BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Hundreds of graduate students on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus have signed a pledge to withhold payment of their mandatory student fees amid a push to raise their standard of living.
The Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition, which drafted the pledge, says student fees have increased every year since 2011, while graduate students’ stipends have largely remained the same, mounting to a pay cut.
The Herald-Times reports coalition members say the stipends they receive for teaching or working as research assistants while earning their degrees just aren’t enough to cover the expenses of attending graduate school at IU, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made the situation worse.
