
To: Dr. Steve Hranilovic, Vice-Provost & Dean of Graduate Studies Dr. Gillian Mulvale, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Research (Business) Dr. Steve Hanna, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Health Sciences) Dr. Martin Horn, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Research (Humanities) Dr. James Gillett, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Research (Social Sciences) Dr. Michael Thompson, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Engineering) Dr. Bhagwati Gupta, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Science) Dr. David Farrar, President & Vice-Chancellor Ms. Santee Smith, Chancellor Dr. Susan Tighe, Provost & VP (Academic) Dr. Peter Mascher, VP (International Affairs) Dr. Khaled Hassanein, Dean of Business Dr. Maureen MacDonald, Dean of Science Dr. Pamela Swett, Dean of Humanities Dr. Paul O’Byrne, Dean & Vice President (Health Sciences) Dr. Heather Sheardown, Acting Dean of Engineering Dr. Jerry Hurley, Dean of Social Sciences Elected Faculty Representatives on the Graduate Council Elected Student Representatives on the Graduate Council
Dear Members of the McMaster University Graduate Council,
We, the undersigned graduate students, faculty, staff, and concerned community members, are calling on you to act.
The regulations set out by the Graduate Council guarantee all full-time graduate students at McMaster a minimum of just $13,500 per year (the current “floor”) above whatever their rate of tuition is. Just $13,500 per year to cover the costs of housing, food, transportation, clothing, and all the other basic necessities. It’s time to raise the floor; full-time graduate students deserve better.
As recently as 2021, McMaster was including an estimate that the cost of living in Hamilton was approximately $12,500 per year in its Offers of Admission to international students. Many international students have moved to Hamilton on the basis of this misleading claim, which has since been removed from the admission letters. According to Statistics Canada, the low-income cut-off for single-person households in a city the size of Hamilton in 2019 was $21,899. The average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in Hamilton was $1,559 per month as of January 2022, which means the minimum funding floor of $13,500 per year barely covers the cost of just 8 months of housing.
This leaves most graduate students struggling to make ends meet, taking on other jobs or living off of credit cards, student loans, or help from friends and family, all while the University reports hundreds of millions of dollars in “excess revenues”. For international students, restrictions on how many hours they can work create an additional barrier, making their situations even more precarious.
The average Ph.D. student is taking well over 5 years to finish their program precisely because the current level of minimum funding is so insufficient. For Master’s students, the situation is even worse, as there is currently no minimum set out in the regulations at all.
Full-time graduate students at McMaster deserve better.
We are calling on the Graduate Council to:
- Extend the funding floor to cover all full-time graduate students at McMaster, including Master’s students.
- Raise the floor so that all full-time graduate students are guaranteed at least $24,000 per year after their tuition is paid.
- Index the floor to inflation.
Sincerely,
Over 800 signatories to date!
Organizations
McMaster Graduate Student Association (GSA)
CUPE 3906
Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI)
Disability Justice Network (DJNO)
Canadian Federation of Students Ontario
Hamilton District Labour Council (HDLC)
Workers' Art and Heritage Centre (WAHC)
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 107
Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers' Local
Hamilton Steelworkers Area Council
CUPE 3902
OSSTF District 21
Individuals (548 and counting!)
