Warwick postgraduates call for more financial support as cost-of-living crisis deepens

Over 70 postgraduate students have signed an open letter asking for a meeting with Warwick university management to address their concerns over the cost-of-living crisis.

Although the university has increased PhD stipends by 10%, the Warwick Postgraduate (PGR) Collective – which put together the letter – emphasized ‘extortionate’ rents and precarious working conditions.

One third-year PhD student spoke about how financial pressures had made it more difficult to focus on her research: “Despite paying well under the living wage for full-time research, there is a cap on the amount of additional work I am allowed to do outside of my PhD.

“My partner is off long-term sick, my energy bills have doubled over the last year, and I’m facing an increase in rent, so I’ve had no choice but to take on a substantial amount of freelance work.

“This has meant my thesis has gone untouched for weeks and months at a time. How am I supposed to produce quality research when all of my energy goes towards just staying afloat?”

The letter argued that existing cost-of-living measures such as the Hardship Fund offer only a “temporary safety net.”

It also brought attention to the postgrad support offered by other universities: “Sheffield Hallam University have recently announced they will raise their new PhD stipends for internally funded PGRs equivalent to the net real living wage for 3.5 years… Newcastle University Doctoral College have opened up a cost-of-living impact fund for PGR students.”

The PGR Collective listed eight demands, including a meeting with senior management to discuss cost-of-living issues, a fee waiver for all self-funded national and international PGR students, a review of the current hardship fund for PGR students, and an increase in the number of scholarships and funding opportunities.

The University of Warwick told the Boar: “We are aware of the impact that the increasing cost of living is having on everyone at Warwick, including our postgraduate research students.

“We have taken action to help ease these pressures with the recent cost of living announcement, providing £3.5 million in additional support to students and staff who need the most help, on top of the postgraduate research stipend increase that was recently announced.

“We will continue to engage with our postgraduate research students, as well as the wider community, to see the best ways we can continue to help in the future”.