Speakouts

NMSU Grads Speak Out

“I have a chronic mental illness that requires regular checkups. When I committed to NMSU, I assumed (based on the student handbook available from the graduate school website) that I would be able to purchase health insurance through the university, and that I would have access to psychiatric services through the Aggie Health Center (based on the Aggie Health website which indicated there was a psych nurse practitioner on staff) at a low cost. Neither of these resources were actually available. As a result, I have to pay out-of-pocket for psychiatric services at a cost of $80 per month. That is two weeks’ worth of groceries for something I cannot live without. If NMSU can’t provide these services as promised, the least they can do is update the website and the graduate handbook so that future students can make informed choices.”

Gauge Burnett

Math

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“I was so excited to get into the graduate school at NMSU. I was awarded a GTA position, and I moved from several thousand miles away to be here. Now, I feel taken advantage of. I have no familial support system in New Mexico, so the lack of support from the school is particularly pronounced. I am paid ~$900/month during the months in which I teach. Tuition on my payment plan is $760/month. I live in one of the villages on campus, which is another $~700. The ENTIRETY of the money I earn from the GTA position goes right back to the university, and it does not even cover it all. I am forced to use my savings to finish paying rent, to buy food, to pay for health insurance. This is to say nothing of the excitement I originally felt to be living in an area of the country I have never seen before. Professors keep telling me to visit Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque. How??? I have no money for gas, no money to spend in restaurants to support the local economy, no money to even pay the $25 fee to go into White Sands. If nothing changes, by the time I finish my degree, I will be completely destitute and will only have seen the NMSU campus. How can the university be so greedy? If this is what the university continues to offer, particularly in the current economic and political climate, there will soon be no one willing to apply. Experience means nothing if you can’t afford the bare minimum while you study and work.”

Anonymous

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“As a graduate student at a university where there is no health coverage, I was forced to choose a Marketplace plan that covers virtually nothing. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be an issue for me; I am young, I am healthy and I rarely need to go to the doctor. However, last year I found out that I had a bone tumor in my foot. It was scary and I was really worried about how it was going to impact my research. Thousands of dollars later, I had the tumor removed and returned to work at the university where I am a research assistant, teaching assistant and undergraduate mentor. I spend all my time giving back to a university that does not acknowledge what graduate students bring to the table. Despite my thousands of hours in service to NMSU, those in power refuse to pay me a livable wage, refuse to provide me with decent health insurance, and refuse to foster a safe and healthy working environment.”

Anonymous

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“I got married a few months back. My house rent is 600, utilities+internet+phone combined 200, food 150-200; then there are costs associated with car, insurance and other household stuff. The gross salary (~2,000) does not look bad, but the amount I get every month is around 1050-1100 after tuition, health insurance and taxes. There is no emergency backup at all. I can barely think of visiting my home country or even a trip with my wife outside of the state.”

Anonymous

Computer Science

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“My experiences at NMSU as a graduate worker is one of being undervalued by the top administrative leadership (Chancellor Arivzu and the Board of Regents). This starkly contrasts with the leadership I have experienced within the Geography Department. At the departmental level, I am incredibly supported. Both my advisor and department head jump through administrative hoops to provide me the current maximum compensation NMSU is willing to provide for the work I do. The work that is so vital for NMSU achieving its mission that without it, the university would cease to function. Enough cannot be said about the Geography Departments willingness to go the extra mile for me. The problem lies in the fact that they must go the extra mile and that even with that extra mile my compensation is miles short of where it needs to be. I am one of the lucky graduate workers whose department can provide most of my tuition remission and set me up for an non-guaranteed “Scholar Dollars” program that covers the rest. It is nerve racking having to renew this vital funding each year. If I did not receive full tuition remission it would be next to impossible for me to finish my degree. Inconceivably many of my fellow grad workers do not receive full or partial tuition remission. Even with my precarious funding status I hover around the poverty line. Those receiving less funding than me are well below the national poverty line. I love the work I do, and I love doing it for and with my fellow New Mexicans, but much of my energy has been diverted to fighting for livable compensation for myself and my fellow grad workers. I do not use the term “fighting” lightly. The chancellor and the board of regents have actively worked against our efforts to receive adequate compensation. For years prior to us forming a union they simply gave us lip service and wasted our time and energy by forming “research committees” that confirmed we are being under compensated. Once there was no action from the committee’s recommendations, we unionized. In response, the board of regents paid a lawyer valuable funds that could have been used to help address our poverty compensation issue and made illogical claims that we were not technically state employees.”

