


The federal government has time and time again warned against charging unreasonable amounts for student labor, but finger-wagging alone has produced little in the way of an effort by the universities to stop this abuse.

Of course the tuition portion, like all university tuition, continues to skyrocket as well. In recent years, the salary portion charged by universities has incessantly risen as each university tries to win the favor of the same pool of prospective students by offering the most grant money.
#Universities over charge students and pocket cash tiition full
Unfortunately, inadequate and irresponsible oversight by the federal government has tempted some universities into charging wildly unreasonable amounts for student labor, by claiming both inflated salaries (to attract the students) and full university tuition (to maximize their own income). When the government reimburses universities for the reasonable value of the students' work, this regulation serves the interests of all parties concerned. According to the regulations in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-21, universities can recover the cost of paying students who work on federal contracts and grants, provided the total amount is "reasonable compensation for work performed." Compensation may take the form of salaries and/or tuition remission "paid as, or in lieu of, wages to students performing necessary work." government, and they often employ graduate students as research assistants. Yet, even in a fiscal climate where they have come to expect the worst, taxpayers are still likely to be outraged to find that the federal government is paying the equivalent of $180,000 annually for student assistants at some state universities in California.Īmerican universities perform the lion's share of basic research funded by the U.S. With billions of taxpayer dollars squandered annually, many Americans have become grudgingly resigned to the notion that a certain level of waste, fraud, and abuse in programs run by the federal government is inevitable.
