The Future of Higher Education

There are several areas of opportunity when it comes to American higher education. One thing we've been hearing a lot of lately (before the whole corona virus outbreak) are protests led by graduate students in California over their COLA (cost of living allowance). I think one thing that HAS to change, is the mindset surrounding graduate student stipends and their work load.

First, let me preface by saying that I have been very fortunate in my graduate education. My master's work at the University of Georgia and now my PhD here at Virginia Tech both have me on assistantships that allow me to afford my rent, utilities, groceries, other bills and enough to have fun every once in a while. I've also been fortunate to have awesome PIs/advisors/major professors. They're tough on me to help me develop as a researcher and future educator, but also understanding that I have a life outside of just my graduate work. However, others aren't so lucky. The cost of living in Virginia is 3.7% more expensive than the average cost of living for the entire U.S. California's cost of living is 49.9% more expensive than the U.S. average. Obviously this varies by location, but this gives us a good representation of what's going on. Before taxes, I'm getting about $1,900 a month while those in Cali are cited as getting $2,400 a month. California students have a 26% higher income to pay for their nearly 50% higher cost of living. This is a large enough disparity that indicates the struggle several students are going through.

In addition, we hear horror stories of students under a ridiculous work load. While being a graduate student on an assistantship is demanding considering all the responsibilities: juggling conducting research, publishing papers, applying for grants, TAing classes and taking classes of our own, there simply has to be a better balance. Unfortunately, there's really no formal checks and balances system to ensure the rights of graduate students. Sure, we're told to notify our graduate student advisor if we're feeling "overwhelmed" and as though we're being treated "unfairly", but we face the same backlash that other whistle blowers do and there's little to protect us. Sure, there are guidelines for the "major professor and graduate student relationship", but there's nothing set in stone such as "cannot work more than X hours per week" or "must have X days off per month/year". This is in part due to the ever changing nature of a GTA's job. Some students will have an intensive research project for 2 months requiring 80+ hours per week, but will then have a very lax schedule the rest of the year only demanding 20 hours or so of in office time. So, for these reasons, I understand why thus far it's been hard to define our job and what the expectations are. However, there needs to be a better mechanism in place for checking in with students and for students to report when things are not going okay in that relationship.

Some departments have done so by requiring an evaluation form be filled out by both the student and professor each semester, which is a great start. Other universities have graduate student associations that are well prepared to offer help to students and actively advertise that they are there to help students with situations such as this in particular. Overall, I think we need to have more conversations about the professor/student relationship. Again, while this is a demanding position, students should be able to maintain their mental health through it and leave with a positive experience.