Dear Senator Toomey,
Trump's Tax Plan = 15% Pay Cut for Graduate Employees
The United Council of Academics at NJIT (UCAN) , which includes the nearly 800 graduate employees, postdocs, and adjuncts throughout the state of New Jersey, is writing to express our unequivocal opposition to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
As you may be aware, the NJIT community will be negatively affected by the proposed tax reform bill by repealing the tax-free nature of tuition remissions. Should graduate employees at NJIT be taxed for tuition remission, an additional $3,000 would be taken out in taxes each year. This effectively cuts nearly 15% from the salaries of NJIT graduate workers. In the event that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passes, graduate employees would be unable to continue to performing this service of educating the NJIT undergraduate student body.
That is why we, the undersigned graduate employees of NJIT, are calling on you today stand with us in opposing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We ask that you vote against the bill should it reach the House floor and that you continue to fight it should it reach the Senate.
Updates
November 20, 2017
The silence from Senator Toomey remains deafening so we are escalating our pressure today. Please call his office right now to demand he protects our tuition remission. Post this link on your Facebook page and tag his official account to make sure he hears us.
November 20, 2017
The momentum behind this petition is undeniable and shows that our fight against this tax bill is gaining serious traction. Call Senator Toomey now to repeat our demands and send this link to three people in your department.
Reached 100 supporters
November 20, 2017
23 Comments
The tax plan is a burden on students who go through a Spartan phase with restricted finances to contribute to science. It's unfair to tax the already underpaid and struggling class. It isn't sensible to make higher education less favorable through such measures which rob the dignity of a group of individuals vital for the nation's future.
We graduate students are already the most lowly paid professionals. Paying extra taxes for a hypothetical money like the tuition fees is not just
I am a 2-time combat veteran having faught in Iraq and Afghanistan and I am now working on a degree. This is more than just a slap in the face for all students, it is potentially the difference between narrowly squeaking by and no longer being able to make a contribution toward the advancement of our economy through technological developments. We are barely paid enough to manage our bills and yet share a majority of the load in grading assignments for the masses of new students in our respective fields. We have it bad enough, please reconsider this as it would certainly be a devistating financial blow for many of us.
We work hard to earn this small salary and cutting that will makes us in much worse living conditions
This should not happening. Graduate Employees are treated unfairly. College labs, research and some classes run because of Graduate Employee.
Don't do it. Give the younger generation the future they deserve.
Yes I am against this new tax plan.
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Dear Senator Toomey,
Trump's Tax Plan = 15% Pay Cut for Graduate Employees
The United Council of Academics at NJIT (UCAN) , which includes the nearly 800 graduate employees, postdocs, and adjuncts throughout the state of New Jersey, is writing to express our unequivocal opposition to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
As you may be aware, the NJIT community will be negatively affected by the proposed tax reform bill by repealing the tax-free nature of tuition remissions. Should graduate employees at NJIT be taxed for tuition remission, an additional $3,000 would be taken out in taxes each year. This effectively cuts nearly 15% from the salaries of NJIT graduate workers. In the event that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passes, graduate employees would be unable to continue to performing this service of educating the NJIT undergraduate student body.
That is why we, the undersigned graduate employees of NJIT, are calling on you today stand with us in opposing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We ask that you vote against the bill should it reach the House floor and that you continue to fight it should it reach the Senate.
Updates
November 20, 2017
The silence from Senator Toomey remains deafening so we are escalating our pressure today. Please call his office right now to demand he protects our tuition remission. Post this link on your Facebook page and tag his official account to make sure he hears us.
November 20, 2017
The momentum behind this petition is undeniable and shows that our fight against this tax bill is gaining serious traction. Call Senator Toomey now to repeat our demands and send this link to three people in your department.
Reached 100 supporters
November 20, 2017
23 Comments
I'm a PhD student in NJIT. In our department, the most PhD students hold a master degree with a great GPA. In other words, we could easily get a high payment job in the industry. Many of us are from a family of middle or lower class of the society. The enthusiasm for the science drove us to chasing the Doctor degree, not the miserable payment. In fact, the stipend for PhD student is only one third to one fifth, comparing with the job from the industry. If the act applies, some of us would quit from the PhD program. Actually, when I heard about this bill, I was shocked. The leadership of Science is the reason that the U.S. could lead the world for decades. How sarcastic that the man who claim to make America great again is trying to destroy the basis of the greatness of America.
The tax plan is a burden on students who go through a Spartan phase with restricted finances to contribute to science. It's unfair to tax the already underpaid and struggling class. It isn't sensible to make higher education less favorable through such measures which rob the dignity of a group of individuals vital for the nation's future.
We graduate students are already the most lowly paid professionals. Paying extra taxes for a hypothetical money like the tuition fees is not just
I am a 2-time combat veteran having faught in Iraq and Afghanistan and I am now working on a degree. This is more than just a slap in the face for all students, it is potentially the difference between narrowly squeaking by and no longer being able to make a contribution toward the advancement of our economy through technological developments. We are barely paid enough to manage our bills and yet share a majority of the load in grading assignments for the masses of new students in our respective fields. We have it bad enough, please reconsider this as it would certainly be a devistating financial blow for many of us.
We work hard to earn this small salary and cutting that will makes us in much worse living conditions
This should not happening. Graduate Employees are treated unfairly. College labs, research and some classes run because of Graduate Employee.
Don't do it. Give the younger generation the future they deserve.
Yes I am against this new tax plan.
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I'm a PhD student in NJIT. In our department, the most PhD students hold a master degree with a great GPA. In other words, we could easily get a high payment job in the industry. Many of us are from a family of middle or lower class of the society. The enthusiasm for the science drove us to chasing the Doctor degree, not the miserable payment. In fact, the stipend for PhD student is only one third to one fifth, comparing with the job from the industry. If the act applies, some of us would quit from the PhD program. Actually, when I heard about this bill, I was shocked. The leadership of Science is the reason that the U.S. could lead the world for decades. How sarcastic that the man who claim to make America great again is trying to destroy the basis of the greatness of America.