There is an ocean of difference between institutional/systemic poverty and situational poverty, and I never ever want to conflate the two. But I am gonna say it- situational poverty still sucks and the financial exploitation of graduate students needs to end. It should not be an expectation that you'll be living in functional poverty for several years to get an advanced degree. But it is. It absolutely is, ask anyone who's been through it- people treat it like some rite of passage. But no one ever seems to question it. We do so much work and receive so little compensation for it, if any at all, and especially with the economy being what it is right now? It's fucking criminal.

Graduate students should receive a stipend that covers the average cost of living in the area of their school and that should be the bare fucking minimum.