<p>^^
If you’re a grad student (not a GA) why should you be getting paid? You’re in school! As a GA, most often the school is covering your tuition plus a stipend… And you’re only supposed to be working about 20 hours a week.</p>
<p>If you’re not a GA, I don’t think you should be making anything. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.</p>
<p>If you’re a GA, even factoring in the amount of tuition/fees the school waives for you, you still make very little money compared to what could be made working in industry. Even counting that you are only working 20hrs/wk.</p>
<p>Then again, is it entirely genuine to call GAs on working only 20hrs a week, when teachers making $30k/yr work only 9 months out of the year? By your logic, GAs are really making 2x what they take home, and teachers are making 1.33x what they take home.</p>
<p>You think GAs have unions? Give me a break. GAs can be fired if the professor loses a bet in a game of poker in the break room.</p>
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<p>Several developments contribute to this outcome. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Wisconsin, if the example of Milwaukee Public System holds true, spends more than $100,000 on AVERAGE per teacher, with about 60,000 in salary and 40,000 in benefits. One way of protecting the senior teachers and their accrued benfits is to pay the new ones as little as possible. </p></li>
<li><p>The payments for pensions and health insurances are a very recent issue as teachers are now required to pay 5.8 percent towards their retirement and reimburse about 12 percent of the cost of their health coverage. This, of course, compares to the 6.75 percent all private sector employees have to contribute the the SSA and Medicare. The reimbursement of 12 percent of the health costs is probably seen as a bargain by most recent graduates, especially if the coverage remains in the same category as it was when unions could dictate the terms and costs to the ultimate payers. With this required contributions from teachers, it is widely expected that more fiscal responsibility will emerge over time. </p></li>
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<p>3, The job market is so bad for graduates of the recent three classes that many do consider lower paid jobs that carry a modicum of benefits. Not having to pay about 300 dollars a month to keep the insurance one had in college is a “gift.” While some do find employment that pay well (too decently) and have benefits, many do have to settle for extended internships that are make the graduates independent contractors who have to carry the entire burden of the SSA, insurance, and the corresponding taxes. Fwiw, although a salary of 31,000 represents a fraction of what the avetrage teachers earn, it is also very much inline with what is offered to non STEM majors, especially in the non-profit area. I am afraid that your daughter will see this when considering how competitive getting that 31,000 job will be. People are simply happy to have A job!</p>
<ol>
<li>All in all, for this and the future generations it seems that the gravy train has slowed down to a halt, and that the demands of the new economy have a distinct flair of austerity. We hear a lot about our society living beyond its means, and it seems obvious that the return to normalcy will be quite painful for most of us.</li>
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