U of California Grad Students Strike

[Parasaurolophus]

Although the details are different at different institutions across the state, what I've heard from students at UCSD, for example, is that:

• Graduate student researchers get $19 728 a year.
• Teaching assistants get $23 246.55 a year.
• The media 1BR apartment in San Diego cost $1740/month ($20 880/year) in 2018; today, it's estimated at $2500/month ($30 000/year)
• Graduate student housing isn't much cheaper (e.g. $1977/month in the Nuevo East complex), is subject to a year+ waitlist, and is time-limited.

Given those givens, they obviously need to be paid more. I don't see how they can be expected to carry out their own research, given their financial circumstances. All they can do is get a second job (unless they're international students, of course, in which case...).

[Hibush]

Although the details are different at different institutions across the state, what I've heard from students at UCSD, for example, is that:

• Graduate student researchers get $19 728 a year.
• Teaching assistants get $23 246.55 a year.
• The media 1BR apartment in San Diego cost $1740/month ($20 880/year) in 2018; today, it's estimated at $2500/month ($30 000/year)
• Graduate student housing isn't much cheaper (e.g. $1977/month in the Nuevo East complex), is subject to a year+ waitlist, and is time-limited.

Given those givens, they obviously need to be paid more. I don't see how they can be expected to carry out their own research, given their financial circumstances. All they can do is get a second job (unless they're international students, of course, in which case...).

Realistic student housing costs can be tricky to estimate. In a city like La Jolla (or Westwood or Santa Barbara or Berkeley), a one-bedroom apartment to yourself is quite a luxury.  These are also cities with some rather posh residences, so the median place can also be pretty fancy. I suspect there is a better benchmark that reflects where students would actually live. Actual student housing is a good benchmark since the local market will be competing with that.

The MIT living wage calculator also has a problem with student-specific expenses. But it breaks living costs down into categories so adjustments are relatively easy to make. That has San Diego metro housing at $1,500 a month. (Interestingly, sharing the household with a non-working requires an additional $23,000 in pre-tax income, whereas a child requires $46,000. Being a single-parent grad student really seems unaffordable!). 

[dismalist]

"Given those givens, they obviously need want to be paid more."

FTFY :-)

... a child requires $46,000

Must be one hell of a child! :-)

Well, California is losing population. There's our solution.

[mythbuster]

According to the official web site. The UCSD PhD program in biological sciences pays a stipend of $36,00o per year. So again, it varies depending on who you ask. https://biology.ucsd.edu/education/grad/phd/financial-support.html

[jimbogumbo]

Following up on mythbuster, I started at the UCSD Math Dept. site and followed links to a pay scale (linked below). Don't know about grad assts, but the CSU faculty used to have a statewide pay scale. That meant you really came out ahead if you taught at one of the campuses in less highly populated areas.

The info I found cites a connection to the UAW!!

https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/financial-support/employment-files/student-pay-rates/AY%202022-2023%20STUDENT%20ACADEMIC%20TITLE%20RATES_________%20-%20Sheet1.pdf

[research_prof]

Following up on mythbuster, I started at the UCSD Math Dept. site and followed links to a pay scale (linked below). Don't know about grad assts, but the CSU faculty used to have a statewide pay scale. That meant you really came out ahead if you taught at one of the campuses in less highly populated areas.

The info I found cites a connection to the UAW!!

https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/financial-support/employment-files/student-pay-rates/AY%202022-2023%20STUDENT%20ACADEMIC%20TITLE%20RATES_________%20-%20Sheet1.pdf

As someone who has been at UCs for some years, I confirm that these grad student pay scales seem to be accurate. However, I need to note that UCs pay grad students at 50% rates. They claim this is due to visa regulations for international students (which is true) but they extend that to US permanent residents and citizens as well for "fairness" reasons. My private R1 pays grad students much better than UCs and it is located in an area with a relatively low cost of living (much lower than California).

[Wahoo Redux]

"Given those givens, they obviously need want to be paid more."

FTFY :-)

... a child requires $46,000

Must be one hell of a child! :-)

Well, California is losing population. There's our solution.

If only we all lived in the easy, simple world you do. 

What are your living expenses, Big-D?  Are you living in a studio apartment in a Cali city bursting at the seams?

[quasihumanist]

The dismal fact is that, according to economics, society would be better off if certain people (those who consume more stuff than their proportional contribution to making) are raptured.

Of course we don't actually believe that - however, solving this problem requires non-dismal solutions.

