2020 GGS Student Finance Survey

A REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF THE AND FUNDING FINANCES SURVEY WRITTEN AND PRESENTED BY THE 2019/2020 GGS EXECUTIVE TEAM We are pleased to once again present the will be publicly released to encourage results of the Geography Graduate Society greater participation. (GGS) Funding and Finances Survey. This is our second annual iteration of the survey We again hope that this survey becomes a and is one of the main responsibilities of the regular occurrence so that we can present GGS Executive Team. Each member of the longitudinal data to inform our supervisors, team contributed in their own ways, bringing our colleagues, and our department about skills and expertise to the survey. As noted in the changing financial situation we face as the introduction of last years’ report, it was graduate students. This need is further only with a dedicated team of people from highlighted by the current COVID-19 diverse backgrounds, research specialties, pandemic, showcasing the vulnerability that and life experiences that we could make this students face. survey and report happen. When last year’s results were presented to This year’s survey was first released on faculty, one professor explicitly asked what January 29, 2020. While originally slated to amount of funding will support a graduate close on February 14, 2020, the survey’s end student living in Montreal to ‘break even’, date was extended to February 24, 2020. making an argument that sufficient funding Providing our colleagues with regular is an ethical decision. We agree with this reminders about the survey and the professor’s argument. As graduate students, importance of data collection for future we are all passionate about what we study lobbying efforts was crucial in helping us and are unwilling to change course despite achieve our final response rate. incurring debt and working long hours in both academic and unrelated professions to As we begin to build the institutional make ends meet. To this end, we hope to memory necessary to earn the trust and create transparency so that the department support of our fellow graduate students, (as a whole) and/or supervisors (individually) concerns over privacy and security have may make ethical decisions for funding their lessened. This does not mean that they have graduate students at adequate levels. The been completely alleviated, though, and knowledge that we create, should ultimately future iterations of this survey will have to serve to benefit not only us, but those who continue to find that delicate balance follow in our footsteps. between security, transparency, and data collection. Sincerely, There were, just as with last year, concerns Chris Erl from students who were worried about the 2019-2020 GGS Co-President reaction of their supervisors and faculty to their submissions to this survey. We continue to work on measures to protect Patrick Slack participants and to reassure that no raw data 2019-2020 GGS Co-President 2019-2020 GGS Executive Team Co-President – Chris Erl VP Social – Olivia Del Giorgio Co-President – Patrick Slack VP Social – Dan Zayonc VP Finance – Niall Harney VP Communications – Fanny Amyot Recording Secretary – Sarah Mah VP Communications – Sam Lumley 0 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 0 LIST OF FIGURES 1 SURVEY PRESENTATION AND METHODOLOGY 2 1 - OVERVIEW 3 1.1 ACADEMIC INCOME 3 1.2 LIVING EXPENSES 6 1.3 INCOME V. EXPENSES 9 2 - FUNDING AND FINANCE 10 2.1 SUPERVISORY AND FACULTY FUNDING 10 2.2 ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT 11 2.3 BURSARIES, GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS 12 2.4 OVERALL FUNDING SITUATION 13 2.5 TUITION 13 3 – FIELDWORK 14 3.1 LOCATION 14 3.2 EXPENSES 14 3.3 CONFERENCES 15 3.4 OTHER ACADEMIC EXPENSES 17 4 – LIVING ARRANGEMENTS 18 4.1 NEIGHBOURHOODS 18 4.2 ROOMMATES AND RENT 20 4.3 TRANSPORTATION 22 4.4 OTHER ESSENTIAL EXPENSES 23 5 – OPINIONS AND PERSPECTIVES 26 5.1 FINANCIAL PRESENT AND FUTURE 26 5.2 OPEN-ENDED RESPONSES 29 6 – DEMOGRAPHICS 30 APPENDIX A 33 1 List of Figures FIGURE 1. YEARLY TOTAL INCOME FROM ACADEMIC SOURCES, MA/MSC STUDENTS. ...................................................................... 4 FIGURE 2. YEARLY TOTALS FOR MA/MSC - BREAKDOWN BY AREA OF FOCUS AND STATUS. ............................................................... 4 FIGURE 3. BREAKDOWN OF STUDENTS BY AREA OF FOCUS AND CANADIAN/INTERNATIONAL STATUS ................................................... 4 FIGURE 4. TOTAL INCOME BY SOURCE FOR MA/MSC STUDENTS. ................................................................................................. 5 FIGURE 5. YEARLY TOTAL INCOME FROM ACADEMIC SOURCES, PHD STUDENTS. .............................................................................. 5 FIGURE 6. YEARLY TOTALS FOR PHDS - BREAKDOWN BY AREA OF FOCUS AND STATUS. ...................................................................... 