No More Scholarship Tax Coverage
How Many International Students are Reacting
In an email sent last Friday, the Vice President for Finance and Administration, Karl Spiecker, informed international students at St. Lawrence University that the university will no longer be covering a federal tax placed on scholarships that extend beyond tuition costs and “mandatory fees.” This means that the taxation on financial assistance that pays for housing or meals will, effective immediately, need to be reimbursed by the families of international students themselves. He mentioned that in the past, SLU used additional aid funds to pay such taxes on behalf of international students, but the challenging current fiscal climate “makes it impossible to continue our prior practice.” Spiecker additionally noted that, “it is important that we treat all students equally with respect to their tax obligations.”
International students across campus reacted passionately to this email. Irem Tuana Ciftci ’27 pointed to Spiecker’s claim about treating students equally, saying, “the equality mentioned in the message does not provide equity at all, considering that international students are one of the most vulnerable groups on campus, both in terms of financial background and political issues they faced in the last year.” She also emphasized that the new policy has created excessive stress for students in the middle of the semester, when they should be focused on studying for their midterms and final projects.
Doris van Zwetselaar ’28 explained why this email has created so much anxiety for international students. “The new tax policy puts us in a tricky situation, knowing that a lot of international students based their decision to attend SLU on the full coverage of the financial aid package, which is now suddenly revoked,” she said. “It feels like the rug has been pulled out from under our feet without warning.”
Even though students and their families may want to pay these fees, there are laws, regulations and geo-economic barriers in place that prevent them from doing so. For Jimena Galeano Reyes ’28, this is certainly the case. “Even the maximum amount of money that I can make, capped at 15 hours per week, is barely paying my personal expenses and flights to go home during long holidays,” she said. “I am also not allowed to work outside campus, and my family cannot help me pay the taxes simply because the currency difference prevents my family from supporting me financially.”
To help students and families navigate this abrupt change, Spiecker highlighted that the university is holding several information sessions. The first one was an in-person informational session on international taxation in the U.S. from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 13, and the second was a virtual informational Q&A session with Student Financial Services that same evening. He emphasized that students who are affected by this change can file taxes in the spring and may receive a refund from the IRS. He also noted that there will be a grace period so that students who have an outstanding balance on their accounts as of spring 2026 will not be prevented from registering for fall 2026 courses.