I wonder if grad students (or even professors) would be paid at all if our society instituted a livable universal basic income.

[dismalist]

The dismal fact is that, according to economics, society would be better off if certain people (those who consume more stuff than their proportional contribution to making) are raptured.

Of course we don't actually believe that - however, solving this problem requires non-dismal solutions.

I wonder if grad students (or even professors) would be paid at all if our society instituted a livable universal basic income.

Now, now, let's not let our utilitarianism get out of hand! Though of course a veil of ignorance argument can be made. :-)

In fact, we already have a universal basic income of sorts. It's composed of many parts, but it exists. It's also more generous than usually thought, but I don't want to derail this thread in that direction.

The difficulty at present is that anyone collecting "welfare" would relinquish his benefits if he earns income, such as collecting a stipend as a graduate student. [Therefore, don't be a graduate student!] The implicit marginal tax rate of welfare recipients would make rich people blush. The fix is to let people keep their benefits and tax them and their earnings at some reasonable rate.

The  only downside to this policy is that we'd have more graduate students. :-)

[Durchlässigkeitsbeiwert]

Following up on mythbuster, I started at the UCSD Math Dept. site and followed links to a pay scale (linked below). Don't know about grad assts, but the CSU faculty used to have a statewide pay scale. That meant you really came out ahead if you taught at one of the campuses in less highly populated areas.

The info I found cites a connection to the UAW!!

https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/financial-support/employment-files/student-pay-rates/AY%202022-2023%20STUDENT%20ACADEMIC%20TITLE%20RATES_________%20-%20Sheet1.pdf

The $23 246.55 cited by Parasaurolophus above is within 10 cents of the 50% TA in the linked file. I wonder which percentage of the advertised rate is actually received by a median student.

[apl68]

Following up on mythbuster, I started at the UCSD Math Dept. site and followed links to a pay scale (linked below). Don't know about grad assts, but the CSU faculty used to have a statewide pay scale. That meant you really came out ahead if you taught at one of the campuses in less highly populated areas.

The info I found cites a connection to the UAW!!

https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/financial-support/employment-files/student-pay-rates/AY%202022-2023%20STUDENT%20ACADEMIC%20TITLE%20RATES_________%20-%20Sheet1.pdf

The $23 246.55 cited by Parasaurolophus above is within 10 cents of the 50% TA in the linked file. I wonder which percentage of the advertised rate is actually received by a median student.

Does "50% TA" refer to a TA paid at a rate of 20 hours per week?

[research_prof]

Following up on mythbuster, I started at the UCSD Math Dept. site and followed links to a pay scale (linked below). Don't know about grad assts, but the CSU faculty used to have a statewide pay scale. That meant you really came out ahead if you taught at one of the campuses in less highly populated areas.

The info I found cites a connection to the UAW!!

https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/financial-support/employment-files/student-pay-rates/AY%202022-2023%20STUDENT%20ACADEMIC%20TITLE%20RATES_________%20-%20Sheet1.pdf

The $23 246.55 cited by Parasaurolophus above is within 10 cents of the 50% TA in the linked file. I wonder which percentage of the advertised rate is actually received by a median student.

Does "50% TA" refer to a TA paid at a rate of 20 hours per week?

Yes.

[marshwiggle]

Following up on mythbuster, I started at the UCSD Math Dept. site and followed links to a pay scale (linked below). Don't know about grad assts, but the CSU faculty used to have a statewide pay scale. That meant you really came out ahead if you taught at one of the campuses in less highly populated areas.

The info I found cites a connection to the UAW!!

https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/financial-support/employment-files/student-pay-rates/AY%202022-2023%20STUDENT%20ACADEMIC%20TITLE%20RATES_________%20-%20Sheet1.pdf

The $23 246.55 cited by Parasaurolophus above is within 10 cents of the 50% TA in the linked file. I wonder which percentage of the advertised rate is actually received by a median student.

Does "50% TA" refer to a TA paid at a rate of 20 hours per week?

Yes.

So, in other words, living on your own is tough with a half-time job?
In other news, water is wet.

[dismalist]

Looking at this slightly differently, is the U of C suffering from declining numbers of applications from potential graduate students? There are plenty of graduate schools in all kinds 'a subjects in the US. The "wage" of graduate students is determined in a competitive market.

[waterboy]

We have to be careful not to say "wages" as that would imply that what a grad student does is a job. Can't have that.