These are my thoughts on the political attempts to restructure the tax code and the impact on higher education. It is only tangentially related to technology insofar as technology benefits from the research often completed at universities. The catalyst for this post is a segment last week from NPR.
While we sit around and vilify higher education, and make huffy statements that "not everyone needs to go to college" (not everyone does -- less than 70% of high school graduates enter college; BLS, 2017a), our government is attempting to assault graduate students by taxing their assistantship benefits. Certain grad students pay for their degrees by accepting positions as teaching and research assistants at universities. In exchange for their service, the students receive tuition remission and a small monthly stipend (typically $1000 to $3000 per month, depending on the institution). In doing so, they are able to complete their degrees with little or no loan debt and they earn valuable experience as teachers and researchers. The institution benefits by having an affordable source of assistants to support their research professors. The more research professors and institutions are able to contribute to the body of knowledge, the more funding they are able to bring into their departments. So it's a win-win for grad students and the institution.
Our Congress, in attempting to retool the tax code, wants to treat the tuition remission graduate students receive as taxable income. (Stipends are already taxed.) This could have a massively detrimental impact to graduate students, particularly those at more prestigious universities with higher tuition. Imagine having a $30,000 salary and then suddenly having an $80,000 salary (on paper) on which you have to pay taxes. The result is that your spendable income from the stipend gets eaten up to pay the tax on your tuition benefit. Now you have no money left for living expenses.
I hear you thinking, "Well, that's too bad. Maybe they don't need to go to grad school. The world needs ditch diggers, too." Yes, the world does need ditch diggers. We also need sanitation people (thank goodness for those folks -- possibly the most important job in society), mechanics, plumbers, electricians, cosmeticians, phlebotomists, and a whole host of other tradespeople. You might not think much about sociologists, who study societal behavior, or philosophers, who study the nature of human thought and its relationship to the universe, but people in those disciplines seek to understand the issues, problems, and complications of humanity and find ways to improve society. They also seek to preserve a history of humanity. Think also about scientists and mathmaticians, who work on complex problems that exist in health, the environment, engineering, space, and other fields. We need these people. You might not think so, but think about what could happen if we ceased trying to document, understand, and improve our society and culture.
Across all occupations, those who have attained a master's degree account for about 10% of the population; doctoral degree holders account for just 4% (BLS, 2017b). Only a small percentage of those people accept assistantships. (For example, I earned both of my advanced degrees part-time while working. I borrowed for one, and paid on-the-go for the other.) The tax gain for the government would be small, while the negative impact to graduate students and their institutions would be significant. We do need people with advanced degrees in this society. They are the thought-leaders who seek the answers to the problems in our world and help to educate future generations. If you are so inclined, I encourage you to contact your congressional representative and stand up in defense of graduate education.
References:
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). (2017, April 27). College enrollment and work activity of 2016 high school graduates. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm
BLS. (2017, October 24). Educational attainment for workers 25 years and older by detailed occupation. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_111.htm
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