The federal government provides financial assistance to individuals for higher education expenses in two major ways: tax benefits and traditional student aid (loans, grants, and work-study assistance). Since 1997, education tax benefits have become an increasingly important component of federal higher education policy. In 2019 and 2020, 12 tax benefits are available to help college students and their parents pay for higher education. The available tax benefits are a mixture of credits, deductions, exclusions, and other incentives. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates the cost to the federal government of education tax benefits--generally the revenue foregone from offering these benefits--to be $141 billion between 2019 and 2023. This report provides a brief overview of the higher education tax benefits that are currently available to students and their families. These tax benefits can be divided into three groups: (1) incentives for current year expenses; (2) incentives for preferential tax treatment of student loan expenses; and (3) incentives for saving for college.