I am PhD student in Montreal. I have a doctoral scholarship from FRQS and my supervisor pays me a bonus. With all that my income is still 26.000 CAD/year. Considering that this doesn't cover my tuition, this a ridiculously low income to even survive. Since I want to focus on my PhD (work 50-60 hours per week in the lab) I don't have a second job. However it's impossible to live with this income, so pretty often I need to participate in clinical trials, so I can have enough money to cover all my expenses (rent, food, and tuition). I barely have social life, because I simply can't afford it. I'm strongly committed with my career but it's truly sad that at the end of the day I barely have funds to cover my minimum expenses. How am I supposed to keep my motivation if my salary is lower than the minimal wage while I have a bachelor and master degree? People often says that we're "students". I'm 29 years old, I have published in Blood, Nature, etc.This is a JOB and we should earn accordingly
If graduate funding was CAD $35,000/yr for all students, how would that change your life? Earning 35K as graduate student would represent at least a more fair recognition to all the dedication, the hard work we need to put into this career and not to mention the years of studying. But if the situation doesn't change soon, I'm seriously considering to give up on academia and look for another job. I want to start a family and I cannot keep waiting until I'm 40-50 years old and (if I'm lucky enough) I obtain a more stable position. In Canada, Academia is no longer competitive to industry or other jobs. This must change otherwise the research in this country will end up being mediocre and with little impact because all the talented researchers will leave academia before even starting a their career.
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