College students are far from perfect neighbors. We are often loud, drunk and messy. And we are everywhere:’ The Boston metropolitan area has more than 80 private colleges and universities who employ 68,600 people and have more than 360,000 students, according to The Prominence of Colleges and Universities in the Boston Metropolitan Area, a February 2009 US Bureau of Labor and Statics study.
The statistics are lengthy, but the summary speaks for them:’ ‘[I]n the Boston metropolitan area, colleges and universities have exerted an important positive influence on the local and regional labor market economies … Over the 16-year period examined (1990-2006), they acted as a powerful job generator, with job growth roughly twice the rate for total private industry.’
Why, then, do students continue to get picked on? It’s no secret that many Boston locals, particularly Mission Hill, Allston and Brighton residents, feel we are a nuisance. And in 2008, the Boston City Council unanimously approved a measure to prevent more than four undergraduates from sharing an off-campus apartment. Now, The News reported today, at-large city councilor Stephen Murphy is toying with the idea of a ‘student tax.’
If passed, schools would be charged $100 for each enrolled full-time student per semester, except for permanent Boston residents. The goal is to make up for the fact that tax-exempt colleges generate a lot of public safety expenses and take up valuable real estate.
Compared to the approximately $46,000 Northeastern students already pay to go to school, $100 per semester seems like a small drop in a very big bucket. And although the tax is the school’s responsibility and would not come directly from students’ pockets, it’s hard to imagine If imposed, the university will have to come up with $100 for each of its 15,000 ‘- a total of more than $1.5 million per semester than it did last year.
Money issues aside, there are some logistics to consider. First of all, which colleges and universities qualify as Boston schools? Does Boston College, all the way out in Chestnut Hill, count? What about Cambridge schools like Harvard and MIT? The city doesn’t have the authority to tax schools in other cities, but many of their students make use of Boston resources alnmost as much as we do.
That aside, Northeastern would be a source of confusion in itself. Most students are here for five years, or more in majors like architecture and pharmacy. On top of that, we have a strong study abroad program and an even stronger co-op program. It will be particularly complicated to determine whether or not students on co-op, out of state or studying abroad should have to pay. Northeastern students would likely be charged for summer semesters as well. The bureaucracy would be maddening for both students and administrators.
Northeastern Vice President for Public Affairs Robert Gittens stood up for the university in an April 27 public meeting with Major Menino’s PILOT Task Force, which was charged with determining the potential of the tax. He said that Northeastern graduates more Boston Public Schools students than any other school in Massachessets, the staff is involved in community service foundations around the city and Northeastern indirectly gives $350 million a year to Boston.
In the end, it comes down to whether or not students deserve the burden of this tax. There is a wealth of data, like the Bureau of Labor and Statics study, that shows the positive impact Boston’s colleges and universities have on the city. The impact we have is visible even on the smallest level. Where would Al and his famous sandwiches at Wan Convenience Store on Mission Hill be without his loyal college customers? And what might have become of the family-run Temptations Cafe on Huntington Avenue?
Boston schools create tens of thousands of jobs while their students continuously funnel money into local businesses. To treat us like a burden is simply unfair.