Group seeks less tax on grad. student stipends
A national organization of graduate students is hoping to get a bill passed early next year that would greatly reduce the taxability of graduate stipends, easing financial pressure on a group that often struggles to satisfy educational and living expenses with meager stipends. Currently, portions of graduate stipends not directly paying for tuition and related fees are considered taxable, and graduate students lose around $200 a month to federal income taxes, according to the National Coalition of Graduate Students for an Affordable and Accessible Graduate Education. The coalition is working with the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students to gain support for a bill making "cost of attendance" portion of stipends tax emempt. The cost of attendance is defined in the Higher Education Act as room, board, transportation, computer purchase and similar expenditures. For most graduate students, these expenses absorb all or almost all of the stipend, Alik Widge '99 said.