You are on drugs. >Fun fact, your own page shows that the the minimum at Columbia is higher than the max at University of Amsterdam! NYC is far more expensive

You are on drugs. >Fun fact, your own page shows that the the minimum at Columbia is higher than the max at University of Amsterdam! NYC is far more expensive than Amsterdam. Salary at UVA is higher than the majority of US stipends. Period. This isn't debatable. It's probably higher than stipends at almost every Public university in the US and many Private ones outside the Ivy+ group. >Grad students just tell me "Hey, I'll be gone these 3 weeks." And I say "Enjoy". That's it. Same with sick leave. It's unfortunate that your Stockholm syndrome has led you to beliefs like having guaranteed PTO is not as good as hoping your advisor lets you take a break. >You have no idea about the cost of housing in UCN vs Amsterdam. Or what cheap means. Take your pick of sources. You're just pulling numbers out of thin air. https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/raleigh-north-carolina/amsterdam https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/raleigh... https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=Netherlands&city1=Chapel+Hill%2C+NC&city2=Amsterdam https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou... >Your own numbers completely refute your story. And even the simplest Google search shows that perks in the US are actually far better than perks in the EU. That vacations are good, conference travel is not "business travel" in the US, that you get paid time off, etc. Maybe get your eyes checked? Pretty sure 40,000 is higher than 25,000 but maybe I'm wrong there. Your idea of what constitutes perks is some kind of hellish capitalist nightmare.