Low pay is progressively emerging as a pressing issue for graduate workers, and many are fighting for unionization. Many colleges and universities are paying stipends less than $20,000 annually, causing many workers to have to take on a second job just to make ends meet. One international graduate worker at Indiana University Bloomington who is legally not able to take on a second job said of her $19,000 a year salary, “This is thousands of dollars below the minimum living wage in Bloomington, Indiana. I’m constantly unable to make ends meet.” At Stony Brook University there is a current living wage campaign going on and workers at Indiana University are contemplating a strike.
See "Pay for graduate students is lacking and many are ready to protest", Michael Sainato, The Guardian, March 30, 2022