At the University of Colorado Boulder, graduate students working as teachers and researchers for the school have started protesting paying student tuition fees in a rally that attracted hundreds of supporters on Feb. 5 at Farrand Field.
The Committee on Rights and Compensation (CRC), a graduate student advocacy group and labor organization on campus seeking a collective bargaining agreement with the university, organized its largest action in its history with the walkout and rally. Faculty members and undergraduate students also joined.
According to the Daily Camera, the estimates for CU graduate students fees average between $1,552 and $1,764 per year, though they can be higher. These fees include everything from (mental) health fees, career services charges, computing fees, capital construction fees to fund new buildings—basically everything tuition or the state should pay for—but instead has been added to student fees.
The nearly $2,000 that is racked up in yearly graduate student fees equates to nearly 10 percent of an average graduate worker’s annual wages. Although it may not seem like much, that could provide four months of groceries for some, or one month of rent.
Graduate workers endure some of the most labor-intensive work at universities, and it’s unfair that they they are being forced to essentially pay for their work. Already severely underpaid and likely drowning in debt, graduate workers should not be taking on extra stress as they teach for their school, support families and attempt to support themselves, but the unjust financial burden placed on their shoulders has caused many to get second jobs, which takes away from their own research projects for CU.
According to The Denver Post, in the months leading up to this, the CRC collected over 1,600 signatures supporting a graduate student fee waiver, which included more than 1,000 from current graduate students, according to organizers.
“It is not fair that, by the time I get my Ph.D., I will have given up over $10,000 to this university, which amounts to about 10 percent of my total take-home pay,” said Janet Ruppert, a CRC member and doctoral student in information science.
The push for graduate student unions has been debated for decades. Graduate students who work for their universities should be entitled to the same rights as any other U.S. employee under our nation’s labor law. Many unions nationwide regained hope when the National Labor Relations Board legally recognized graduate assistants as employees in 2016, but more still has to be done for there to be any substantial financial impact.
It’s easy to see why so many graduate students have joined unions. Their continuing education is not only impacted, but many are also struggling simply to make ends meet. With the increasing efforts overall, protesting student fees is a step in the right direction towards receiving better pay for their work and it’s notable that, despite opposition from school officials, the movement to unionize by teaching has gained substantial momentum nationwide.
