What is it about grad students that makes Uni's wanna fuck us up?

[Evoman]

So I typically like my University...I have a great supervisor, so I haven't gone through a lot of the turmoil that other grad students I know have. But the latest devolopment has really pissed me off, and I was wondering if anyone here can suggest a course of action.

Basically, I have finished all of my classes right now and credit hours, and spend most of my time writing my thesis. The only time I am at the university is when my prof needs help (he pays me to do some work around the lab since he doesn't have any lab techs..I'm glad to get the work). So what grad students do is enroll in "Maintenance of Status". Basically, you have to pay to stay enrolled and keep student loans off your back. Since we actually don't USE any university resources, maintenance of status is a lot cheaper than regular tuition...and rightly so. So, for the past 2 semesters, I have been paying 500 dollars to keep my status as a student (those who think thats cheap..remember, I'm paying for absolutely nothing).

So this semester, they have raised what we have to pay for maintenance...to 1400 a semester. I get to pay almost 3 times as much...for absolutely nothing! FUCK! Considering that, as a grad student, I basically live on less than 1000 a month, this is literally choosing between staying enrolled and FUCKING EATING.

God, I'm pissed. There have been only modest tuition hikes for normal students...how the fuck can they justify 3X tuition for us?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. You're an underclass.

You do a lot of work for chump change. They abuse you because they can.

[Evoman]

2. I know!

The worst part is knowing your being abused, but not having any other course. Luckily, I have a great supervisor who has never used me as a cheap source of labor (I get paid fairly well for the hours I put in). Grad school, in general, sucks ass.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. It's a tough group to organize.

They don't stick around for very long, and their immediate supervisors are often sympathetic.

[hfojvt]

3. how much are student loan payments?

You'd be better off paying them $200 a month. At least you'd be getting something - a reduction in your debt.

[Evoman]

6. I thought about that

but I'm hoping I can defend this semester...no pay, no defense. Of course, it depends on how long it takes my commitee to read my thesis....its a gamble.

Oh, and you lose your libray priviledges if you don't pay...I have everything I need to write, but theres always the What if I need one more Paper? aspect that keeps you paying.

[Ravenseye]

5. They figure you'll pay it, and don't care if you don't

It's free money to them. Enough grad students already get enough cash from grants or mommy and daddy to pay for it, or they just pile it onto their loans or credit cards. Why? 'cause by that point you're already so far in the whole you're gonna finish one way or another...you've already financially committed, so you realy have no choice. So..

Why are they fucking you up the ass?

Because they have you bent over a barrel with your butt cheeks exposed and you've said to them "please sir may i have another."

[Evoman]

7. No doubt.

Except I'm going to Grad Studies, and I'm going to make noise...I hate this fucking bullshit.

[Ravenseye]

8. Yeah like the Secretaries care

Been there done that...sorry...go vent, but it'll do nothing. I wish it would.

You'll go walk in and talk to a secretary or administrative assistant who will just nod their head no matter what you say and then do absolutely nothing about it. If you're lucky enough to speak with someone else who MIGHT have some power, they really won't. They'll explain how the decision is out of their hands as it was made by some nameless comitteee six months ago, and filed the request to increase the fees in triplicate to the five different groups that needed the information in order to raise the fees, and now that it's in the budget office, there's nothing that can be done for 3 years until another comittee can be formed and....

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

It'll be a little bit like you're in the movie Brazil.

Then someone will say something like "Can't you just put it on your credit card?" which will make you want to scream....

-I think it's ridiculous that you raised the fee 3 times over.
-Yeah but you can pay it right?
-I don't want to pay it. It's criminal. Why should I pay 3 times what I did before?
-I understand what you're saying, but can't you put it on a credit card or something?

resist the urge to go buy a firearm.

[Evoman]

9. Lol...yeah, sounds about right.

You've had some bad experiences with grad school I take it?

[Ravenseye]

10. Is it that obvious?

My experiences were so nightmarish that I actually left grad school, with massive debt after walking into the department office and basically saying "fuck this shit". It was a nightmare start to finish.

My advisor told me before I came that he couldn't get me funding for the first semester, but we'd get me set up for the second with funding and a TA position. I showed up for my first semester and he was gone. Semester Sabatacal. I sent messages to him (he was in Europe the whole time) but heard nothing back. I was on my own and nobody else helped me advisor wise. I gleaned what I could from the other grad students and the secretaries. When my advisor returned I immediately met with him and talked abotu funding. By that point it was too late to file for anything for the second semester, and even the next year would be difficult. I ended up never getting any funding, nor TA positions. I was the only graduate student in my class with nothing who paid for 100% of everything by myself (ie loans).

That was one of many things. I couldn't take certain courses because they weren't considered part of my department, but they would be necessary for me to do my dissertation effectively, so they wanted me to pay a secondary tuition for just the one class, even though I was already forking over a tremendous amount of money. For my first year nearly everything was a pain because of a computer error when they spelled my name incorrectly meant that my ID wasn't accepted anywhere. And so on, and so forth.

Basically zero support from my advisor, red tape and beurocratic insanity on a weekly basis, all for a 1 in a 100 chance of getting a job that I"d be lucky to pay me 30-40k the rest of my life...I through in the towel and said fuck it. I could have done a few things and gotten my Master's but I was done with them by that point.

Now i'm in a completely different field, and happy that soon I'll have those loans all paid off and done with.

[Evoman]

11. WOW. Stories like yours make me glad I'm not doing my PhD

I actually got a good federal scholarship for doing my PhD but, after hearing so many stories of disaffected grad students, I dedided: FUCK IT. Its not worth it...I would rather spend 5 years climbing up some corporate ladder and getting myself established, rather than spend 5+ years getting sodomized in grad school and only being marginally more employable at the end of it.

[Ravenseye]

12. Good for you

You're spot on. It's not worth it unless you REALLY REALLY love the topic. If you really honestly question it in more than passing, then you probably shouldn't do it.

[jpak]

13. They did something similar when I was in grad school

My department didn't enroll any new grad students for nearly 4 years.

There was much wonderment among the higher admins as to why this would occur.

Could it be that our TA/RA stipends were among the nation's lowest - and our required hours and tuition costs among the nation's highest????

Took them a while to figure that out...

[Evoman]

14. How divorced from reality can these admin fucks be?

Honestly, don't these administration fuckers ever get it? You pay your grad student a grand a month, and then charge them 1500 dollars every four months for tuition? Not every grad student lives with mommy and daddy...most of them are from outside the city. You would think people would realize that a starving grad student is obviously not going to work as well as one who is well fed and can go to a movie once a month.

Many of the grad students I know have actively encouraged others into not attending grad school. There are real repercussions for not keeping your students happy..and the universities are feeling it. Grad enrollment is wayyyy down...and the stupid assholes at the top scratch their heads and wonder why nobody wants to do research anymore.

[pscot]

15. When you learn to embrace your victimhood

you will be ready for a career teaching in the Community College system