4 ms·

Destroy is certainly too strong of a word to use. This tax plan would likely mean more student loan debt. That's also bad - but it isn't going to destroy gradu

• jparse 9y ago
  U.S. education is absurdly expensive already. That's another topic but by the time you get to graduate school, you are already in debt...a lot of debt. Considering graduate school is also unduly expensive to begin with, many people are not going to want to take on a big loan they won't be able to pay back. The result will be a lack of higher skilled graduates from U.S. universities. It's already a problem for the U.S. and it will get far worse. That's not good for the U.S.
• spott 9y ago
  PhD programs (which are the ones that are usually getting tuition wavers) don't usually increase lifetime earnings. Generally speaking, when you graduate, you make about as much as you would have if you had been working for 5-7 years... and you don't have 5-7 years of salary behind you.
• kd0amg 9y ago
  If I can't make rent doing this, I am unlikely to keep at it.
  • nategri 9y ago
    PhD programs already have insane attrition rates. Not difficult to imagine that any factor that makes it even slightly more untenable than it already is could have a big impact.
• hcknwscommenter 9y ago
  Waivers are generally provided in graduate programs where most of the students do not accrue education debt (e.g., STEM). Thus, for most graduate students affected by this, we are not talking about "more student loan debt" being the difference. We are talking about a difference between no student loan debt (the current situation for most STEM grad students) and a great deal of student loan debt (the situation if this passes). I do not think "destroy" is too strong of a word to use.