I’m a PhD intern with 5 years of graduate work behind me and this week I found out my patient’s 10-year-old son makes $20 an hour to umpire baseball games. I make $14 an hr after endless years of school. This is why Academia is inherently flawed and incredibly limiting to anyone not born in the ivory tower. I’m not confident I would have taken this route had I known years ago finances would still be such a struggle. I will make significantly more once I graduate but Academia essentially asks that you give it your all for 5+ years and expect you to live on nothing.
No advice needed, just venting. And in my role as a therapist my first goal is to help people develop insight into the systemic stressors influencing their mental health. It’s all so messed up.