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Student Leaders Report
Cost of Living Still an Issue for Graduate Students
The past two months have been full of ups and downs. It started off brightly with new students arriving on campus. The normally high interest level for recruiting MIT graduates was markedly low this year as evidenced by the rather subdued Career Fair; economic downturn and events of September 11th contributing largely to this. Then, recently, there was the official opening of the 125-bed NW30 "Warehouse" building for graduate housing. This was not an easy time for anyone. I would, nonetheless, like to commend the leadership of Chancellor Phil Clay, Executive Vice-President John Curry, and Secretary of the Corporation Kathryn Wilmore. Their efforts in bringing together the whole MIT community at a highly emotional time and making everyone feel safe at MIT were exceptional.
As we look forward and move on there are a number of pressing graduate student issues which we need to address. Key of them all is stipends. High cost of living continues to be of paramount importance.
Cost of living for MIT students in the Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville areas have skyrocketed over the past five years. Rents alone have increased between 10% and 35% (depending on type of housing unit: 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, etc.) every year for the past three years. In addition, general costs have increased much faster than the national rate of inflation (3%), and cost of MIT medical insurance has been increasing at 10%.
In comparison, however, stipends, have only increased by 6.8% last year and between 7% and 15% (in the School of Science, bringing it to the same level across the Institute) this year. Graduate students are in a situation where they acquire loans in order to get through graduate school. After paying for rent there is less than half the stipend left for feeding, medical, book supplies, and transportation (for off campus, where nearly 70% of the students currently reside) which is hardly sufficient.
MIT’s Financial Aid Office estimates that the cost of living for an MIT graduate student to be about $2000/month. The average stipend at MIT is $1336/month after taxes (for first year RAs) and $1440 /month after taxes (senior students and Ph.D. candidates).
The senior administration is aware of the housing problems. The recent opening of NW30 is a welcome addition to the MIT graduate housing option. Even though the rent at this new residence is no more affordable than the off-campus market, being part of the MIT graduate housing system will hopefully not lead to skyrocketing rents as witnessed in the off-campus market. The anticipated opening next August of the Sydney-Pacific residence will add a further 650 graduate beds to the MIT housing system, making it nearly 42% of graduate students who will be housed on-campus (including GRTs). While this will relieve some of the pressure on the tight Cambridge and Somerville housing markets, this is by no means sufficient.
The financial loss of the MIT housing system is a burden that the administration is no longer ready to carry. Last year, Executive Vice-President Curry and former Chancellor Bacow introduced a plan geared towards achieving self-sustainability of the housing system. The plan (which is already in effect) involves increasing on-campus rents by as much as 5% a year for the next five years. Compounding this increase over the five years will constitute a significant chunk of the graduate students’ stipend.
Then, there is the cost of feeding. The price of meals in the MIT dining system (Lobdell, Networks, and Walker) have reached levels higher than neighboring cafes and restaurants (Au Bon Pain, Rebecca’s, Thailand Cafe). Given that graduate students spend a large part of their time on campus, and dine in the nearest available facilities (i.e., the Lobdells and the Rebeccas), another significant part of the stipend is spent feeding on campus. Deducting the rent and the cost of meals leaves a deficit in terms of pocket money for purchasing study items (text books, stationery, etc.) and for entertainment. Other institutions similar to MIT, like Stanford and Northwestern, for example, offer significantly higher stipends not only to adequately cover rent and feeding, but also to leave behind more pocket money for students. Just this year, Stanford adopted a special stipend to supplement the cost of rent for students living outside their campus accommodation.
An analysis of the cost of living and stipends at other institutions competing with MIT was carried out by the GSC (Graduate Student Council) last academic year. Details are available at http://gsc.mit.edu/cost_of_living.html. In that comparison, MIT comes one-before-last, trailing the likes of Berkeley, Stanford, Cornell, Penn State, University of Michigan/Ann Arbor, and others. Even with MIT’s increased stipend this year, MIT is still at the bottom of the table compared with unadjusted stipends of the other schools from two years ago. Every other institution has since increased their own stipend levels. We are in the process of updating these figures to reflect the changes at the other institutions since this analysis was conducted. Another consideration that was not factored into the above analysis is the subsidy of health insurance, which many of the other institutions provide. These institutions relieve their students of the costs of health insurance by offering free (or in many other cases subsidized) health and dental insurance as a benefit to their graduate students. This puts MIT further down the cost-of-living analysis ladder.
Occupying a spot close to the bottom of this ladder translates to a lower quality of life for graduate students at MIT compared with other institutions. This makes it harder for MIT to attract the best and brightest graduate students. The GSC is advocating for increases in stipend rates and subsidized MIT health and dental insurance for graduate students, which will bring MIT to levels comparable with other institutions. Medical insurance coverage and stipend increases are actively endorsed by Dr. Isaac M. Colbert, dean for Graduate Students, and Dr. Larry Benedict, dean for Student Life. In addition, the GSC is working closely with the outgoing and incoming VP and Dean for Research David Litster and Alice Gast, respectively.
The current situation is critical and requires firm action. A lot of courage is required on the part of the senior administration and you, the faculty, in moving forward with these issues. We also look forward to your comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Your active participation on this matter will be crucial. This will prove your genuine concern about the quality of life of your graduate students. It will also ease the problems of recruiting enough talented students. It’s the best and the brightest that help MIT maintain its competitive edge. Let's make sure that quality of life is not an obstacle towards maintaining that edge!
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