Although students in general (undergraduate and graduate) are facing increasing cost in tuition and fees, one of the key items that no one addresses is the cost of living expenses. Graduate students pay for expenses in terms of rent and utilities (with no subsidies) and are barely paid above minimum wage through teaching and research assistantships if fortunate to attain such assistantships. Such commitments consume a minimum of 20 hours (for a monthly stipend of $1400.00). This consumption of time results in the graduate student pro-longing their time span of matriculation by enrolling in a maximum of six hours while balancing priorities in research. Meanwhile, students who take out loans throughout graduate school in addition to undergraduate school are not allowed to consolidate as long as they are enrolled as full-time students.
By forcing graduate students to pay taxes on fellowhips for expenses such as room and board, students are being partially robbed of attaining financial assistance outside of loans or part-time jobs (either outside or through an assistantship) that may conflict with research time. Personally, I feel this is a gross form of taxation when graduate students perform research that is a form of service to this country that may or may not be sponsored by industry.
If the U.S. is to increase the number of doctors, scientists, and engineers who will un-doubtfully come more so from those classes that is not priviledged, the tax policy regarding taxes on fellowhips needs to be repealed.
