Going to college is a financial burden for most students. We are forced to take out large loans to cover the costs of tuition, books, room and board. Together all add up to an obscene amount at most institutions and lead to student debt after graduation. The average cost to attend Blackburn College is around $24,000 as of the 2017-2018 year. On average, there is over $1.4 trillion student loan debt across the country and there are over 44.2 million Americans with student loan debt.
The accumulation of debt does not stop after graduation for some students. Those who move on to graduate school often garner even more student debt. The 2017 Republican tax bill will only add to this problem by putting a new tax on graduate students. The Senate Republican tax bill is a proposal of new taxes and changes to existing tax rules. It is a long and complicated document that is catered to the upper class rather than the middle and lower class. Instead of graduate students getting their tuition waived by the school, the bill will ultimately take away this provision through a major tax for graduate students in the new bill. This move will make graduate school unattainable for those in middle to lower income class students. Right now, graduate students don’t pay taxes on their tuition waivers and are often in a lower tax bracket. If this bill passes, what will happen to those students already struggling to get by?
As someone who has thought about going to graduate school sometime in the future, the possible bill is now making me rethink my future decisions. If this bill is passed, graduate school will be out of the question for me, mainly because I will not be able to afford it.
While the graduate tax is one of the main focuses in the bill, college endowments are also going to be under fire if the bill is passed. As it stands right now, the bill is calling for a 1.4 percent tax on private schools with endowments of a certain amount per full-time student. The tax will be devastating to smaller institutions that fall under these stipulations. Without the endowments, the schools will not be able to provide the funds for lower or middle-class students that need a little financial help to attend school.
Take a private school like Blackburn for example in relation to the endowment tax. If the school meets the criteria for the tax, it will greatly affect this small private college. The government does not realize that all schools use endowments for a savings fund. Some colleges have endowments and can use them for other purposes than a rainy day fund as they see fit. In some cases they are a means to help the college each year for students and faculty alike.
In response to the prospective bill, professor of political science Dr. Laura Wiedlocher said, “This would be devastating to Blackburn if Blackburn would have to pay the endowment tax. The tax could potentially affect schools who are doing just okay, but they (the schools doing okay) don’t have this kind of extra money sitting around to pay the tax.”
The pending tax bill is now sitting in the Senate waiting to be passed. The bill is an assault on higher education. It is not going to help those wanting to attend college and it will not help the colleges financially. The bill is a financial burden for all who are associated with it. The students and the schools will not benefit from any part of this bill. Being a college student today, I am not in favor for what this bill has planned for the future.