Chris Fairweather
Matthew Green
Simon Orpana
Darren Green
Eric Tuck
Cameron Kroetsch
Brett Sicard
Ali Zakeri
Shalen Prado
Karim Mahmoud
Ahmed Akl
Mohamed Abouyoussef
Riley Cleverdon
Elyse Letts
Wouter van den Berg
Ahmed Shawky Mahmoud Mohamed Okasha
Peter Cahill
Iris Chan
Pallavi Mukherjee
Daniil Gnetov
Letizia Dondi
Emily Robson
Sarah Criddle
Yuxuan Gao
Kaci Switzer (they/them)
Amanda Neves
Lavicie Rodrigues Arais
Stefano Dondi
Nathan Todd
Martha Cassidy-Neumiller
Katherine Lee
Fareeha Rana
Kathryn Waring
Jordan Lentinello
Sarah Jama
Sarah Jama
Kojo Damptey
Naharin Sultana Anni
Kaitlin Rothberger
Abdollah Karami
Emma Croll-Baehre
Eshan Merali
Hayley Mullen
Rebecca DeWael
Parham Khoshbakht Marvi
Zeynab Rokhi
Reza Namazi
Arta Mohammad-Alikhani
Sara Hemmati
Sara Moradi
Madison McCaig
Sahar
Koubra Haggar
Ahmed Abdoulrazig
Shiva Mazrouei
Yeganeh Nasrollahzadeh
AmirHossein Yazdanpour
Fateme Akbari
Morteza Adl
Kiana Noroozi
Naomi Wong
Rana Shariat
Mahtab Taheri
Sarah Dawson
Mohammad Nami
Nima Shakourifar
Ahmad Sofi-Mahmudi
Babak Safaei
Ahmad Arefi
Farzaneh Ebrahimizonouz
Mohammadreza Taremi
Amir Tabari
Mahdis Moghadasi
Mohammad Salehpour
Renuka Mandlik
Yasaman Torabi
Sajjad Rashidiani
Morteza Alipourlangouri
Hiva Hedayati
Navid Noor
Seyed Mehdi Ayyoubzadeh
Javad Hashemi Khosrowshahi
Mohsen Chegini
Hamid Moafimadani
Alireza Lorestani
Mohammad Chaposhloo
WEI ZHAO
Elnaz
Ehsan Majma
Yanfeng Xie
Seyed Hafez Mousavi Garmaroudi
Fatemeh Derakhshani
Mahan Pouromidi
Hassan Zakerzavardehi
Hamed Hasibi
Fernando Lennertz
Aseel Sultan
Abedar Kamgari
Yasaman Niazi
Mohammad Halakoo
Dadbeh hajijafargholikhanipazuki
Sara Zendehboodi
Fatemeh
Ali Ardestani
Samira Hamiditehrani
Behfar Godazgar
Mitra Tavakkoli
Shiva rahimipour
Elizabeth Bloomfield
Ehsan Heydarian Dolatabadi
Cameron Kroetsch
Behzad Abdi Khanesari
Sepideh Hassani
Riley Sato
Simon Orpana
Pascale Marchand
Peter Sinclair
Rebecca Katz
Zoe Wang
Fateme Abdiyan
Azadeh Gholaminejad
Jeff Arcand
Nargol Lotfizadeh
Jess Glegg
Hamidreza Khoshro
Amirmohammad Hallajzadeh
Hongting Zhou
Matthew Green
Rae Jewett
Ghazal Saed
Loa Gordon
Laura Facciolo
Keith Thompson
Nathan Sager
Siyavash Filom
Chris Fairweather
John Hayes
Amirhossein Yaghoubi
Sina Khosravinia
Saeid Nikshoar
Saeid Nikshoar
Yicen Li
Zewei Zhang
Konstantin Kilibarda
Sherly Kyorkis
Mohammad Ehsan Abdollahi
Iman Sadeghi
Maedeh Khodamoradi
Yunfei Ma
Matin Yousefabadi
Fateme Navazi
Bita mehri
Connor Bennett
Xiangpeng Kong
Nina
Susie O'Brien
Nick Bandiera
Amia Khosla
Moien Masoumi
Jing Li
Pallavi Mukherjee
Shadi Shahriari
Lindsay Hachey
Alaa Abdelhamid
Harmanjot Uppal
Karl Zhou
Jingjing Qian
Anwar Sheluchin
Akacia Propst
Katharine King
Roshan Bashar
Elyse Rier
SHUWEN QIAN
