[uberman]

I work at an elite tier 1 research university that is an international household name. My spouse is a tenured faculty member who runs a lab and several concurrent DoD funded grants.

I understand perfectly well what a phd candidate does and what they are compensated for as well as what their fully loaded costs are.

If you believe that the cost of a phd student is 18k a year, it is you who does not understand what working with a phd student involves. In fact, 18k probably does not even cover their health care costs. We can debate about what a phd candidate "should" be compensated for and if their current levels of compensation are fair but any argument needs to include the full picture.

[mbauman]

This is a silly take. The "true" cost of an employee is _always_ higher than their salary. Often by 50-100%.

Your argument here is like saying the minimum wage needn't be increased because the "true" cost of an employee is already $15/hr. They should be grateful for those administrative costs! And doubly so that we don't tax them!

TFA is literally about the take-home cash.

[uberman]

Minimum wage employees don't typically get healthcare that's the point