I doubt my kid would be in grad school if she had to stick to in-state schools. Didn’t have the stats for one, and the other is not strong in her area of interest. Having only 1-2 choices is ridiculous – few students would be well matched with their programs and career goals. These comments show a real ignorance of PhD programs and logistics.
Please, I beg of you people. Go read about PhD programs or talk to a freaking PhD student.
The ignorance and misinformation here is just mindblowing.
Roeth, you have absolutely ZERO idea what you’re talking about.
Why the preference for those from Europe when most of Europe does not use English as the first language?
What I remember from decades ago was that international TAs were generally passable at English, though often with significant accents (including those from former UK colonies). Actual teaching quality varied considerably, like with domestic TAs or faculty.
Care to be more specific about what you’re referring to?
My experience, both in college and today seeing PhD students/post-docs presenting at US technical conferences, is that Europeans(especially Western Europe), tend to be relatively fluent in English. I can’t say that about speakers from every country. As to why that would be, I can only speculate.
^If the bill passes, both colleges and students will make adjustments. My advice is to think of a PhD as less about solving a specific problem and more as about learning how to conduct research. Unless you get a tenured faculty position, it’s highly unlikely you’re going to get to spend the rest of your career on the exact topic as your dissertation, and even if you’re ladder faculty, you’re still constrained by what proposals you can get funded.
Wow… you have NO IDEA. My kid wants to research magnetic properties of novel materials. She can’t just go spend seven (yes, SEVEN) years reading books about it and doing some other type of research, and expect to get a job in that field when she is done. A small number of schools even have the equipment needed. Stop trying to reinvent an education system to match the tax cuts you want to support.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: The thread is drifting - please stay on topic.
@SoofDad “I’m beginning to feel that this bill will pass, no matter what. The only option I see, is to change the legislators as much as possible in the 2018 elections. Please VOTE, everyone.”
I agree. They are so desperate for ANY legislative win that it does not matter how unpopular it is or how hard it hits the average American. This train is not stopping now and will be passed just like they said. By Christmas.
The biggest problem is there will be absolutely no will to change this back even if change comes in 2018. They know they have a chance in a life time to make a meaningful change to taxes on the rich. They are not going to let this pass. The ruling class will get it done at the expense of all of us.
I’m assuming that in light of the pending legislation, that most departments will apply the Spring 2018 tuition waiver in December 2017. However, if you are a graduate student, it is worthwhile to remind administrators that this must be done.
The question is “Is this tax proposal reasonable and what effects will it have if it passes?” If students are more likely to decide to forego the PhD track and get a job with what they have now, then there is less need for tenure track positions at Universities. Which makes for less need for PhD’s since many private jobs don’t require one. Maybe U’s will save even more money with which to pay their bloated administrations and build climbing walls by going to an all-adjunct faculty.
Of course, since many of the grad students are foreign, if they are less likely to come here, that solves one of the immigration problems.
Earlier in the thread I stated that I didn’t think this particular proposal was likely to pass, but now I’m beginning to think that I was unrealistically optimistic that some strain of sanity would emerge from our fearless leaders. I think this is an attempt to make a major, major change in how graduate education is provided (or not provided) (we love the uneducated) and the unforeseen consequences are going to affect a lot more than just the grad students and potential grad students.
I too am about to forsake all hope that these horrible policies can be stopped. The thing that really gets me is that the damage is so asymmetric.
It took decades, if not more than a hundred years, to build the U.S. R1 institutions to what they are today, the envy of the world and an engine for economic growth. These policies will decimate them in less than a decade.
Where will not-for-profit research come from now? I hope no one here contracts a disease that is not profitable for a pharmaceutical company to treat.
I am discouraged and prone to hyperbole, but let’s call this what it is:
LegislativeTerrorism
Stop the #GradStudentTax
This tax package has so many secret items in it I doubt the people voting on it even know. There has been no time to vett this out. They are just ramming this thing thru. Such a shame they cannot even have the common decency to allow others to look it over before they pass it. Why the deep secrecy other than to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The note from @MaineLonghorn on the prior page should not be construed as optional. The continued discussion of TA’s English skills is beyond the scope of this thread. Feel free to start a new discussion on the topic if it’s critical. I’ve deleted several posts, but any future posts I delete here will be done without comment.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
And indeed, they were.
This tax bill could be close to 900 pages as well. It sounds like it is making sweeping changes to international taxes as well. Apparently they no longer want to tax worldwide income but only tax income from the US. This is a major shift apparently. I wonder if the same is being done on the individual side? i doubt it. I will still owe tax on money I make bar-tending in Jamaica. Hahaha.
As far as I know, it’s still not in the Senate bill.
Don’t forsake all hope.
Activate and write your congressional delegation.
Ease up on graduate students who are out protesting!
Make sure your department pays tuition stipends in December!
Make a contingency plan with your department on how to deal with this in terms of existing and new graduate students
McCain just said yes.
@MassDaD68, I haven’t heard any mention of FATCA with this bill. It was put in place a few years ago to require banks worldwide to report on accounts held by American citizens (so they could be taxed). Hitting at tax havens. Hated by the party now in power. It wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted to take this opportunity to kill that. But maybe they can’t because this is a budget bill.
It occurs to me that if the grad waiver tax ends up in the bill and takes effect in 2018, grad students may have to file estimated taxes in 2018 on their waivers.
I also feel sorry for tax preparation software employees – this next year is going to be terrible for them and for us.
Given that those companies lobby against tax code simplification, I think they will prefer the more complex and unclear system as it will increase the need for their business.
https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-free-simple-hr-block-intuit-lobbying-against-it
https://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/turbotax-maker-funnels-millions-to-lobby-against-easier-tax-returns/
Your local accountant that does your taxes will hurt a lot more having to figure all this out.