stay in high school.