muskratsam

I think they expect a lot of the provisions in the bill to take effect for 2018. And I doubt universities will be able to react that quickly. If this is in the final bill (and a final bill passes), we could certainly get screwed for 2018. Not sure what our universities will do eventually to deal with it.

Hmm, I was going to say to send a note saying you understand if she wants to take a break, and it is fine if she decides she wants to refriend in the future. But given the unhappiness she showed about not liking her page back, I might just not respond and let her drop you.

They haven't set a date for the vote, but it won't be until after Thanksgiving. Leadership says they want a vote to the president by the end of the year (and it has to go through conference, too). They are home to their districts over Thanksgiving (but guessing most won't be doing appearances/town halls -- and not just because it is the holidays).

I am seeing a lot more news stories on this in the national news, it is starting to get some traction for how ridiculous it is. Keep pressure on your senators, call daily. Try to get your classmates to call, too. We are relying on the Senate now to block this, since the House passed it already.

Yes, just passed the House. We need to keep pressure on our Senators. I'm wondering if anyone is hearing any discussion of this from their department heads, university grad school, or unions if you have one at your school.

The House is voting tomorrow -- please make one last push on this issue today with your representative. Regardless of party... anything can happen in terms of votes on this, and if they end up eventually (somehow) negotiating for Dem votes on this, you still want your rep to know that this is a huge problem for us. www.govtrack.us is a great place to figure out who your rep is, especially if your state's Secretary of State's office has a website that is hard to navigate. (And if you haven't, be sure you are registered to vote -- if this goes through, then flipping the house and senate next year might be our best way to reverse this). If you need extra documentation to register in your state (like a birth certificate), that can take a while to get, so starting that process now would be good. If you move, put changing your registration on the top of your list of items to do.

I heard a rumor that the Senate version of the bill keeps the grad school tuition tax break. Have been digging around trying to find details, and an article in the Philly Inquirer says: Graduate students. Many PhD students were concerned about the House bill’s provision to count tuition waivers from their universities as taxable income, a move that would raise many graduate students’ tax bill by thousands of dollars. But the Senate plan keeps the tax breaks in place for graduate students. So that is a good sign, although I haven't seen anyone publish the actual language. And this could still be lose in the reconciliation process. Don't let up -- keep calling and pressuring for this!

I've been in touch with a reporter for the New York Times. She says are doing a story specifically on this and to "stay tuned". Once they publicize it, more news networks will pick it up and run with it.

The main thing is to generate calls and complaints about this, regardless of which approach you want to take. I am seeing a few more articles. It was mentioned on Marketplace on NPR today, and there is an article on the Forbes website. It came up on the Wall Street Journal opinion page, but buried in an article that was headlined and started out critical of higher education, so that probably wasn't helpful. Frankly, you may be right about many Republican representatives not being influenced by this. Their almost gleeful dismissal of higher education and scientific facts doesn't bode well for this. But I think there are a few people who might be influenced. Senators like Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Bob Corker, John McCain, LIsa Murkowski, or Susan Collins might be influenced if you or your families are in their states. The Senate does tend to be a little more sane than the house, and any bill has to go through them.

They do listen to their constituents, and count the number of calls that come in on any side of an issue. How can it hurt? There are a few moderates that might be influenced. And more liberal reps may use your story to get bad publicity for this part of the bill. It is worth the call. If no one calls, it SURELY won't change. Remember that recent non-tax bills pushed by this group have collapsed under public pressure. Heat from us and our friends/families could make a difference.

A personal story is a lot likely to get mentioned in a hearing or picked up by a news outlet and publicized.

The Senate released their version of the tax bill today. So far the only change related to education I've heard about is that they are making student loan interest deductible again (it isn't in the House Bill). I'm hoping some change for this is buried in the details and just hasn't been uncovered yet, but am not optimistic.

I'd look at safety ratings for sure if you are new driver. I like Subarus. An Impreza would be a good first car, or a used Subaru with ~50K miles.

Sigaba, I think specific stories are what get politicians to take action. If you contact your representative and tell them your tax bill will go from (just for example) $2,500 to over $10,000 due to this change, that is more compelling than the general argument about the policies. By all means if your specific taxes aren't impacted but you want to make the general argument, still contact your reps and senators. But if they can pin a specific egregious dollar value to the plan for one person or family, that is sometimes more helpful. Mibshubby, I doubt universities will take any immediate action for TAs and RAs who already have contracts through this current school year. So the first six months of next year at least will have no relief. Even if they do something next year (say, increase stipends a bit), it would happen next fall at the earliest, and I'm sure wouldn't be retroactive for the increased taxes due to the winter/spring semester tuition we are about to have waived starting in January.

I think you will meet more people like you intellectually in grad school than outside of it. Keep being yourself (and approach men for dates if you meet someone interesting). Don't wait to for them to decide if you fit and for them to ask you.

Don't forget that currently a student can take a tax credit of 20% of fees paid to their university as part of the Lifetime Leaning credit. In my case, that is about $1,400 in fees per year. So I can lower my tax bill directly by $280/year. That credit is also going away.

