I work at an elite tier 1 research university that is an international household name. My spouse is a tenured faculty member who runs a lab and several concurre

I work at an elite tier 1 research university that is an international household name. My spouse is a tenured faculty member who runs a lab and several concurrent DoD funded grants. I understand perfectly well what a phd candidate does and what they are compensated for as well as what their fully loaded costs are. If you believe that the cost of a phd student is 18k a year, it is you who does not understand what working with a phd student involves. In fact, 18k probably does not even cover their health care costs. We can debate about what a phd candidate "should" be compensated for and if their current levels of compensation are fair but any argument needs to include the full picture.