Brad Hanson

Geography

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“As an out of state student I am concerned with the turnover and lack of support I have received. I worked with someone wonderful at the beginning of the program online but they retired and since then I have no idea what’s going on. I have seriously considered withdrawing and going to a different university but I am a year in now and it seems too difficult to change. I owe thousands every semester despite a 20 hour GA ship. No health insurance either. Trying my best to make things work but this experience is wildly different than I thought it was going to be like as an Out of State student.”

Anonymous

Public Health

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“As a graduate student with a research assistantship I work full time (often 50-60 hours per week) but do not make enough to cover tuition, health insurance, and other basic needs as the cost of living continues to rise. Furthermore, since health insurance is not offered to graduate students, it is incredibly difficult for me to afford medications I need to survive. I will be leaving my current position and program for a job that will pay me for my time and appreciate the work I do. I no longer wish to work in or near academia, and will not pursue a job as a researcher. Other employers value their employees and allow them to earn a living wage. With my bachelor’s degree and experience I could easily get a job making $50,000+/yr. With that in mind, why on earth would I remain in a position where I make less than $15,000/yr and work well over full time?”

Anonymous

Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology

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“NMSU needs to pay for workers NOW because we will be paying for this for the rest of our lives. I was lucky enough to leave my undergraduate with a smaller chunk of debt compared to my peers, but when faced with no summer funding, minimum credit hours to even be qualified to be a GA, and barely breaking even each month on my stipend, I likely will be leaving my graduate experience with no savings and nearly triple the debt of that of my undergrad.”

Hannah Sun Melick

Counseling and Educational Psychology

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“I moved across the country to contribute to this university, and after one semester here, I have been undervalued, unappreciated and taken advantage of by the administration of NMSU. Since the University only cares about the cold hard math, let me break down my paycheck: of the $1,898 I make per month during the four months that I can teach for the university per semester, $695 goes to my on-campus housing and $795 goes to tuition. That leaves me $444 dollars to work with for the month. Conservatively, $300 dollars goes to extremely basic groceries (and the cost of food keeps rising). I pay roughly $50 for gas, $55 for health insurance, and $60 for car insurance. That leaves me with NEGATIVE $21 which I am forced to pull out of my very meager savings every single month. We, as graduate workers, are not demanding anything extravagant. Other universities, like the University of New Mexico, have figured out how to appropriately value their graduate workers (and reach R1 status). But here at NMSU, I find myself needing an oil change and unable to afford one. I need to go to the dentist and cannot afford it. I would like to be able to save some money for the months when there are no available classes to teach, but New Mexico State University would apparently rather see me graduate in debt with absolutely nothing left in my bank account. I would actually like to SEE some of this great state, and be able to go to some of the restaurants I pass while I run errands, but there is no room for even the smallest joys at this university. The graduate school at NMSU seems to be reserved only for wealthy students, or students with wealthy parents. If it continues in this direction, you will find fewer and fewer talented students applying to your university. Certainly none of your current graduate workers will be recommending your school to anyone else, least of all your undergraduate students. I hope that the administration can see how their policy of paying poverty wages is having a devastating effect, not only on their employees’ daily lives, but on their own reputation. NMSU can do better and must do better.”

Anna

Language and Linguistics

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“As an international student, on top of a 20-hour on campus employment limit, I am not qualified for most sources of financial aid or grants, or any on campus employment opportunities. Our stipend does not cover medical insurance or tuition, which has a huge influence on international students as we lack outside opportunities for income.”

Yuxuan Zhao, Counseling & Educational Psychology

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“International students are forced to pay thousands more than domestic students for no gain. Administration routinely refuses to cooperate with students and does not take responsibility for its mistakes, and no formal complaint process exists to hold these people accountable for their actions. NMSU recently presented ALL faculty and staff with raises, however, graduate students were left out of that despite this country seeing record inflation of almost 10%, so not only were we poverty level workers before, we are now even moreso.”

Anonymous

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“Everyone else can get fafsa tuition aid while we international grad workers can’t apply for it and can’t get any benefit. Us getting paid 18000 dollars a year to spend 8000 in tuition a year and 8000 in rent a year I am left with 2000 dollars to spend throughout the year which is having 40 dollars a week to spend in food and “anything else” (which of course is nothing). We live like poors and worse than the average American even when we already have a title.”

Anonymous

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“Please we ask this as grad students because we are in need , if we work at school it is already going to be a low income if we find a GA job and we cant work anywhere else out of campus because of F1 visa then we have to pay rent and bills also we have families to support and feed.”

Anonymous

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