Canada’s graduate students, specifically those in master’s and PhD thesis programs, carry out original research as they work toward their degrees. They are knowledge creators who make critical contributions to Canada’s collective research and innovation ecosystem. Most receive a modest stipend intended to cover their living expenses, with the goal of helping them to focus on their work, increase their productivity, and enter the labour market more quickly.
This training model produces highly qualified researchers with a broad range of skills, who go on to contribute to every sector of our economy. But graduate student stipend levels have been outpaced by inflation, leaving many graduate students either living below the poverty line or choosing to take their talent elsewhere.
Why have stipends remained stagnant? Graduate student stipends can be funded by various sources, including federal and provincial fellowship programs, but are typically paid from research supervisors’ federally funded research grants. But supervisors pay these stipend costs from the same fixed budget that funds their other research operating costs, so increasing stipend levels would force them to either cut graduate student numbers or cut other research costs. It is not hard to see that either option will decrease overall research productivity.
Continuing to underpay our graduate student researchers is not an option. But finding room to increase stipends within the existing budget structure is........