This might be a US-centric experience so I'm prefacing... Basic cost of living is : rent, food, utilities. Those three have gone up astronomically, especially

This might be a US-centric experience so I'm prefacing... Basic cost of living is : rent, food, utilities. Those three have gone up astronomically, especially in the past 3-years. A graduate stipend is probably $22K/year, maybe more for a PhD student. 20-years ago that was reasonable, if rent is $1700/mo you're already underwater given you have to pay taxes on that meager $22K. In my graduate experience, I didn't see most grad students walking around with the latest cell phones, laptops or luxury goods, they struggled with the basics. A number of graduate students at various universities are going on strike and forming unions and honestly more power to them: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-02/uc-strike-energizes-labor-surge https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-02/uc-strik...