Grad Student’s Plea for Living Wage Ignites Online Debate

A graduate student’s plea has gone viral after revealing they took a part-time job due to a monthly wage of $180, but their advisor scolded them to quit.

A story about a graduate student in South Korea who had to take a part-time job over the weekend to cover living expenses and was subsequently scolded by their professor is sparking a heated discussion online.

A post titled “I was criticized for working part-time over the weekend” recently appeared on an online community.

The author, identified as a graduate student in their first semester of a master’s program, started by stating, “I receive a monthly wage of 220,000 won (approximately $180 after taxes with a 10% research participation rate).”

The student revealed, “I simply can’t make ends meet, so I’ve been doing short-term part-time jobs every weekend since last April.”

The student continued, “My professor somehow found out and scolded me, saying ‘If you’re a full-time master’s student, you should focus on your graduate studies and research. If you want to earn more money, quit grad school and get a job.'”

The student lamented, “I can’t afford food, phone bills, transportation, and rent for my room. Do graduate students have to live in poverty? I want to focus on research and study without worrying about money.”

Netizens who heard the news responded with sympathy, saying “The wage is too low,” “The professor isn’t even offering to pay the living expenses,” “Many professors are out of touch with reality,” and “How can one live on 220,000 won?”

Is it just the student’s graduate school that pays such low wages, or is it a general trend among graduate students?

According to a 2022 survey by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the average monthly stipend for master’s students was 630,000 won ($560), and for doctoral students, it was 990,000 won ($880). Considering the minimum wage that year, which equated to 1,914,440 won ($1,700) per month, the stipend was significantly low.

Last year, the Ministry announced a revision to the R&D Innovation Act, raising the standard stipend by 300,000 won to 500,000 won per month.

With the revision, master’s students should receive up to 2.2 million won ($1,960) per month and doctoral students up to 3 million won ($2,670), but the majority of graduate students’ wages remain stagnant.

Alongside this, the issue of professors’ abuse of power has also been highlighted.

In the academic field, it is said that abuse of power by supervising professors towards graduate students is rampant. Last year, another graduate student was verbally abused by a professor and made an extreme decision a few days later. It was also revealed that a professor at a national university slapped graduate students and still frequented the school, causing an uproar.

In addition, some professors have committed sexual violence and verbal and physical abuse. Some have even embezzled stipends and scholarships that graduate students should receive and manage directly.

In 2020, Tae Yong Ho, a lawmaker from the Future United Party (now People Power Party), proposed a Graduate Student Protection Act, but it remains at the parliamentary review stage to this day.

The proposed bill includes provisions to classify graduate students as ‘workers’ protected by the Labor Standards Act and to impose a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine of up to $24,600 if a professor assigns work unrelated to their duties to a graduate student.