UCF graduate

students express elation as GOP leaders drop the proposed federal tuition waiver tax from their tax reform 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 isn’t 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 didn’t include that change. Over the past several weeks, students nationwide 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’s pursuing a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, said she already pays taxes on the $20,000 stipend she gets 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.

At UCF, at least 50 students attended a protest at the Reflecting Pond last month, Richardson said. Students also made phone calls to lawmakers and posted on social media about the proposal. To her, the decision to drop the tax is evidence she and her peers can influence lawmakers.