From my point of view they're ridiculously underpaid.Ī few of my friends are grad students, and they all live in 600 square feet (55 meter squared) apartments. Just adding some numbers because your message makes it seem like PhDs are well compensated given their intelligence and the work they have to put in. Just for the record, I'm not arguing against education here, or even making any statement about whether it makes sense to do a PhD. The difference was only 1.5x to start with, after taxes the PhD student will probably only earn 25% more than the minimum wage employee. Intellectually more challenging work (probably), but few career possibilities in the academic field.Īlso you have to take into account that the grad student has to pay substantially more in taxes than the minimum wage employee. Better benefits and usually a 13th month. Gross wage €2000 per month, with realistically a 45h to 50h workweek. > Example 2: Student who excelled at high school until 18, completed bachelor at 21, completed master in science at 23, started PhD at 24: Usually with paid overtime and some benefits depending on employer. Gross minimum wage for 23yo and above € 1424,40 per month, assuming a 40h workweek. > Example 1: Highschool dropout with no advanced education earning minimum wage 23 years old: It kind of depends on your point of view, I suppose. With lower wages or scholarships universities can have more PhD candidates, but you will probably lose out on talent who'd rather go to the industry, and the PhD population has a miserable life (low income, long working hours). Higher PhD candidate wages equals less PhDs, but more high-quality PhDs. In the end the scholarship system was shot down by the court (they see a PhD as a normal employment), and seems to have vanished for the time being.Ĭonclusion: you get what you pay for.
In my opinion, the scholarship system was a bad move, since pursuing a PhD becomes less attractive to the best of students, due to higher wages in the industry. Foreign candidates do not seem to mind as much, since such scholarships are common in other countries.
Our university tried to implement a scholarship/bursary system, which was not welcomed by potential Dutch PhD candidates. There are specific goals with respect to the research project, but other than that there is plenty of time to pursue your interests. The education/research split is 0.2/0.8 FTE. This is a bit less than one would earn going into business immediately, but it buys you a lot of freedom. This gives around modal income, a 13th month of salary, holiday allowance, and about two months of holidays per year. I am a PhD candidate in The Netherlands, and am employed by the university for four years (as most PhD candidates here). On underpay: this varies highly by country.