Australia and New Zealand Admits to US Grad Programs Fall 2017

[OHSP]

Is there anyone else out there? And if so, how are you planning on making decisions without being able to visit schools etc? Basically this is an invitation to collectively freak out/discuss visa issues/express concern and/or excitement about moving half way across the world etc. 

Edited February 12, 2017 by OHSP

[veritas28]

Yes, there are! Quite apart from ongoing academic considerations, I'm currently most concerned about receiving an adequate stipend given 14% of it will be withheld because of US income tax. Add to that Australian income tax to be paid each year, albeit with the foreign income tax offset, and it might make ends slightly harder to meet than the initial stipend figure would suggest. It doesn't dissuade me from going to the US but it does make finding non-US sources of funding all the more important given they would be taxed neither in the US nor (I think) Australia.

Edited February 13, 2017 by veritas28

[OHSP]

Do you have to pay Australian income tax on a US stipend if you're paying US income tax? **I'm not actually an Australian citizen so I wouldn't know, though I'm living there at the moment. 

Edited February 13, 2017 by OHSP

[veritas28]

I think so, yes. Any amount of a scholarship/fellowship beyond 'qualified education expenses' (tuition, direct course costs) is subject to US income tax and Australian residents are taxed their worldwide income which, by definition, would include the amount subject to US income tax. Scholarships/stipends aren't explicitly mentioned (neither as assessable nor exempt) but I'm assuming they are taxed in Australia by virtue of being taxed in the US. It's interesting because the ATO saw nothing of my APA but they'll gladly siphon off my non-Australian stipend that has nothing to do with Australia.

[TakeruK]

I'm also not Australian but I have some experience with paying worldwide income tax (to Canada) while in the US. This is not for my student stipend since in Canada, grad student stipends are **not** taxed, unlike in the US, but I also have experience with actual employment related income. 

For Canada, employment income is taxed in Canada but they will take the amount paid to the IRS (United States) in consideration as credit against any tax owed in Canada, so that you are not double-taxed. For example, if it turns out that I owe and paid $2500 in taxes to the US, but if I calculate my Canadian tax owing, it would have been $3000, then I only pay $500 in taxes to Canada. 

So maybe there is something similar for Australia too. You mention the foreign income tax offset---that's what we call it in Canada (well replace "offset" with "credit").

[FailedScientist]

Hey there, I'm not an australian citizen but I did do my undergrad there. Been widely unsuccessful in applications both last year and this cycle as well. Got 3 uni's that I'm still waiting on; BCM, UVa and UoU. 

[name_without_user]

I'm another one! 

Got accepted to Cornell Government PhD starting Fall 2017. Thoroughly surprised I have to say, and was so certain I wouldn't get in that I had done no thinking about the logistical side of things.

Very interested and slightly alarmed to hear about the tax double-whammy... Luckily I hear cost of living is pretty low in Ithaca, but that would still eat away quite a bit at my precious funding. 

I'm trying not to think too hard about anything until I go over for the visiting days on 27-28 March. It's super easy to stoke irrational fears about going all the way over there for 5 years from my laid back life in Melbourne so I want to make sure my thinking is firmly grounded in first-hand experiences of the school. 

[OHSP]

15 hours ago, name_without_user said:

Got accepted to Cornell Government PhD starting Fall 2017. Thoroughly surprised I have to say, and was so certain I wouldn't get in that I had done no thinking about the logistical side of things.

Congrats! I also found it entirely impossible to know whether I'd get in and thought I was fooling myself for most of last year. Are you in an MA program at the moment?

[veritas28]

FWIW I reached out to an Australian who did their PhD in the US and s/he never declared their stipend to the ATO and there doesn't appear to have been a problem so I may have been mistaken in my initial assumptions.

[name_without_user]

11 hours ago, OHSP said:

Congrats! I also found it entirely impossible to know whether I'd get in and thought I was fooling myself for most of last year. Are you in an MA program at the moment?

It's a huge adjustment! No I almost applied to something here in Aus but I decided to wait it out.. just have Honours. Kind of glad I did so I can make the most of a few more months outside the ivory tower.

How about you? Well done on getting in too!!

[OHSP]

2 hours ago, name_without_user said:

It's a huge adjustment! No I almost applied to something here in Aus but I decided to wait it out.. just have Honours. Kind of glad I did so I can make the most of a few more months outside the ivory tower.

How about you? Well done on getting in too!!

I did honours in 2013, then worked for a year, and I'm now in the final dying moments of my MA - the whole grad school application process has been a huge distraction, so I'm extremely glad that it was worth it. 

[lalalaah]

For those of you who got in to the US grad programs, what were your GRE and GPA scores?? I'm planning to apply for phd this year but so worried about everything :(..