Speaking of poverty, what contemporary doctoral students like most is to be poorer. Yesterday, I competed with you to see whose balance is smaller, and today I competed with him to see whose major is poorer...
Recently, doctoral students are more poor than others. It even appeared on the home page of Science's official website . Opening the few remaining wallets hinted that "PhD students are demanding higher wages amid the rising cost of living":
Image source: Science official website
The article pointed out that For decades, PhD students have long complained about low salaries, but now as the cost of living rises, the issue is becoming more urgent. "One-third of our students struggle to afford rent, and 15 percent struggle to afford food," says Jane Petzoldt, a master's student in entomology at North Carolina State University.
We can also find many such topics in our daily life, and feel the reality that strikes our souls:
"How much money do you earn in a month?" This "soul torture" about salary is often mentioned by Tian, a doctoral student at a first-class university in Beijing. They all felt that they couldn't open their mouths - the subsidies they received while studying for a Ph.D. were pitifully small compared to office workers of the same age.
“It’s hard to stand up at thirty” is a problem faced by many doctoral students today. The dual pressures from studies and life often make them feel "very anxious".
"The subsidy at the doctoral stage is low, which delays the age of marriage to a certain extent." Gao Feng (pseudonym), a doctoral student at a research institute in Shanghai, told "China Science Journal " that his monthly subsidy is about 3,000 to 5,000 yuan. With the guarantee of school accommodation, canteens, offices and other conditions, 's personal life is no problem, but it is not enough to spend money away from school. Most of my classmates who are in love need support from their families, and even fewer of them start a family.
For Zhang Li (pseudonym), a doctoral student who has been married for two years, it is basically impossible to meet his needs with subsidies. As a doctoral student in the field of electronic engineering at a "double first-class" university, with a "monthly salary" of 8,000 yuan and an annual subsidy of more than 100,000 yuan, he can be said to be a "rich man" among doctoral students, but he also suffers from the pressure of life. Last year, he and his wife bought a house with the support of their parents. His "salary" is much lower than that of his wife, who has a master's degree. He also relies on his wife for most of the monthly mortgage of more than 10,000 yuan.
finally graduated with a Ph.D., and longed to work in a first-tier city. With the admission ticket for his academic degree, he found that the seats were full. After entering the society and working hard, he found that the days of "crying poverty" were no less than when he was studying for a Ph.D.
PhD students cry that poverty respects no borders
Students complain that student aid subsidies cannot keep up with inflation
For decades, doctoral students in the United States have also been denouncing "stingy" salaries. The salary increases provided by schools are far from enough for living expenses. Now, with the cost of living rising, the issue has become even more pressing.
In March of this year, Michelle Gaynor, a fourth-year doctoral student in evolutionary biology at the University of Florida, and Rhett Rautsaw, a fifth-year doctoral student in evolutionary biology at Clemson University in South Carolina, jointly published An online survey of assistantship stipends for biology doctoral students.
Of the 178 institutions and departments they collected, only 2% guaranteed graduate students to earn more than the cost of living.. They found that, except for the income of graduate students at three universities located in the northeastern United States, which can meet basic needs, the income situation of graduate students in other areas appears to be relatively poor.
For example, in the southern United States, doctoral students earn an average of about $8,000 less than the local living wage. The average shortage of a living wage for doctoral students across the United States is more than $4,500. (Note: A living wage is used to estimate basic expenses in a given city, such as food, health care, housing, and transportation.)
Michelle Gaynor of B4S collected data from 150 universities across the United States and found that " The annual inflation rate in the United States exceeds 8%, but the increase in our annual student aid subsidies obviously cannot keep up with the inflation rate.”
She shared their preliminary research results on social media, and then the sharing post quickly became popular on the Internet. She said, "Graduate students from all over the country have expressed their 'struggle' experiences in the message area."
