FIU is setting graduate students up for failure

Andrea Rodriguez Romero | Contributing Writer

As an upcoming senior with hopes of staying at my Alma Mater for my Master’s degree, to find out that it’s more affordable to go elsewhere for grad school was shattering. 

Like any other student looking at grad schools, FIU seems like an easy choice. But after looking at FIU’s Assistantship program for graduate students it doesn’t seem like the simplest choice anymore. 

Normally, graduate stipends are not a significant amount of money, but universities keep in mind the living costs of the cities they are located in. 

At the University of Florida graduate assistantship stipends are roughly $25,000 for a 12-month contract, which is roughly $1800 in monthly take-home pay, which, although still terrible, is more reasonable given Gainesville’s cost of living, plus they don’t forbid you from finding other employment. 

Another example is the Teaching Assistantship program at the University of Central Florida, which is located in another major city in Florida with a high cost of living, similarly to Miami. They do not go into the specifics for the different departments’ stipends, but they provide a minimum stipend requirement for the program, which starts at $24,000, and, just like UF, they do not forbid outside employment.

However, FIU stipends range from $19,000 (as is the case for the Psychology department’s stipend) to $30,000 in the Wertheim College of Medicine, but Miami’s cost of living is significantly higher than that of Gainesville.

But rent is not the only factor into consideration here.

The average cost of groceries in Miami is over $200 per week. And yes, as students we learn to budget on groceries and get by on cup ramen, grilled cheeses and other cheap items but a healthier diet should be a priority.

With the rise in inflammation-related and digestive health problems young adults are experiencing, living on fast food shouldn’t be something we continue in grad school. 

On top of that, most of us already have thousands of dollars in student loan debt, for which the repayment starts the moment we graduate with our Bachelor’s. 

The tuition waiver doesn’t even cover all the fees or 100% of the tuition, and there is still a health insurance fee charged out of your paycheck every month. 

On a salary of $19,000 or $25,000 a year— which is not even what you end up getting out of pocket given all the fees— there is no way to pay off student loan debt (or any kind of debt) or create an emergency fund to invest in your future. 

It is unrealistic to expect graduate students to make ends meet in this economy with such a laughably low amount of money without creating major financial, mental and physical stress on our students. 

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