Pittsburgh not the only city to suggest taxing students

Pittsburgh isn’t the only city debating a proposed tax on college students.

Officials in Providence, R.I., tried to impose a $150 per student per semester or $100 per trimester fee on students attending the city’s four private universities. Rhode Island residents whose parents or guardians pay property taxes would be exempt.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl proposed a more than $100 per student per year tax on college students when he drafted his 2010 budget.

The tax in Providence was met with opposition, largely from students and businesses. Providence’s four private universities — Brown, Johnson & Wales, Providence College and the Rhode Island School of Design — had previously agreed to voluntarily pay the city millions of dollars over a 20-year span.

Dan Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island, said the universities were shocked about the tax because they thought their original compensation agreement was “generous and a success.”

Opposition to the proposal came not only from active student body members but from the business community and allies, as well.

“It wasn’t merely $150 a semester. It becomes $300 a year, $1,200 if you graduate in four years, and with the Perkins loan, it becomes $1,700 on top of your tuition, ” Egan said. “We just affirmed and reminded the people of the strengths and benefits of having our robust health care system and the potential economic benefits and what we could do collaboratively. We have a natural ally base in place.”

Mayor David Cicilline addressed student representatives from each of the four colleges to try and rally student support for the proposal. The students overwhelmingly opposed the extra tax.

“I think the university in general more than pays for itself in both economic and social benefits to the city. The students, on the other hand, may not, but taxing them will just defer costs to their parents or to their financial aid or student loans and make them more antagonistic towards the city,” Gregory Anderson, a senior at Brown University, said. “The overwhelming consensus is that it is a bad thing. It won’t accomplish anything other than a temporary cash inflow, which the city will soon make up for by going over budget in other areas.”

Providence’s City Council members and Cicilline did not respond to requests for comment.

While the proposal in Pittsburgh has not been explicitly outlined, Pitt students might have to pay more than $100 per year to the city. This tax could be in conjunction with an increased tax on the health sector.

Several Pitt students said they think the University puts more into the community than it takes out.

Not only do college students stimulate the local economy, but also parents on college tours come into the city, as well as patients into the UPMC system, Pitt sophomore Zack Stavriotis said.

“Taxing students is only going to discourage all the good things that we’re doing here as a community,” he said.

“As a University, we do so much for our community already — volunteer work, tutoring for example — and forcing us to pay more money on top of our rising tuition, especially with the economy doing so poorly, seems unjust,” Michelle Boyle, a Pitt junior, said.