Dear (insert name of senator or representative),

 

I am writing to you today as a constituent of Champaign county and graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, to express my concern about the latest tax reform bill that has passed through Congress. This bill included provisions to tax graduate student tuition waivers as income, eliminate the deductibility of student loan interest, and tax the benefit of employer-provided education assistance.

 

I, and other graduate students at UIUC, work 50+ hours a week for small stipends, without benefits. We do the research that has led to groundbreaking discoveries that advance technology, brings new drugs into the clinic, and has positioned the US as a leader in science. We receive tuition waivers as compensation for this work, and these are critical to our ability to afford obtaining higher education.

 

If a tax bill is approved with the above provisions, students such as myself could no longer afford graduate school. UIUC and greater Illinois would no longer be able to recruit the brightest and most talented individuals into graduate programs, and this would have devastating effects on the quality of research being done.

 

I strongly urge you to oppose any bill that includes taxation of tuition waivers, elimination of the deductibility of student loan interest, or taxation of employer-provided education assistance.

 

Thank you for your time,

 

(Insert your name here)

 

 

Congressman Rodney Davis

Email form: https://rodneydavis.house.gov/contact/

Champaign Office: (217) 403-4690

DC Office (202) 225-2371

 

Senator Tammy Duckworth

Email form: www.duckworth.senate.gov/content/contact-senator

DC Office: (202) 224-2854

 

Senator Richard Durbin

Email Form: www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/

DC Office: (202) 224-2152