4 ms·

After reading through the article, it sounds like the tax treatment and accounting for PhD students is a mess. If anything, the new tax bill simplifies it.

• maxerickson 9y ago
  The problem is that it simplifies it abruptly, for no good reason and in a way that will be more directly problematic for students than for the giant institutions they work for.
  • angersock 9y ago
    Then maybe they should strike. Remember strikes?
    • maxerickson 9y ago
      You think that'll get under the skin of Congress? Or do you mean they should strike once the changes take effect to get back to where they are now? Sounds like you are agreeing that it will suck more for the students.
    • landonxjames 9y ago
      Striking works when your employer is the one instituting harmful policies. In this case I don't think it would help the students at all.
      • angersock 9y ago
        Institutions skimming sometimes up to half of grants is basically theft and using grad students as super-cheap skilled labor is exploitation. This should be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
    • UncleMeat 9y ago
      There are walkouts happening today across the country.
• tgb 9y ago
  How does the new tax bill simplify it? Before, I got charged taxes on the income that I had. Afterwards, I would get charged taxes on the income I have plus the tuition I never receive. I honestly don't even know how much that is, let alone which form I can find it on (certainly not a W-2) or how it'll go on my 1040.
• briandear 9y ago
  I support the concept of higher education, but the implementation is terrible. They charge tuition, then reduce it with “financial aid” — its a weird wealth transfer especially with undergrads. Charge $50k per year, give a university “award” then make those that don’t get an award subsidize those who do using taxpayer provided “loans” that take a decade to pay back. The only winner in that situation is the Vice Provost of Useless Initiatives That Do Nothing To Actually Improve Education. For the cost of tuition, you could hire your own private adjunct professor. Given a 15-1 student faculty ratio — how much of that tuition is really paying for the actual education. For the legacy schools, the land and buildings are long paid for; endowments cover maintenance. Really what’s the marginal cost of educating a single student? In health care we complain about the $50 aspirin at a hospital, but we should be questioning the $50k tuition just as vigorously. Don’t even get me started on $200 textbooks. I am opposed to so-called “free” college (I’ve seen its effects on the quality of French mid and middle tier universities,) however, I am beginning to rethink my position as we are effectively spending similar amounts already with essentially no accountability to the taxpayers who are indirectly funding much of this malarkey.
  • throwawayjava 9y ago
    > its a weird wealth transfer especially with undergrads You could say the same thing about coupons, or any other mechanism for differential pricing. Also, most true scholarship money is not a differential pricing mechanism. Beyond a fixed discount rate offered to basically everyone (this is just the Kohl's "everything is always 60% off for everyone!" thing), most universities use (often endowed) scholarship and grants to maximize the quality of their undergraduate population, not for differential pricing. Giving Student 4.0 with $0 in the bank a full scholarship and giving Student 2.5 with $300,000 in the bank $0 in scholarship is not wealth redistribution. It's merit-based aid. And that describes how a vast majority of scholarships work.