"Income and expenditure situation" of biology doctoral students in various universities in the United States
The latest research found:
The more female doctors study, the richer they become. , the more male doctors study, the poorer they get.
A report in the UK this year pointed out: "Female Ph.D.s get richer as they study, while male Ph.D.s get poorer as they study." The return rate for women pursuing a master's degree is 2%, compared with -2% for men; The return rate for pursuing a doctoral degree is 8% for women, compared with -9% for men.
This report estimates the earnings returns after completing a postgraduate degree for Northern Ireland students studying in the UK, using Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to take into account differences in individual background and previous university qualifications to estimate relative returns to those with an undergraduate degree. Degree and the impact of postgraduate qualifications on earnings for 35-year-olds without further study. The
Raw column shows the original gap in undergraduate enrollment in 2002 between 20% students with good family backgrounds and 20% students with poor family backgrounds. As shown in the figure, it can be found that the gap reaches 40%.
The research conclusion can be seen, For women, the average income difference between different education groups is relatively small at the age of 30, with doctoral graduates earning the highest income, followed by master's degree graduates and undergraduate graduates. The median income of PGCE graduates is higher than that of undergraduate graduates, and close to that of master’s degree graduates. The report shows that earnings growth for women in their 30s is modest, but significant gains can be observed with a PhD.
Men's income increases rapidly across all groups in their 30s. Unlike women, PhD graduates earn less on average than master's graduates.
The study also found that about a third of master's degree graduates had statistically positive returns for women. Law, economics and management subjects have the highest returns at around 20 per cent at age 35, but subjects such as creative arts, English and philosophy earn more than 10 per cent less than similar students who did not study postgraduate qualifications.
Male subjects had lower returns, with most subjects having statistically significant negative returns at age 35. However, law, economics and management subjects, and engineering still generate strong positive gains for men.
In order to recruit master's and doctoral students to engage in scientific research
, universities have "enlarged their recruitment" to improve their salaries.
Netizens lamented: "If you are so poor, can you still study for a doctorate?", Some universities are trying to actively deal with this situation.
For example, at Princeton University, doctoral students in the natural sciences and engineering will see their largest-ever raises at the start of the 2022-23 academic year: $8,280, bringing their total annual stipend to $40,000.
In recent years, many domestic universities have been recruiting first-class doctoral students to do scientific research, and they have "enlarged their recruitment" and offered more attractive packages.
For example, in 2020, the School of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Science and Technology of China issued an admissions announcement starting from the doctoral stage with a guaranteed annual income of 100,000 yuan ; Nankai University stated that it would increase its investment and raise its own funds every year on the basis of national appropriations. With a funding of more than 100 million yuan, top doctoral students at the school can receive a total of more than 100,000 yuan in various scholarships each year; Tsinghua University also stated that should ensure that the minimum annual funding standard for doctoral students is no less than 51,000 yuan.. In addition, Harbin Institute of Technology , South China University of Technology , Guangdong University of Technology , etc. have all adjusted their doctoral scholarships.
In terms of subsidies for graduate students, the country’s reform of scientific research funding management has also made “relaxation”, and tutors have more opportunities to provide higher subsidies to graduate students.
Associate Professor at the Institute of Educational Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said, "For example, tutors have great freedom to allocate funds for horizontal subjects . When paying salaries, they can take as many students' interests into consideration as possible; even if there are certain regulations For proportional vertical projects, sometimes you can also request that the labor fee is not capped to provide labor services. "
Finally, what do people who have experienced it think about this issue?
Associate Professor of the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University Liu Li said: "Doing a PhD is a period of study. Choosing to study for a PhD is usually for better ideals or a better life in the future. At this stage, the most important thing should be to improve yourself. , can better exert its own value in the future. As the saying goes, there are gains and losses in . On the way to achieve higher goals in the future, it is often necessary to make sacrifices in some aspects.
This article is an integration of qualified classroom. Reference sources: Science Network , Chinese Science Journal, Bio Valley, International Science
