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Comment by ktpsns | Hacker News Reader

This topic is difficult to address in general and world wide. What I can say is: My wife and I graduated in Germany, we both had a net salary/scholarship beyond 1200€/m, so we could easily afford anything baby-related. This would even have been possible with only a single salary -- having a baby is not expensive if you don't follow your urgent need for a house or car. In a German city, one can raise a kid in a single room apartment and study half time -- and this does not meet the national (or my subjective) definition of "poverty".

The actual problem is time. Having a baby, I felt the lack of time every day and night. I could not do as much for science as I wanted to. That definitely reflects in the grades and scientific publications.

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> if you don't follow your urgent need for a house or car

Unfortunately these are not the sole concerns in the US. Costs for rentals are spiraling out of control in many places, so whether you are renting or buying is often a moot point. And healthcare is a huge problem as well.

This is happening to a lot of European countries as well. The cost of rental homes/flats is getting higher and higher. Even social rent is at the point that it is often just below 50% of their net income (assuming 1 person with a fulltime job) not sure how that compares to the US. But it is a worrying thing overall that is happening in the western society.

I think it's generally recommended to be at 1/3 of your net income, which simply isn't doable in most areas here in the Netherlands.

Did you have access to health care? In the US, having a baby while in graduate school was profoundly risky from a financial standpoint, and there was a strong bias against women who had kids. I knew families that were bankrupted. Also, they had to completely drain their finances in order to qualify for some forms of public assistance.

As far as I know, it's quite uncommon an any OECD state other than the US to be without quite good coverage for health care bills and medical bankruptcy is even less common—I hesitate to write "unheard of" because I'm sure there are some exceptions somewhere, but it fits the colloquial use of "unheard of", certainly.

It would be "unheard of" in the United States for a Ph.D. student in a normal program to not have good health insurance and the birth paid for. The stipend in the US is ridiculously low, and I can see having trouble affording to take care of a baby, but it is not going to be the medical costs that get you.

Do universities pay for health insurance for PhD students? In my experience, an uneventful birth costs $3k to $5k, with insurance, and it all depends on if the pregnancy costs occur in the same calendar year to avoid resetting the out of pocket maximum limit.

In Germany healthcare is mandatory by law and affordable - for most employees except ultra-high-income, it's a countrywide fixed percentage of income.

Yes, In Germany, health insurance is proportional to your pay ( as long as you do not go private). There are laws called "Mutterschutz" to protect mothers. The mothers are eligible for 65% of their pay for 1 year (parental leave) or 300€/m if they are not working. The child gets about 200€/m from the Govt. The education is free. If you are on a contract that might end when your child is younger than x years, then the contract will be extended etc.

>Yes, In Germany, health insurance is proportional to your pay ( as long as you do not go private).

Not if you are getting a scholarship for a PhD. A scholarship does not count as work income.

Then you have to pay a flat fee close to 200€/month for insurance, like someone who does not work at all

In most cases, the scholarship also pays more if you have a kid. Yes, you have to pay around 200€ if you have a usual scholarship.

It’s also very difficult for mothers because the US doesn’t offer any decent time off, so all the pumping for breast milk and stress that goes along with it is discouraging.

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