A couple of weeks ago, Colorado State University president, Joyce McConnell, met with the Board of Governors to discuss the “Courageous Strategic Transformation Plan.” For a document allegedly committed to social justice and community prosperity, it fails to address CSU’s own underpaid graduates. But there’s a聽straightforward first step our administration can take: end fees for all graduate workers.
According to data CSU鈥檚 Graduate School presented in a 2020 Graduate Assistantship Compensation Proposal, CSU has higher graduate student fees and lower monthly stipends than many of its peer institutions. Compared to the average peer institution base fee of $421, CSU requires $888 (which doesn鈥檛 include additional required fees, taking the total to roughly $1,200 a semester). Our minimum monthly stipend of $1,740 is also notably lower than the $2,035 average of our peers. Not only are we paying double the fees, but our income is significantly below average.
As a result, at the beginning of each semester, the majority of our salary goes聽to the fees required to teach and take classes,聽leaving less money than is necessary to pay rent alone. The effects are difficult to ignore: graduate students commonly pick up second jobs, are food insecure and use food banks, and struggle to live on聽uniquely low wages.
In response, CSU鈥檚 administration touted a 3% increase in graduate teaching assistant抖阴ap stipends for the 2021-2022 academic year. In fact, the stipend adjustment was less than half of the year’s inflation increase alone, effectively resulting in a pay cut.
According to Apartment List since May 2021, rent in Fort Collins has increased by 15.2%. In reality, the value of our graduate stipends has been steadily declining for years. For a University committed to promoting student wellbeing, it抖阴ap worth asking the logical follow-up: why hasn鈥檛 this changed?
Well, the administration has an answer: they can鈥檛 afford it. But if we unpack what it would cost to subsidize all the fees for CSU鈥檚 roughly 2,500 graduate workers, their argument doesn鈥檛 hold water. Let抖阴ap talk specifics. This would cost the university about $4 million dollars a year. According to the 2021-2022 operating budget, this is less than 1% of CSU鈥檚 $426 million annual revenue. Eliminating these fees is a question of priorities 鈥� not financial feasibility.
Subsidizing graduate worker fees is not a radical idea. In fact, both the Graduate Student Council and Faculty Council support the much larger aspirational plan, a scenario pitched by CSU鈥檚 own Graduate School in which graduate workers would pay no fees, earn wages consistent with that of our peers, and receive financial support over the summer. We鈥檙e asking for a piece of this.
Let抖阴ap review: CSU鈥檚 graduate workers suffer from low pay and bloated fees, deans of the Graduate School, faculty, and graduate students think this should change, and CSU can afford to foot the bill.
The real obstacle here is our administration鈥檚 apathy toward its graduate workers. Sadly, this is a common story, but there鈥檚 a clear path forward. Just a few months ago, CU Boulder鈥檚 graduate workers successfully organized to have their student fees fully covered by the university .
Graduate student workers at the University of South Carolina recently won fully-subsidized health insurance plans. University of Connecticut graduate workers won increased stipends, fee waivers, and much more.
Labor organizing is gaining steam here on CSU鈥檚 campus as well. On May 3rd, we, the Graduate Workers Organizing Cooperative, held a rally announcing our formal decision to file with the state as a non-profit organization to function as a union for our graduate workers. If you鈥檙e a graduate worker at CSU, come join us! GWOC鈥檚 membership is steadily growing, and with it, so too does our ability to demand fair compensation.
To Joyce McConnell and CSU鈥檚 administration: starting with the 2022-2023 academic year, the GWOC asks that you fully cover all graduate worker fees. We should no longer be required to pay to work. This is an easy first step, and it抖阴ap beyond time you take action. Either way, we鈥檙e not going anywhere. As a union, our influence will only continue to grow. And we won鈥檛 stop until you treat us with the respect we deserve.
Ben Freedman is a graduate student and member of the Graduate Workers Organizing Cooperative at Colorado State University. He is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in fiction and a graduate teaching assistant for Composition 150.
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