Each year, any graduate student who receives a fellowship that provides health care benefits must pay taxes on these benefits under existing policy. This is particularly unfair because it is well known that employees don't pay taxes on their health care benefits. On top of that most graduate students in the sciences and engineering make only a small stipend for their 40+ hours/week dedication to research (note that PhD students take few classes and spend almost all of their time on research). Students receiving a fellowship are taxed for health care because of the structure of the 1098-T tax form (which reports the amount received from fellowships including healthcare benefits). However, only tuition (not healthcare costs) can be subtracted for taxes.



