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For the most part the same grad students get tuitions wavers, which if accounted for, would up their income for what is part time work significantly.
by jmspring 7y ago
For the most part the same grad students get tuitions wavers, which if accounted for, would up their income for what is part time work significantly.
- GuiA 7y agoCurrent US tuition is a scam driven by an exploitative loan industry. Giving tuition waivers to grad students is something universities do precisely because it lets them say "no but really when you consider your total compensation it's very competitive with the industry". It's nonsense.
- m0llusk 7y agoThere is a lot of that going on, but it is important that factor only came into play in the 1980s and then in a big way after Biden and friends changed the rules around student loans. That is a huge problem that must be dealt with, but underpaid graduate students, exploding tuition, and colleges going under has been going on for a while even without the lending.
- cultus 7y agoExcept that for research programs these tuition wavers are for "research credits" for the majority of grad school duration. That is, there is no classes, only work on behalf of the university. Unlike normal work, you pay them. Calling most grad students "students" is a fiction. They are workers.
- chrisseaton 7y ago> That is, there is no classes, only work on behalf of the university. On a PhD you do your own research. You aren’t working for anyone but yourself. You may do some teaching but that’s just an optional part-time job.
- cultus 7y agoThat's not true. Do you even know how grad school works? Research you produce and grants you pull in benefit the university. Your research also is directed by your PI, a university employee and your boss, and often involves directly assisting their projects. How would a research university look if all of its grad students stopped doing research?
- chrisseaton 7y agoIt is true. I’m sure the university benefits, but you decide what to do yourself. You aren’t doing work given to you by the university or your advisor. Your advisor is absolutely not your ‘boss’, they’re a tutor, almost a peer.
- legolas2412 7y ago> You aren’t doing work given to you by the university or your advisor. Something tells me you have not been through PhD, or are have not interacted with other PhD students. You absolutely work on what your PI got their grant for.
- chrisseaton 7y agoNope I do have a PhD.
- cultus 7y agoIt's safe to say your experience is highly atypical. Even if a grad student's stipend is not funded on an RA for their research, the research still costs money. It is certainly funded from somewhere, and it's not coming from the tuition. It's almost always the PI's grant. And that means your research is on a specific problem. I can't speak to what your experience is, but what I am saying here is typical in US universities.
- cultus 7y agoReplying to your lower comment: That is just not remotely my experience or the experience of most people I know. Most people in science I knew already know what project they would be working on before entered grad school at all. It is very much directed, with some latitude like any other skilled job.
- jmspring 7y agoUm, I had a TAship and the tuition waiver during my Master's period at UCSC as well as when I needed to take any required classes post-Masters.