Cost of Living and Compensation

  • Living Wage: The MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates that a single adult living in Manhattan must make $68,338 annually (pre-tax) to cover their living expenses. At Columbia, we make well below this estimated living wage, and we are the worst-compensated graduate students in the Ivy League.

  • Pay Parity: Columbia student-workers on 9-month appointments make less than those on 12-month appointments, and the situation is especially dire for students who do not receive a summer stipend (i.e., upper years in their 6th year and after).

  • Inflation: Since the ratification of our first contract (in Jan ‘22), the NYC metro area has experienced 14.6% inflation, outpacing our annual wage increases.

  • Pay Schedule and Late Pay: Columbia has unilaterally altered our pay schedules in the past, and is notorious for missing payments to student-workers. Both of these actions cause our members significant financial distress.

  • Savings and Retirement: Graduate students are forced to delay long-term financial planning for themselves and their families because of low pages and lack of benefits.

New Yorkers are facing a cost of living crisis, from sky-high rents to raising costs of utilities and groceries. At the same time, Columbia’s wages are lower than any peer institution when compared to cost of living. For more info, here’s our comprehensive analysis of compensation at Columbia. Here’s what we’re fighting for in our next contract to help address that:

Our articles:

  • Compensation (Article 25)

  • Retirement Benefits (New Article)

What we’re trying to fix:

What we want to win:

  • Increased wages commensurate with cost of living + 20% savings that allows workers financial stability. 

  • Twelve-month appointments for all PhD student workers and hourly wages commensurate with 12-month PhD salary.

  • Cost of Living Adjustment which ensures that yearly wage increases meet or exceed inflation. 

  • Pay schedule that is ​​transparent and collectively-determined with no gaps >15 days between paydays. If CU fails to pay us on time, they should pay a penalty of 10% of paycheck value per day late.

  • Retirement Program where CU matches 100% of our retirement contributions for up to 5% of our annual salary.

  • CU covers transitional cost of wage increase without it impacting PIs and their grant funding