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The House bill taxes tuition benefits of college employees' dependents

The House bill taxes tuition benefits of college employees' dependents

Graduate students across the country are rightly protesting the proposal, included in the tax bill passed by the House, to tax their tuition waivers. But another aspect of the bill, also detrimental to higher education, has been overlooked. It turns tuition remission for dependents of university faculty and staff into taxable income. This change could add thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars to the annual tax bill of parents who have sought university positions in part because they believed it would enable them to put their children through college. 

This affects not just professors but also the lowest-paid staff at many colleges and universities, who were hoping to give their children opportunities that they did not have themselves. Those of us tied to Catholic colleges have particular cause for worry. In addition to lower-paid staff, the change would hit hard those with large families and professors in the humanities, who generally make less money than those in other disciplines. 

The damage to these latter two groups makes this issue of special concern to the region’s many Catholic liberal arts colleges. Should this version of the bill reach the president’s desk, it is unclear where the next generation of professors for such schools would come from.

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MARGARET WATKINS
Director, Honors Program
Associate Professor
Philosophy Department
Saint Vincent College
Latrobe

 

First Published: November 27, 2017, 5:00 a.m.

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