>The proper way to view it is that the university is giving you an "in kind" benefit, in this case a free education. Under no circumstances does a company in i

>The proper way to view it is that the university is giving you an "in kind" benefit, in this case a free education. Under no circumstances does a company in industry pay an intern $20k/year, "waive" a $40k/year "training fee", and then go to the government and register it as an in-kind benefit. Here in the much-vaunted "real world" outside academia, we may pay trainees and interns less than the full salary, but we don't try to put a tax penalty of half the salary on being an intern.