Editorial 2: Financial aid should be free from taxes

The phrase “financial aid” should be
self-explanatory: it means providing funds where funds are lacking.
But the government does not view “aid” in this manner
since they tax graduate student fellowships, abstracting money from
an award whose purpose is to increase money for students.

Fellowships help graduate students pay academic research costs,
as well as personal and living expenses. They help spare students
from having to earn the money themselves and allow them to focus on
advancing their research instead. Whatever funds are not used
specifically for research, though, incur a tax, something graduate
student organizations are currently rightly lobbying against.
Removing taxes could free about $200 more a month from fellowships
““ this is significant help since the Department of Education
estimates graduate students face about $6,000 more a year in costs
than provided through fellowships and grants.

Education is not something the government should make subject to
taxation. Its purpose is to produce individuals and a body of
knowledge able to advance our society and should be prioritized as
such. Placing taxes on financial aid aimed at helping people
achieve this is wrong.

The University of California should be particularly concerned
about helping secure tax exemptions for graduate students. Private
schools are attracting talented graduate students by offering
higher financial aid packages and waiving out-of-state fees,
something the UC finds hard to compete with. If fellowships are
exempt from taxation, it will ease some of the financial worries
that prospective graduate students may have.