PhD students & Poverty

[veritas]

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I just can't believe how dire the situation is with PhD students. One of the things I do now these days is to allocate desk space for research students & I really do feel as if my role is like a relief care worker. Some PhD students sleep under their desk because they're homeless. When they graduate I need to reallocate their desk space & they go bat shlt crazy about it emailing me their struggles. Same with their supervisors, they go batshlt crazy protecting their flock barking or begging me in jibberish righteousness. The thing is, noone would be in this batsh1t crazy situation if the supervisor spent more time virigently getting a Postdoc position for their little me instead spending so much time writing poetry and paying $$$ to have their nonsense published. The building manager told me the solution was to purchase a shotgun because these critters need to vacate. I just don't know what to do?

Any advise?

[veritas]

I just completed a report on PhD enrolments & completions, also on grants. Get this, PhD completion rates have fallen to 40% from 100% 2 years ago. The rate of academics requesting grants has tripled in 2 years. I've done these reports for 3 universities now and it's the same trend... rotting and falling apart on the inside. I really can't see universities lasting for much longer.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

veri,

That sucks.  The modern PhD assembly line ultimately devalues the product.

What does virigently mean?

[Nefertiti]

Here in the US I have seen a tendency to require PhD for basic entry jobs. Especially with Valley startups but even big companies like Facebook, where even non-grads can function with internal training. There should be a standard to adhere to for PhDs to stymie the cheapening. PhDs in the humanities face the worst due to relatively less financing and lower pay in the market. Without a reasonable finance plan it's better to make do with a Masters.

[Nefertiti]

veri is in South Korea I assume?

[Dear Mami]

You should only ever do a PhD for two reasons: One, if someone is paying you to do it; or two, you love the topic enough to grind at it for years and you have other financial resources to support you while you do that. Anything else is a mistake IMO.

[veritas]

True. I spelt virigently wrong I think...

Today I visited one of the rooms to discuss options about their homelessness to find two fugitives hiding in that office. Visiting scholars plonked there by an academic. They were planning to stay there for 2 months. So this is another travesty I have to resolve.

[veritas]

How do I confront the academic about it? Would they lash out at me if I brought it up?