Under the situation, the student is responsible for taxes on the extra $TUITION_COST. That means that students whose stipend is already only ~$30K in rather exp

Under the situation, the student is responsible for taxes on the extra $TUITION_COST. That means that students whose stipend is already only ~$30K in rather expensive areas will owe taxes per year close to that stipend. Keep in mind also that these degrees typically go on for 6 or 7 years. (The average at my [generally well-regarded] institution is creeping up from 6.5 to 7.) Taking on $200k of debt to finish a PhD is going to make quite a big difference ten years down the road. (If your school's tuition is $50,000 a year, that's what you're looking at.) As for me, if this happened and my school didn't make up the difference, I'd finish elsewhere.