Noah Britt
Kay McCallum
Alejandra Ibarra Espinoza
Mason Godden
Sarah Masri
Sudeshna Dhar
Nina Monteiro
Jenny Nguyen
Marika Avenel Brown
Linzey Corridon
Olena Lyubchenko
Angela May (nee Kruger)
Daniel Coleman
Anabelle Ragsag
Zahra Tootonsab
Janice Vis-Gitzel
Melinda Gough
Alexandra Wagstaffe
Kaitlin Peters
Mary Silcox
Johnathan Hoggarth
Jessica Ostrega
Bruno Luis Segat Frare
Rachit Pradhan
Lorraine York
Henry Giroux
Mitra Tavakkoli
Andrea Vela alarcon
Alexis-Carlota Cochrane
Maya Flannery
Rajeshwari Nandkumar
Bradley McNeil
Theresa N. Kenney
Bethany Loshusan
Amber Hann
Mark Wulczynski
Yuva Venkata Raghava Neelapala
Yuhang Gu
Veronika Reichert
Ruchini Abayakoon
Johannah Bird, PhD Candidate, Department of English and Cultural Studies
Peter Walmsley
Francisco Juarez-Leon
Azin Mehrabi
Stephanie Sushko
Sara Kheiri
Laura Matchett
Fereshteh Bayat
Aseja Dava
Kayla Weiler
Rajeshwari Nandkumar
Alexe Bernier
Nikhil Sharma
Pooya Torab Ahmadi
Sara Swerdlyk
Alejandro Franco Briones
Yumna Makda
Amber Hann
Romina Avila
Sophi Kerr
Sadru Walji
Ulas Tastekin
Sonja Babovic
Maddie Brockbank
Kaeden McGregor
Erika Campbell
Rebecca Casalino
Annika Yardy
Rachel Yeo
Alexia Donis
Olivia Di Biase
Matthew Thiessen
Damsadie Hannedige
Melih Yayli
Rana Sumeyra Ozcan
Andrea Purnell
Mehak Kapur
Fady Mekhael
Mellissa Gomez
Sajan Kumar Karn
Dr. Ameil J. Joseph
Muhammad Khan
Megan Frances Karabin
Paramita Bhattacharyya
Neelima Sreekantan Nair
David Prete
Anand Sojan
Ricardo Barros Lourenco
Tamina Angel Jose
Claud Spadafora
Angelune Eve Des Lauriers
Chelsea Wilson
Garik Patterson
jess rauchberg
Leon Wong
Adam Milko
Eric Voskuil
Chris Hollingshead
Daniel Tadla
Michael Peto
Victor Carri
Ben Goldstein
Jocelyn Renkiewicz
Jeffrey Xu
Shipra Taneja
Steven Bogoslowski
Stephanie Rico
Leana Kazadi
Fatima Sheikh
Daniel Presta
Hibaa Hasan
Maegan Marshall
Darly Dash
David Gou
Mehroop Randhawa
Anthony Marco
Mohamed Elmorsy
Sushmitha Pallapothu
Ella Buchnea
Shae-Ashleigh Owen
Andrea Krishnapillai
Aryen Shakib
Aryen Shakib
Karanveer Johal
Disha Mehta
Cam Whalen
Kathrine Dellacroce
Sonali Menezes
Rachel Pillsworth
Tina Podinic
Ali jones
Stephen Ross
Liam Walker
Julio Diaz
Jasvir Bhatti
Kaitlin Cerrillo
Lydia Tales
Jananey Rajagopalan
Gillian Bogert
Millad Bahrami
Zoha Salam
Ayla Bahram
Siyi Ma
Anna Pacioni
Atefeh Shokrgozar
Rose Moir
Vansh Pahuja
Johnson J Qu
Seyed Saeid Tayebi
Sarah Brassard
Tegan Hargreaves
Fajjar Aqeel
Carmen Lee
Seeley Quest
Connor Jay
Rebecca Sikkema
Shawniya Alageswaran
Katelynn Kowalchuk
Rachel Matheson
Sasha Soraine
Kiran Punia
Jasminder Khehra
Chelsey Lush
Molly Scarfe
Tanya Vohra
Peter Najdzionek
Tanya Collins
Andrea Zeffiro
Katrina Kidd
Emma Marsden
Jonathan Lieberman
Andrey Kasimov
