"College tuition costs are nearly double what they were only six years ago, yet Senator Burns continues to abandon Montana students who are trying to make ends meet," Tester said in a three-page report he issued.

Tester said he wants to lower rates on student loans and favors programs to help Montana families pay for rising costs of higher education. Although Burns said he takes pride in supporting education in the state, Tester said the Republican senator's record shows just the opposite.

• End the tax relief that benefited more than 11,000 Montana college students, which means middle-class families will lose an average of $2,000 in tax credits per year. Tester cited a May 2006 Senate vote.

In response, Jason Klindt, a spokesman for Burns, said the deduction has not yet expired, and Burns and Republicans are trying to extend it by continuing President Bush's tax cuts before year's end.

• Cut student loan funding, which would increase by nearly $1,723 the average student loan burden for each of Montana's 24,319 student borrowers. This vote was in December 2005.

Klindt called Tester's claim "flat-out untrue," adding: "In fact, there is actually more money for student loans, and loan fees have been reduced." Klindt said the bill cut subsidies to lenders, not loans to students.

• Oppose a $200-per-student increase in Pell grants to help needy Montanans attend college. This vote, taken in October 2005, would have increased the maximum federal Pell grants by $200 to $4,250.

In response, Klindt said Burns opposed a "budget-busting" amendment by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., which would have raised the cost of Pell grants from $8.8 billion in 2001 to $13 billion a year.

Tester has said that the Burns vote against the tax relief for college students amounted to a tax increase to Montana families, a claim disputed by Burns.

As president of the Montana Senate, Tester said he had fought for Montana students and their families by passing the Gov. Brian Schweitzer's college scholarship program and supporting a double-digit increase in state funding for Montana colleges in 2005.

This is cache, read story here