> If it is indeed simply a 'book keeping' exercise, then what it really is is an attempt to subvert some other policy. I'm not sure what that policy might be (student loan terms, perhaps?) But whatever it is, it's that policy that should change. Not tax policy.
It's an attempt to recognize the problem of needing students to be fully enrolled to be defined as students often by law.
It's far easier to put in a tax waiver to take care of the consequences of that than it is to change that policy, at a state level, and figure out all the downstream issues of that - which will also probably impact the tax code.
For one thing, so they can be eligible for student services like health care. So student loan repayments don't trigger while they're still in school. Any international student on a student visa. Accurate tracking of which professors go to which graduate students, and the means to record their progress.
It's an attempt to recognize the problem of needing students to be fully enrolled to be defined as students often by law.
It's far easier to put in a tax waiver to take care of the consequences of that than it is to change that policy, at a state level, and figure out all the downstream issues of that - which will also probably impact the tax code.