As a post-doctoral scholar living in an extremely expensive area-Vancouver-I spend almost half of my monthly salary just on the rent. Thankfully, I am able to split groceries and bills half with my partner, without who I don't think I could afford to live here with my salary as the rent, bills and everything would go way higher for one person. With such a salary I can't save up for a future and can't imagine planning to get a car, house... Post-doctoral scholars are highly educated and specialized individuals working extremely hard, and what I believe as a highly specialized research position should be looked up to. It's a huge shame that we are paid so low that we have to rely on a well paid partner or family. I am not surprised that before I came to Vancouver I heard that lots of postdocs are moving to industry, and I am honestly considering that as well, as the extremely demanding postdoc position is not balanced and appreciated salary/ benefit wise.
If graduate funding was CAD $35,000/yr for all students, how would that change your life? I believe that with such an increase as a postdoctoral fellow I would be able to maybe move to a nicer place and save up money to start a family. I think that a higher salary would change my mind about moving to an industry position but I am not sure if such an increase would be enough to consider that.
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