6 FIGURE 7. TOTAL INCOME BY SOURCE FOR PHD STUDENTS.......................................................................................................... 6 FIGURE 8. MONTHLY TOTAL EXPENSES FOR MA/MSC STUDENTS. ................................................................................................ 7 FIGURE 9. MONTHLY TOTAL EXPENSES FOR PHD STUDENTS......................................................................................................... 7 FIGURE 10. AVERAGE ALLOCATION OF EXPENSES REPORTED BY GEOGRAPHY GRADUATE STUDENTS. .................................................... 8 FIGURE 11. AVERAGE ANNUAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACADEMIC INCOME, LIVING EXPENSES, AND TUITION FOR MA/MSC STUDENTS. ..... 9 FIGURE 12. AVERAGE ANNUAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACADEMIC INCOME, LIVING EXPENSES, AND TUITION FOR PHD STUDENTS. ............. 9 FIGURE 13. FUNDING FOR MA/MSC STUDENTS FROM FACULTY AND SUPERVISORS. ...................................................................... 10 FIGURE 14. FUNDING FOR PHD STUDENTS FROM FACULTY AND SUPERVISORS. ............................................................................. 10 FIGURE 15. HOURS OF WORK FOR MA/MSC STUDENTS. FIGURE 16. HOURS OF WORK FOR PHD STUDENTS. .......... 11 FIGURE 17. BURSARIES AND SCHOLARSHIPS FOR MA/MSC STUDENTS........................................................................................ 12 FIGURE 18. BURSARIES AND SCHOLARSHIPS FOR PHD STUDENTS. .............................................................................................. 12 FIGURE 19. TUITION FOR MA/MSC STUDENTS. ..................................................................................................................... 13 FIGURE 20. TUITION FOR PHD STUDENTS. ............................................................................................................................. 13 FIGURE 21. FIELDWORK LOCATION. ...................................................................................................................................... 14 FIGURE 22. NOT REIMBURSED FIELDWORK EXPENSES. .............................................................................................................. 15 FIGURE 23. REIMBURSED FIELDWORK EXPENSES. .................................................................................................................... 15 FIGURE 24. REIMBURSED CONFERENCE COSTS. ....................................................................................................................... 16 FIGURE 25. NOT REIMBURSED CONFERENCE COSTS.................................................................................................................. 16 FIGURE 26. ALL OTHER ACADEMIC EXPENSES. ......................................................................................................................... 17 FIGURE 27. MAP OF MCGILL GEOGRAPHY GRADUATE STUDENTS BY FSA. ................................................................................... 18 FIGURE 28. IN WHAT AREA OF MONTREAL DO YOU LIVE? ......................................................................................................... 19 FIGURE 29. LIVING SITUATIONS............................................................................................................................................ 20 FIGURE 30. CHOICE OF ACCOMMODATION............................................................................................................................. 20 FIGURE 31. MONTHLY RENT COSTS. ..................................................................................................................................... 21 FIGURE 32. AVERAGE RENT V. LIVING SITUATION. ................................................................................................................... 21 FIGURE 33. METHODS OF COMMUTING TO CAMPUS BY SEASON ................................................................................................ 22 FIGURE 34. MONTHLY TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES................................................................................................................. 22 FIGURE 35. MONTHLY GROCERY EXPENSES. ........................................................................................................................... 23 FIGURE 36. ADDITIONAL UTILITIES COSTS ............................................................................................................................... 24 FIGURE 37. MONTHLY INTERNET COSTS. ............................................................................................................................... 24 FIGURE 38. MONTHLY CELL PHONE COSTS. ...........................................................................................................................

Load more