UPDATED: Dec. 16, 2017 at 7:33 p.m.

At a special meeting of the Syracuse University Graduate Student Organization on Wednesday night, Chancellor Kent Syverud and Graduate School Dean Peter Vanable detailed how the university is working to address the Republican tax bills recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

Syverud, at the meeting, said it would be hard for the university to make a commitment to its response effort until officials know exactly what the final bill’s text will be.

One tax bill passed in the House of Representatives in November and another passed in the Senate last week. Both bills could dramatically raise the cost of higher education attendance for graduate and doctoral students. Lawmakers are currently negotiating over the bill differences in a conference committee before the combined legislation is sent to the White House for a final vote.

“At present, we’re closely monitoring the reconciliation process in Congress,” Vanable said. “We’re awaiting an indication on whether or which provisions from the House bill will remain in the final bill.”

The elimination of a tuition waiver tax exemption — a provision in the House bill — could cause the cost of higher education for some students to skyrocket. Universities can currently waive tuition costs for graduate students who do research or teach classes. The House bill provision would classify the waived tuition as taxable income.

The Senate version of the tax plan does not include the tuition waiver provision or other provisions that could dramatically affect most graduate students.

If a final bill includes a requirement that tuition waivers for graduate assistants be taxed, Vanable said the university will “intensively review options” to assist and support graduate students.

Syverud said SU has been lobbying lawmakers. The chancellor said he was told there was consideration that the House could vote on the Senate version of the bill, which would not include the tuition waiver provisions.

“There’s a role for some advocacy in favor of that solution,” Syverud said. But he added there are still provisions in the Senate bill people should be concerned about.

In a letter to U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) dated Nov. 20, Syverud said he was concerned about multiple provisions of the House bill, including sections that would eliminate tax exemptions on tuition waivers, employer-provided tuition payments and student loan interest deduction, among other things. The letter was published in a campus-wide email, sent Nov. 29.

If graduate tax provisions stay in the final version of the bill, Syverud said the university will have to “ameliorate” the circumstances it’s confronted with. The chancellor added that he understood the passage of the House bill could make dramatic changes to the way graduate students study and contribute to SU.

“That dramatic change will call for a response (from the university),” the chancellor said. “And there will be a response.”

Graduate students may be affected by the tax bill in different ways, he added, and the university’s response will have to be tailored to the different situations of all students.

After Syverud and Vanable left the meeting, GSO voted to approve a resolution that included a provision calling on Syverud to present a contingency plan “that fully ameliorates the financial effects of this bill and future related bills on graduate students” if the GOP tax plan is voted into law.

GSO also approved a resolution to form an ad hoc committee tasked with responding to the potential passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The organization approved another resolution to attempt to co-sign an open letter Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) wrote to urge House members to keep a repeal of the tuition waiver tax exemption out of the final version of the bill. The resolution also encouraged Katko to sign the letter.

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, the Graduate Student Organization’s resolution to attempt to co-sign a letter written by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) was unclear.

Published on December 6, 2017 at 11:23 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18