A barely-adequate salary for a BS in CS in some rather awful location is 50K. The _top end_ salaries for grad students are about 30K nationally. Most are in the

A barely-adequate salary for a BS in CS in some rather awful location is 50K. The _top end_ salaries for grad students are about 30K nationally. Most are in the 15-20K range. Many times, grad students can qualify for food stamps and other forms of welfare. I would suggest that "professional median salary for holder of degree with 0-3 years experience" is the rubric that should be applied for compensation. More for relevant experience. Of course, that would entirely shatter the entire US academic system, since it is, today, built on the backs of grad students working in penury (often having a blast, it must be said). The entire current system is built around VERY cheap willing labor. a remark: grad students working for nil and startup employees working for nil have a facially similar appearance. The difference is the startup employees should have some fat options to compensate. The grad students don't have any upside...