Zahra Mashayekhi
swarnali mukhopadhyay
Jeremy Cohen
Edcer Laguda
Rimzim Dhillon
Nahieli Preciado
Genevieve Ritchie
Hugo Yan
Brahim Ahammou
Junran Chen
Anirban Kundu
Arthur Mendez-Rosales
Batoul Hashemi
Kaustubh Kulkarni
Angshuman Podder
Olajide Akintayo
Joesph Young
Haoyun Wang
Abhishek Arya
Nathan Heisz
Roshney Kurian
Veronica Litt
Mack Penner
Edgar Vazquez
Sulan Kith
Mila Guidorizzi
David Feinberg
Caleb Whittier
Ella Romia Gindi
Darren Green
Eric Tuck
Silas Vriend
Isaac Pratt
Bethany Easterbrook
Enze Li
Jeff Sorensen
L Johnson
Lucia Uwalaka
Rana Guler
Abhishek Singla
Mahdis Moghadasi
Faizan
Nur Hussain
Nur Hussain
Crystal Mahadeo
Micah Enns-Dyck
Sarah Jessika Bello
Janani Sridev
Lauren McCrae
Bashudev Rudra
Meghan Fragis
Massimo Joseph Delle Grazie
Marko Buha
Emily Feng
Allyssa Phelps
Atefeh Shokrgozar
Individuals (cont'd) Dr. Amber Dean Kevin Sebastian Ruiz Mehak Kapur Shreyas Shah Laura St. Germain Mohammad Rezaul Islam Shaila Jamal Sina Zarini Dr. Alina Sajed Dana Shuqom Kaamil Ur Rahman Mohamed Shibly Anastasia Soukhov Mohammad Rezaul Islam William Sudarshan Sharma Brandon McIntyre Brandon McIntyre Ghazal Khalili HivaHedayati Suwam Kumar Yu Li Joaquin Eduardo Reyes Gonzalez Gil Niessen Pengfei Zheng Ali Ardestani Shauna Hughey Md Asif Khan Darren Green Wajdi Jamal Alnoush Adekunle Omoniyi Yasaman Torabi Alessia D'Elia Adile Nexha Emily Barrett Kiran Punia Shu Sakamoto Erica Flaten Claire Gage Julia Fraser Jamal Shabani Sarah Potter Courtney Aucoin Sherain Harricharan Brahm Sanger Brenna Sobanski Elizabeth Phillips Andrés E. Elizondo López Kiah Prince Yasaman Heshmatzadeh Areeba Sharafuddin Sarah Goegan Soyoung Jung Matin Yousefabadi Mackenzie Batista Allison Mizzi Katherine Lee Omolola Alade Christie MacLeod Fahmida Azmi Renae Watchman Lucas Klein Shuja Hasan Sloane Martens Ainsley Harrison-Weiss Reta Meng Oyinade Adekunle Patricia Ogba Diana Carolina Chaparro Buitrago Sarah Brophy Mohammad Chaposhloo Victor Rossi Saciotto Kevin Posada Matthew Jenny Samuel Viraj Whabi Cal Siemens Hanna Chidwick Martin Barakov Ruchini Abayakoon Dulani Maneesha Wijesundara Jacqueline Moizer Kevin Zhao Femi Aiyegbusi Elizabeth Arango Ruda Mariana Martinez Dr. Derek Woods Alistair Rathbone Rebecca Fisico Basit Kareem Iqbal Shane J Simon Lexie Milmine Fazle Rabbi Alireza Motallebi Nasrabadi Ver-Se Denga Wesam Taha Christian Ladores Catherine Larocque Amy Conwell Clara Chang Christina Puccinelli Nooshin Valizade Shahmirzadi Ehsan Majma Shiva rahimipour Javid Nafari Sara Hemmati Shahryar Asqardoust Marie-Helene B-Hardy Behzad Abdi Khanesari Sepideh Hassani Abhiroop Chowdhury Manan Mukherjee Katarina Sacka Eric MacPherson Rachel Lim Illya Kierkosz Fernanda de Oliveira