I talked to someone today whose taxes will go from $2,500 a year to over $10,000 a year under this plan. Here is a calculator you can use to figure out your new proposed tax liability: https://www.calcxml.com/calculators/trump-tax-reform-calculator;jsessionid=388BA754C0BF3DBE3AB56F17247E7518?skn=#results If you have a stipend and a tuition remission amount, add them together and put them in the W-2 field for your new taxable amount.

The House of Representatives' own calculation shows that this tuition waiver tax will bring in 65 BILLION dollars (from grad students!) from 2018 through 2027. I know everyone is busy... but please speak up on this to your representative and senators. Talk to your fellow grad students. If you have a good relationship with your PI, bring it up to them as a concern. Ask your parents to complain, too (mine were happy to).

FYI, the Lifetime Learning tax credit is also being eliminated in this plan. So, for example, I think now I could get a direct credit (reduction) of my federal taxes of 20% of the fees I pay to my university (about $1,200 per academic year). So now I can reduce my tax bill directly by about $240/year. That will also go away. But I think the tuition taxation is bigger dollars, and a bigger deal. However, I think the Lifetime Learning tax credit affects a lot more people than just PhD students. Just another thing to bring up when contacting your member in the House and your senators.

"These things always get changed" -- sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It is important for us to speak up to try to help get it changed. I figure it is people like us contacting our representatives and senators with our specific stories that might be able to keep this from happening. I did that last night. First I made a spreadsheet that showed what my taxes would be expected to be with just my TA stipend and summer earnings (used an online calculator with current tax law, so it uses current rates). Then I ran an online calculator for the new law (there are quite a few online if you Google), but added my TA tuition remission in as W-2 income. I also assumed that in the current scenario I'd get the Lifetime Learning Credit for my fees, and I wouldn't under the new law. It looks like my federal taxes would go up 288%. (actually, to be specific, my federal taxes would be 288% of what they would be under the current law -- so I guess increase is 188% -- still crazy). Then I went to the website of my federal rep and state senators, and used the contact function to describe exactly how much my taxes would be impacted by the new law, with no additional compensation to pay for the higher tax bill. Or you can call them, but be sure to give them the percentage if you've calculated it of how much your federal taxes would go up. If lots of us do this, it could help. A lot of us live on a shoestring already throughout most of our 20s -- this is nuts.

Not sure if this is being discussed elsewhere, let me know. The impact of the new tax plan is looking pretty ugly. One provision in it taxes the tuition waivers that grad students get as regular income. That is huge for me -- I figure my federal taxes will go up 250% next year (ran a calculator with the same stipend amounts with this year's tax rate, then a calculator under the new plan with the same stipends plus the amount of tuition waivers treated as income). It is untenable.

Okay, I've gotten some acceptances, done a bunch of visits, and think I know where I'm going to attend for my PhD (Physics major). I have questions that I haven't been able to find fully answered out here, though. I have a learning disability (non-verbal learning disability, also slight ADHD). I have never medicated, but always got time and a half on exams in high school and undergrad. I still worked crazy hard in college because I went to a school with a tough reputation and grade deflation, and my homework always took me longer than most of my peers because of my disability (extra time on exams is very helpful, but it doesn't make all those problem sets any easier!). But I came out with an okay GPA, great LORs from 3 professors, and solid GREs. I was diagnosed in 2nd grade, and have additional diagnosis documentation from high school and first year of college, so I think I am covered for documentation. So now I am trying to figure this out for grad school. I emailed the department secretary at my first choice department where I have been accepted and visited, and she directed me to the college disability office. No concerns there, I know how to work with them. But what I am really thinking about is: - My undergrad profs appeared to have no issues with my accommodations as long as I gave them the formal info from the disability office and advance notice that I needed extra exam time. Does anyone on this forum have LD accommodations for their grad school classes? Any issues with it? (Profs giving you a hard time, etc?) - I am wondering if anyone has experience with getting accommodations for quals exams. I assume I will ask for them. This is a little complicated by the fact that my first choice gives us a shot at one of the quals exams in August before starting in the fall, and it doesn't count against the two attempts you get before passing. I'd like to take that shot, but it also means my very first interaction with the department academically is asking for accommodations on quals. I think I still need to do it that way -- I don't want to give up the "free shot" (I have time this summer to study), and I think it would be a problem to show up after taking a shot and ask for accommodations for future attempts. But wondering if there is anything I am not thinking of in this scenario. Maybe I am overthinking, but was wondering what other experiences people have had. Thanks!

Adding to the list: Colorado State - March 3 or March 24 Montana State - Feb 23-26

@rphilos http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/uw-shooting/ Shooter had a MAGA hat, was there to see Milo Yiannopoulos, and his Facebook page says he is a Trump supporter. The guy who was shot was there to protest the Yiannopoulos event.

A Trump supporter shot a protester on the UW campus in Seattle this week.