8 ms·

It's not just the adjuncts, it is graduate students, too. I've got friends who are working on their PhDs while teaching 4-5 classes (at other locations). I con

It's not just the adjuncts, it is graduate students, too. I've got friends who are working on their PhDs while teaching 4-5 classes (at other locations). I considered being a TA a few years ago, but you couldn't have a second job. The stipend as a TA was $1300 a month + tuition for 40 hour weeks (may have actually been "20" hour weeks, not certain). Yeah, right. It's pretty screwed up. It's a privilege to be in higher education but it is also pretty crushing and you've got to be a soldier to deal with it. The worst part is I've almost never met anything but great people who willingly put themselves through it. It's why as an overeducated graduate student, I'm against expanding education more and more (like free community college for all). The incentives are way off currently, not sure what the solution is, but it has to change.

legitster 9y ago
If it includes room and board and some insurance plan, $1300 a month isn't bad? My brother had a something like that at his university and ended up saving most of it because you really don't have a lot else to spend it on. Sure, I wouldn't start a family on that, but it far surpasses what I lived off of right after college. EDIT: It looks like the article was about people late in their careers. I was assuming that adjunct faculty positions were only entry level or for grad students.
- GlenTheMachine 9y ago
  It doesn't include room and board. It may include health insurance but you're going to pay your monthly fees out of the stipend.
- gervase 9y ago
  Graduate stipends almost never include room and board, as far as I know. This may be different if you're in a high-rent area (UCLA, Stanford, NYU, etc), but in general, your rent comes out of that $1300. They do currently include decent health insurance, at least. No dental/vision, obviously.
  - throwaway613834 9y ago
    > They do currently include decent health insurance, at least. No dental/vision, obviously. Probably school-dependent -- I'm aware of one that does have dental at least (I forget about vision but I think it has that too).
    - tnecniv 9y ago
      I can confirm dental and vision is offered to grad students at the school I went to. It wasn't included in the stipend but it is cheap.
  - santaclaus 9y ago
    > Graduate stipends almost never include room and board, as far as I know. This may be different if you're in a high-rent area (UCLA, Stanford, NYU, etc), but in general, your rent comes out of that $1300. Nope, still gotta pay rent. Attended Columbia for grad school, had to compete in the Manhattan real estate market on < 30k a year for an apartment. > They do currently include decent health insurance, at least. Ehhhh, it was of the 'if I get hit by a car and I am in the hospital for two months, I won't go bankrupt' variety. Better than nothing, at least.
newacct8086 9y ago
I thought a TA appointment was 20 hours per week?
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  It actually may have been, don't mean to exaggerate. It's been awhile, can't recall and Googling isn't pulling up anything. That being said, with the nature of being a graduate student and being on campus always, if it was "20 hours" a week it was really 30+. I do have a separate university related job now and the hours are anything but consistent. But you may be correct.
- chrisseaton 9y ago
  Why would you think something as specific as that would be standardised?
throwaway613834 9y ago
> It's not just the adjuncts, it is graduate students, too. > It's pretty screwed up. It's a privilege to be in higher education but it is also pretty crushing and you've got to be a soldier to deal with it. The worst part is I've almost never met anything but great people who willingly put themselves through it. Isn't that selecting for exactly the kind of people they want in academia though? Great people who would willingly put themselves through pain just for the sake of advancing knowledge? I'm not actually convinced that if they paid a better salary it would necessarily end up selecting for people better suited for academia -- not saying this because of lack of skills, but because if you're worried about making money the moment you start, it seems pretty plausible that you (or far people in your shoes than would feel so otherwise) would be distracted by it the whole time and not working purely for the sake of advancing your science.
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  That's very possible. Surely there's some middle ground between incentives that attract too many people and underpaying dedicated talent? Even if you were to get paid more, the work is so intense and extended (grinding for years), those just attracted by money would have more attractive alternatives.

legitster 9y ago

If it includes room and board and some insurance plan, $1300 a month isn't bad? My brother had a something like that at his university and ended up saving most of it because you really don't have a lot else to spend it on. Sure, I wouldn't start a family on that, but it far surpasses what I lived off of right after college. EDIT: It looks like the article was about people late in their careers. I was assuming that adjunct faculty positions were only entry level or for grad students.

GlenTheMachine 9y ago
It doesn't include room and board. It may include health insurance but you're going to pay your monthly fees out of the stipend.
gervase 9y ago
Graduate stipends almost never include room and board, as far as I know. This may be different if you're in a high-rent area (UCLA, Stanford, NYU, etc), but in general, your rent comes out of that $1300. They do currently include decent health insurance, at least. No dental/vision, obviously.
- throwaway613834 9y ago
  > They do currently include decent health insurance, at least. No dental/vision, obviously. Probably school-dependent -- I'm aware of one that does have dental at least (I forget about vision but I think it has that too).
  - tnecniv 9y ago
    I can confirm dental and vision is offered to grad students at the school I went to. It wasn't included in the stipend but it is cheap.
- santaclaus 9y ago
  > Graduate stipends almost never include room and board, as far as I know. This may be different if you're in a high-rent area (UCLA, Stanford, NYU, etc), but in general, your rent comes out of that $1300. Nope, still gotta pay rent. Attended Columbia for grad school, had to compete in the Manhattan real estate market on < 30k a year for an apartment. > They do currently include decent health insurance, at least. Ehhhh, it was of the 'if I get hit by a car and I am in the hospital for two months, I won't go bankrupt' variety. Better than nothing, at least.

newacct8086 9y ago

I thought a TA appointment was 20 hours per week?

aaron-lebo 9y ago
It actually may have been, don't mean to exaggerate. It's been awhile, can't recall and Googling isn't pulling up anything. That being said, with the nature of being a graduate student and being on campus always, if it was "20 hours" a week it was really 30+. I do have a separate university related job now and the hours are anything but consistent. But you may be correct.
chrisseaton 9y ago
Why would you think something as specific as that would be standardised?

throwaway613834 9y ago

> It's not just the adjuncts, it is graduate students, too. > It's pretty screwed up. It's a privilege to be in higher education but it is also pretty crushing and you've got to be a soldier to deal with it. The worst part is I've almost never met anything but great people who willingly put themselves through it. Isn't that selecting for exactly the kind of people they want in academia though? Great people who would willingly put themselves through pain just for the sake of advancing knowledge? I'm not actually convinced that if they paid a better salary it would necessarily end up selecting for people better suited for academia -- not saying this because of lack of skills, but because if you're worried about making money the moment you start, it seems pretty plausible that you (or far people in your shoes than would feel so otherwise) would be distracted by it the whole time and not working purely for the sake of advancing your science.

aaron-lebo 9y ago
That's very possible. Surely there's some middle ground between incentives that attract too many people and underpaying dedicated talent? Even if you were to get paid more, the work is so intense and extended (grinding for years), those just attracted by money would have more attractive alternatives.