[nunoonun]

> Q: Do "minimum wage" rules apply 1) in theory, 2) in practice to postgraduate students?

If you have to find a part-time to pay some of your expenses yes. In that case a part-time in Lisbon will pay you slightly more than half of your room and in "your case" it would pay the whole room. It's a BIG difference if you have to go down that road.

> Yet more [ancient] data: UK science research council funding for PhD students in the late 1990s was nothing to get excited about; I have an old bank statement here, BBSRC paid me the princely sum of £1377 on 1 July 1998, and by the way, that was for that quarter not for a month.

I do agree that post-grads are very badly paid. But that's another issue.

> Q: Do we really think postgraduate students should expect their parents to still be funding them?

Not really, but if there's an emergency I think parents will not let their kids starve.

And this hackernews rhetoric of 'if I suffered everyone has to suffer as well' needs to end. That's not how you move forward.

[robotresearcher]

> but if there's an emergency I think parents will not let their kids starve.

Subject to ability to do so. I knew many grad students who took part time jobs to send money in the other direction. Their earning power was greater than their family's.