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We're not talking about expense reimbursements, though. They needed to be able to show that we have some number of certified AWS architects, so I paid $150 for an AWS certification test, and my employer is reimbursing me. They get the credentials they want, and I was made whole. In this case, it's not that the grad student is getting to take classes (this is tuition we're talking about, remember) for the university, nor is it that the school is benefiting from the student taking classes. That's something the school is providing to them as a service for a cost. What the schools and grad students are trying to do is to barter their way around taxes: "you give me tuition, I give you some TA and research work", and no (or minimal) money changes hands. That the tax code allowed this was a loophole: in general, you're responsible for the value that was received, not just the dollars portion. This is even part of ObamaCare: I have to pay tax on part of what my employer pays for my healthcare, even though it was never given to me in any monetary fashion. (the reason it's only "part of" is one of the great tax engineering f-ups, leading to the disaster that is our current system of health insurance) Even campaign finance law recognizes in-kind services as being equivalent to the dollars they'd otherwise be worth. If your airline writes off the cost of the candidate's cross-country trips, for example, the value of those tickets would count as a campaign contribution. |
Why not? The grad student's real job is research. The tuition is for classes to make them better researchers.