I’m not afraid to look at slaughtering, blood, guts, fat, ground parts, etc.
And then there’s sausage.
@romanigypsyeyes, trigger warning:
My response to that is not CC-approptiate.
I’m with you, @romanigypsyeyes.
Definitely Kafkaesque:
From the twitter feed of Brian Schatz, a United State Senator:
From Seth Hanlon
John DIckerson on CBS This Morning - This bill is like trying to fly a plane while you are still building it.
Okay, can’t filibuster it. If one more Senator came over for a 50-50 tie, could they all walk out and prevent a quorum and thus a vote as protest against the process?
I just saw a tweet: there are 51 votes, now they need a bill.
I am wondering, as far as the impact to graduate students…can’t the universities just work around the tax change by either massively reducing tuition or giving merit scholarships that are untaxed? Shouldn’t they be using some of these bright minds to find a workaround so students aren’t horribly taxed? It looks like this is going to happen, but how hard is it to make changes like I suggested?
Or is it a huge a tax benefit to them to call it a “tuition waiver”…i.e. they get a write off like it’s an expense?
I don’t know the answer to your question, @busdriver11 . I’ve been wondering that, too, especially because one of my children would be affected by this.
I think they will either reduce tuition or give away more merit aid, although that creates some problems of its own for the universities.
- If a university just set tuition to zero for grad school or gave all PhD students full merit scholarships, then the only financial compensation for being a RA/TA would be the stipend. Presumably at least some grad students will no longer be interested in RA/TA positions if it only pays the stipend(which might be $15k/year for a half stipend).
- Contrary to popular belief, the NCES data shows there are a lot of full pay students in research graduate programs at the lower tier colleges. The lower tier colleges can’t just set tuition to zero or give everyone a full merit ride without losing tuition revenue.
The grad students just shouldn’t have to suck it up on this one, it’s crazy wrong. Seems there might be plenty of wiggle room just to reclassify things. Shoot, everyone else out there is looking for a way to get out of a tax increase or get a deduction, why not fix it for the students? Ideally they wouldn’t have to worry about this, but if it’s going to happen, figure out a way to protect the students.
May be some of the universities start using their endowments.
But who says they have to charge everyone the same tuition? You look at undergraduates, and everyone pays a different rate, at both public and private universities. Some are full pay, some pay nothing, and everything inbetween, based upon merit, athletic scholarships, financial aid, scholarships for anything and everything.
If you would have given someone a tuition waiver before because you really want them at your school, why not just give that individual a full merit scholarship?
Hillsdale college is unique, VERY unique in that it does not take ANY Federal funds. Don’t know if this is why they might be getting an exception. If that’s the case, every university could implement that option.
Thank you Harry Reid!
As for the taxation on tuition waivers, couldn’t those institutions simply gift the money?
^I assume they could, as long as the merit scholarship isn’t conditioned on employment. That brings us back up to point 1 above: if all grad students get for being a RA/TA is a lousy $15k/year stipend will they still want to be “slave labor” for the departments. My sense is yes as RA duties can overlap with your own dissertation research and TA duties provide good experience for anyone who might want to go into academia.
Go read the tax bill education thread for an exhaustive and exhausting rehash of the grad school tuition waiver issue:
" If that’s the case, every university could implement that option."
And who is going to be doing fundamental research for agencies like the US Atmy etc.? That’s federal funding in the form of grants…
33 pages worth. I read five and still didn’t get my answer. Too tired to read the other 28 for a chance at an answer.
I’ve read the whole thread. No one knows the answer. At least no one who has weighed in.
I get charged tuition every semester. When I GSI or GSRA the university covers. When I’m on fellowship, the fellowship covers. When I’m on a grant, the grant covers.
The Uni would lose a considerable amount of money if they can’t get tuition money from outside fellowships and grants. 3 of my 5 semesters so far have been covered by fellowship or grants.