The PhD wage situation in the US is simply shameful. I applaud the resolution of those who still go through with it.
In Belgium, PhD are paid salaries that are competitive with entry-level programming positions (though under what you can get if you are a little bit discriminate), and that's for all subject matters. Most of these positions are state-funded (directly through tax-exempt scholarships, or indirectly via TA contract with the state-subsidized universities).
I feel like a big reason US universities can get away with this is that they draw a lot of international students who are happy to accept lower wages for a chance to live and work in the US.
> The PhD wage situation in the US is simply shameful.
It really isn't. I recently finished my PhD, and now I'm a postdoc. My stipend was $30K, but, crucially, I wasn't living in a place like Santa Cruz. It was very easy to live on such a stipend where I was at. I paid $800/mo for a 2-bedroom apartment all to myself. This was not a CS PhD, it was biomedical, so the stipend was comparable to the normal B.S. salary in that field.
These students' problem is that they chose to do their studies in Santa Cruz. This is not a normal US PhD student situation, it is yet another dysfunctional California situation.
If someone is pursuing a PhD, yet can't do the basic math to determine, before accepting an offer, whether the stipend will allow them to live in the area, I can't summon much sympathy.
Well I agree they should think about it before taking the position.
This does not seem to me incompatible with the idea that not paying your TA a living wage is shameful.
I also think most of the strikers did think about it. But if the opportunity comes up to join a movement (which can achieve something, unlike you own solitary actions) to fix a flawed standard... why not joint it? Be prepared to face the consequences if it fails though.
In Belgium, PhD are paid salaries that are competitive with entry-level programming positions (though under what you can get if you are a little bit discriminate), and that's for all subject matters. Most of these positions are state-funded (directly through tax-exempt scholarships, or indirectly via TA contract with the state-subsidized universities).
I feel like a big reason US universities can get away with this is that they draw a lot of international students who are happy to accept lower wages for a chance to live and work in the US.