3 ms·
Funny how everybody is always in favor of shadiness when it benefits the causes they like, and against other forms. For instance, when it became clear that the
by candiodari 9y ago
Funny how everybody is always in favor of shadiness when it benefits the causes they like, and against other forms.
For instance, when it became clear that the tax reform threatened universities using funds "to be paid to PhD students" to their own general fund ... the protests against that on hacker news were deafening.
But yes, this is pretty shady.
- tgb 9y agoYour comparison is hugely unfair. The accounting nonsense for universities "paying" themselves for a PhD student's tuition is ridiculous but it's not classified as charity.
- kgwgk 9y agoIt’s also using make-believe numbers to get more money from someone else (donors and grant givers).
- tgb 9y agoBut there it actually makes sense - they are in fact teaching courses to graduate students, providing them with library access, etc. If a grant wants to support an extra grad student for a professor, it has to cover that stuff and calling that stuff 'tuition' is reasonable. It's only unreasonable to call it "income" for the student, which is a fiction that's inconsequential outside of the university itself (and the alternative universe where the tax change took place).
- candiodari 9y agoLet's compare it to what would happen if any other organisation did this. Say, your employer demanding access to the tools you need for your job. That desk chair ? 20$/month. Computer ? 200$. Screen ? Another 30$. That would be just peachy wouldn't it ? Oh wait. That's illegal by law.