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> It’s not the norm for PhD students to pay any tuition. Ok if it's not the norm, why go through the charade? Just make the tuition $0 EDIT: Ah, found it in a

by rdtsc 9y ago

> It’s not the norm for PhD students to pay any tuition. Ok if it's not the norm, why go through the charade? Just make the tuition $0 EDIT: Ah, found it in article - because they think IRS will charge them anyway. Well, ok, let IRS then charge them and see what happens. > As the university bulletin explains, “for a standard [research assistant] appointment in addition to the salary, the grant pays half of the tuition. Yap happened to me. Got a grant and a large part of it evaporated because it went to pay for my "tuition". Well there we go. Everyone is upset at the government, why aren't they upset at the universities. Let's check Yale's (the article talks about it) endowment for 2017. $27.2B - nice. How about they use that to pay a higher stipend to students instead of $30k for lab work, how about pay them $100k. And maybe Universities should stop skimming so much off of grants that are often coming from government labs. But of course it is easier and more fun to get the grad students to sit on the floor and yell "Look what Trump just did to us!". Makes for better news at least.

psychometry 9y ago
Endowments are not slush funds. They're supposed to last forever and you can't just withdraw money whenever you feel like it. There are other savings to be made in administrative overhead that could cover higher salaries without touching the endowments.
- rdtsc 9y ago
  > Endowments are not slush funds. I didn't say they are. > They're supposed to last forever and you can't just withdraw money whenever you feel like it. They are controlled by a board and no you can't just tie them to a corporate credit card and swipe it left and right. And some endowments are restricted based on the donors' requirements (a common one is "use this for one particular sport"). However using endowments to pay for tuition is also not unheard of. That's what fellowships or tuition endowments are. The bottom line a university with those kind of resources can find a way to pay students a bit more. They are not innocent victims attacked by the evil government which is how the issue has been presented in the media. This article explains things in more detail and is more balanced, that's why it kind of stood out.

by rdtsc 9y ago

psychometry 9y ago

Endowments are not slush funds. They're supposed to last forever and you can't just withdraw money whenever you feel like it. There are other savings to be made in administrative overhead that could cover higher salaries without touching the endowments.

rdtsc 9y ago
> Endowments are not slush funds. I didn't say they are. > They're supposed to last forever and you can't just withdraw money whenever you feel like it. They are controlled by a board and no you can't just tie them to a corporate credit card and swipe it left and right. And some endowments are restricted based on the donors' requirements (a common one is "use this for one particular sport"). However using endowments to pay for tuition is also not unheard of. That's what fellowships or tuition endowments are. The bottom line a university with those kind of resources can find a way to pay students a bit more. They are not innocent victims attacked by the evil government which is how the issue has been presented in the media. This article explains things in more detail and is more balanced, that's why it kind of stood out.