Recently, a graduate student from our department came forth with an article in Science (https://www.science.org/content/article/phd-student-expensive-chronic-disease-low-stipends-make-academia-untenable that highlighted how the lack of departmental financial support contributed to his chronic illness and distracted him from achieving his research aims.

Chronically the issues and sentiments highlighted in this article are not unique but common among many, if not all, graduate students. Furthermore, the intersection of disability, race, or gender, are all crucial factors that amplify the problems of poverty. Even for people without special needs, the stipend provided by the Department fails to cover basic living expenses. To put things into perspective, our living allowance is $20,000 (Master) or $20,500 (PhD) which is just $70 above the poverty line in Ontario of $19,930. Being so close to the poverty line while working Monday to Friday, and often weekends, is simply unfair. Notably, CSB graduate students make the lowest stipend among all the science departments in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

To address these problems, we propose three solutions:

1. Increase living allowance to 24,859.56 (MSc) and 27,622.23 (Ph.D.) to make it comparable with the financial package provided by the Institute of Medical Science/Department of Pharmacy and keep up with inflation. 

2. Reduce claw-back of external awards. This would reward students’ hard work and productive science.

3. Establish a platform for students to voice their financial concerns and other suggestions to the Department. Such communication can include regular meetings between students and the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies and/or annual surveys conducted by the Graduate Administrators.