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Comment by einpoklum | Hacker News Reader

> 11000 is the paycheck of a Phd student in southern europe,

A Ph.D. candidate (don't call them students please, they're researchers more than students) in southern Europe does _not_ get 11,000 USD / month. Something between 2,000 and 4,500 AFAICT.

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As an aside, apparently there is a technical difference between “candidate” and “student”. A PhD candidate is one who has passed the qualifying exam, which occurs 2-3 years into the process. This usually coincides with the point at which all required coursework is complete, so “student” is probably a suitable label during that initial period.

This is not how it works in most parts of Europe.

he meant per year...

What, less than 1000 USD per month? But that's a joke. In the Netherlands it's something like... 2800 EUR or 3000 EUR per month, so let's say 3000 - 3300 USD / month. I know the Netherlands PhD candidates have it relatively well (in relative, not absolute, terms), but I find it hard to believe people are expected to live off of 900 EUR / month. Is it really that bad these days?

Not a joke. Stipends for US PhD students tend to be low, unless you're in a STEM or business school.

Is that without social contribution?

Minimum wage in greece is 730 usd. Many if not most phds earn less than $1000, if they are lucky to have stable funding. Hence brain drain

What I quoted is the gross salary according to the national collective employment agreement. A more recent version than the one I worked under is here:

https://www.europeanpolarboard.org/fileadmin/user_upload/cao...

but more specifically, see page 3 here:

https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/sites/default/files/en_2...

PhD candidates are on the type-10 salary scale, and the current scale by years of experience is here:

https://www.staff.universiteitleiden.nl/binaries/content/ass...

Naturally you pay a bit of income tax and health insurance, but on the other than you may be eligible to reduced-rent accommodation, and there's an extra month's pay once a year, and retirement benefits allowance, and some remuneration for Internet access costs etc. etc.

I have been a PhD student in Spain for quite some time and my salary started with less than 1000€/month and ended at around 1500€. Of course cost of living is much lower too.

Sounds about right as an annual figure. My annual stipend in London was ~£16,000 and the cost of living there is commensurately higher than in southern Europe.

He means per year. Your estimates are generous. For my graduate studies I was paid 8000 a year.

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