In federal tax debate, advocates fear harm to universities, including UW-Madison

Jeff Tischauser’s dream of a university teaching career seemed within reach in 2013, when he was accepted into UW-Madison’s doctoral program in journalism and mass communication. To join the program, Tischauser, 36, said he took a big pay cut from his past career teaching at community colleges. Now, with a year and a half left to finish his doctoral dissertation, Tischauser faces an unexpected wrinkle: a tax overhaul being debated in Congress that he fears could give him a whopping tax increase by taxing the tuition waivers he and other graduate students receive. Tischauser said he already has little financial wiggle room: his take-home pay is about $25,000, he said, from a university stipend plus his side gigs, which include adjunct faculty work at an online college and working as a sales rep for a cheesemaker.