275 Rutgers students who accompanied the football team to the Insight Bowl in Phoenix for last night’s game against Arizona State may have a tax headache next April 15.  From the  Philadelphia Inquirer:

In a new twist on financial aid, acting Gov. Dick Codey pledged $25,000 in taxpayer funds to send Rutgers University students to a bowl game. Within days, Codey’s act of governmental generosity prompted Rutgers, and private donors, to kick in an additional $60,000 and a slew of free tickets. All for the worthy cause of helping college kids get drunk and sunburned and scream themselves silly at the Insight Bowl in Phoenix over the holidays.

"Gov. Codey wants to make the cost a little more palatable to students," Jason Kroll, Rutgers’ associate athletic director for development, told me. So does Rutgers, which matched the state money and hit up boosters for more. Within days, the "Insight Bowl or Bust" fund stood at $85,000. Deputy athletic director Kevin MacConnell said any student who asked would get a free ticket – face value $52 – to the bowl game. A lucky 275 will be randomly selected for $300 travel stipends.

Hat Tip to Jim Maule, who first flagged the tax issue implicated in this story:  "Do the students who receive the $300 ‘stipends’ have gross income for federal and New Jersey state income tax purposes?"