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Grad students aren't just "older undergrads who really like studying", they are researchers, assistants to professors, and teachers of undergrad courses. For t

Grad students aren't just "older undergrads who really like studying", they are researchers, assistants to professors, and teachers of undergrad courses. For that reason, they deserve to be paid, and I would argue given their role presently and for the future of the country, they should be paid at least enough to rent a 1 br apartment and cook their own meals.

wlesieutre 4y ago
A friend had a UC professor ask if she'd be interested in a remote postdoc because it would have been impossible for them to hire someone in California given the postdoc pay rates. I don't know if that's an unheard of arrangement or not, but it sounded totally weird to me.
- jleyank 4y ago
  Makes perfect sense for a computational field such as molecular modeling or engineering.
- j-wags 4y ago
  Your comment could be read in two ways. Could you clarify? 1) The UC professor offered a remote postdoc because they did not have enough funding to pay the minimum UC postdoc salary, but could pay less to out of state employees 2) The UC professor offered a remote postdoc because the allowed UC postdoc salary was not sufficient to attract candidates given the area's cost of living
  - wlesieutre 4y ago
    2 was my impression for why they were looking for remote candidates, pretty hard sell to move to any of UC's areas on a $55k salary. Someone else probably accepted, in her case she'd already taken a better opportunity elsewhere. I just thought it was strange for a grad student position to be so disconnected from the university campus. But with the insane cost of living I guess it's not surprising.
Phemist 4y ago
In continental Europe (not the UK afaik), grad "students" are considered proper employees of the university. In my home country, they have been traditionally called "Assistant in Training", much akin to a paid apprenticeship in the sciences. Mind you, they are not paid a lot, but enough to be able to rent an apartment in the city the university is in. In English, we have started calling them PhD "students" as well, which imo very much undermines the perceived position of these "students".

wlesieutre 4y ago

A friend had a UC professor ask if she'd be interested in a remote postdoc because it would have been impossible for them to hire someone in California given the postdoc pay rates. I don't know if that's an unheard of arrangement or not, but it sounded totally weird to me.

jleyank 4y ago
Makes perfect sense for a computational field such as molecular modeling or engineering.
j-wags 4y ago
Your comment could be read in two ways. Could you clarify? 1) The UC professor offered a remote postdoc because they did not have enough funding to pay the minimum UC postdoc salary, but could pay less to out of state employees 2) The UC professor offered a remote postdoc because the allowed UC postdoc salary was not sufficient to attract candidates given the area's cost of living
- wlesieutre 4y ago
  2 was my impression for why they were looking for remote candidates, pretty hard sell to move to any of UC's areas on a $55k salary. Someone else probably accepted, in her case she'd already taken a better opportunity elsewhere. I just thought it was strange for a grad student position to be so disconnected from the university campus. But with the insane cost of living I guess it's not surprising.

Phemist 4y ago

In continental Europe (not the UK afaik), grad "students" are considered proper employees of the university. In my home country, they have been traditionally called "Assistant in Training", much akin to a paid apprenticeship in the sciences. Mind you, they are not paid a lot, but enough to be able to rent an apartment in the city the university is in. In English, we have started calling them PhD "students" as well, which imo very much undermines the perceived position of these "students".