Graduate students protest U.S. tax plan

Abstract

Thousands of U.S. graduate students walked away from their labs, teaching assignments, and classes on Nov. 29 to protest provisions in a Republican tax reform package that could force them to pay thousands of dollars in extra taxes. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, chemistry grad student Becky Rodriguez joined hundreds of other protesters braving –5.5 °C temperatures to show her outrage at the proposal. “I know that if this were to pass, I would have to drop out of graduate school because I wouldn’t be able to afford it,” Rodriguez says. Currently, stipends that cover tuition are tax-free for graduate students. But that would change under the tax reform bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed in November. It could mean thousands of dollars in extra taxes for graduate students, most of whom make less than $30,000 a year. The Senate version of the measure currently keeps tuition waivers