Happy fall! Congratulations to the Monarchs for bringing Sacramento a basketball championship. Next the Kings will add a trophy on the men’s side. And then the Sacramento State teams will each go the Final Four. And… well, I’m getting ahead of myself.
STATUS OF THE COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE CERTIFICATE PROPOSAL
I’m pleased to report that the proposed certificate in collaborative governance has cleared its first major hurdle. The College’s curriculum committee approved both the new course in this area and the certificate itself. We must still obtain approval from a University level committee, but I don’t foresee a problem.
We plan to consult with students and alums about some of the details regarding the certificate. Frankly, the campus deadlines were too tight and time too limited to do that before this point. Expect an e-mail from me about this subject in the near future.
REGULAR FALL REMINDERS
It’s time for a couple regular fall reminders. If you’re a current student and you can advance to candidacy… you should. You’re eligible to advance as long as you’ve completed five courses (the catalog mistakenly indicates four) and have satisfied the writing proficiency requirement through either the exam or waiver route. There’s no reason to wait and failing to file your form will get you in trouble later when you want to take PPA 500, since the University requires advancement to take a thesis course.
Also, you should contact me if you need to change your e-mail address for either of our list serves (the regular one or the one for alumni). I can make changes quickly if you contact me. Also, please note that messages to the list serves may be inadvertently blocked by “spam” filters. Given the number of messages I send, if you haven’t gotten anything from me in a week or so you might check on that possibility.
GRADUATE STUDY AS AN INCOME TAX DEDUCTION
Emily Franciskovich (thanks, Emily) informed me of a recent court decision that seemed to allow graduate students to deduct educational expenses under some circumstances. To get a better sense of the rules, I contacted a friend at the UC Davis law school who specializes in tax policy. Here’s what he wrote:
“MPPA students could deduct their educational expenses provided they can show that (1) the education maintains or improves skills required by their current employment and (2) the education is not part of a program of study that will lead to qualifying them in a new trade or business. If the students are currently employed, (1) is generally not a problem if the MPPA would reasonably aid them in their work. (2) is the more difficult one. As the court notes, this 'requires that a comparison be made between the types of activities that the taxpayer was qualified to perform before acquiring a particular title or degree with those that he or she was qualified to perform afterwards. If the activities are significantly different, then the educational expenses are disallowable.’ It is highly factual. I imagine some of the MPPA students could succeed in deducting the cost, while others could not. Law students are not so fortunate, since a law degree definitely qualifies one for a new profession, law school expenses are never deductible.”
Ted Lascher
PPA Department Chair
