Graduate students benefit from change in tax-cut bill

Graduate students worried they’d have to pay taxes on tuition waivers they receive in exchange for working at their universities were “elated” to learn this week that the provision had been cut from a tax reform bill.

A proposed federal tax on graduate tuition waivers is not expected to be part of the final version of tax overhaul legislation intended to cut corporate and personal income taxes. The House version of the plan would’ve reclassified the waivers as personal income, but the Senate did not include that change.

Over the past several weeks, students across the country have protested the proposal, saying it would put graduate school out of reach for many students.

“I’m actually very elated and very actually proud of all of the efforts made by graduate students across the nation to have their voices be heard and prevent something like this from happening,” said Lietsel Richardson, president of the University of Central Florida’s Graduate Student Association.

Richardson, who is pursuing a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, said she already pays taxes on the $20,000 stipend she receives from UCF. The university awarded tuition waivers with a typical value of $6,916, to 964 students for the fall 2017 semester.

Nationally, nearly 145,000 graduate students received tuition waivers during the 2011-12 academic year, according to the American Council on Education. About 57 percent of students who receive this benefit are studying science, technology, engineering and math, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Presidents from Florida’s 12 state universities had joined a national campaign by higher-education leaders urging Congress not to tax the tuition waivers, the News Service of Florida reported.