Ribeiro Mark Forbes Ghazal Saed Parisa Saghafi Grace Yao Amir Mohammad Monfaredi Mahsa Kadkhodaei Elyaderani Aidee Arizpe Cheryl Lynn sileikis Marta Reina Campos Arjun Murugavel Sourabh Dhumale Rachelle Sabourin Chase Thomson Julie Fellmayer Mahan Pouromidi Mohammadreza Taremi Behzad Abdi Khanesari Parham Kazemi Mahdi Hasanzadeh Azar Lydia Patton Lydia Patton Paul capranos Tracie Daigle Erin warner Daniel bourgeois Hannah clark Ugi Gusti Caitlin Craven Elizabeth Wong Alex Wilson Alexandra Weinberger Seamus Atkinson James Lambert Linda Stansfield Devin Marr Sarah Szymanski Alexandra Burnett Mikaela Grahlman Theodora Gagnier Kezia Wirasana Dominic Lasica Nate Li Holly Koponen Keaton Tye Greg Forkutza Veronica Thorn Samira Hamiditehrani Salsa Gloria Chen Daryl Jerome Daryl Jerome Darren dong Nelson Pereira Geoff Ondercin-Bourne Thomas Chiang Joshua Hainge Torin Ong Lauren Cudney Nishttha Sharma Shreshth Saxena Adan Amer Carlo Handy Charles Manaal Alsabagh Vivian Fang Ruibin Li Parham Kazemi Mohamed Elsayed Zahra Sadeghi Mohammad Muntazar Bhurwani Matthew McCarthy Harsh Patel Sina Kazemi Andrea McLellan Daniel Presta hridhoy datta Amirabbas Ghorbanpour Arani Jennifer Chan Julia Gaspari Rhea M Monica sadik Riley Troisi Willow Stott sarah harb Neiha Oviya Sivakkumaran Kristine Uchendu Nicole Grigorieva Juman Shalabi Benjamin Earle Helena Mojsoska Kiona Mccoll Graham White Cooper Mull Julia Sciacca Morgan Johnson Isha Mistry Kanishka Vinayak Rameen Ahmed Sheryl Emily Major Will Foley Jessica Yang Aidan McNally Rebecca Christenson Jing Zeng Sima Fallah Tafti Nazeen Meethal Aroni Nur Ahmed Maia Fiorelli Raghd Elgamal Mayuraah Rajasri Liane Kelly Shireen Dan Shireen DJ Baillie Jenkins Yunfei Ma Alicja Krubnik Amirhossein Rakhsha Liam Flannigan Shunquan Tan Fatma Ismail Megan Hitchcock Patrick McArthur Erica Dao Samira Hamiditehrani Robert Mwangi Fathieh-Ngunjiri Ahmed Abdellah Kezia Mathew Luis Navarro Del Angel Keaton Smith Parsa Beheshti Atriya Biswas Nazneen Meethal Javid Nafari Aaron Coletti Abdelrahman Awad Eduardo Folster Eli Shannon Buck Katarina Paskaruk Kyle Morrison Kevin Heather Wild Jury Ivan Radkovski Benjamin Dyer Danielle Amos Yasaman Heshmatzadeh Hayley Agler Jane Wang Samuel Shields Jenny Chau daniella haroon Katherine Walker-Jones Mohamed Fathalla Trevor Loken Fuwei Rao Alexander Noble Shunquan Tan Arunima Deb Katarina Paskaruk Samuel Crawford Johannes Steizinger Alexander Klein Stefan Sciaraffa Saman Goudarzi Johannes Steizinger Laura Stewart Khadeejah Khan Danica Taylor Catherine Anderson Haley Birch Tia Haddad Christine Quail Charlotte Orzel Talat Hakim Omar Zayed Rana Saleh Fatemeh Derakhshani Dimpy Modi Mikayla Mifsud Rebecca Hiller-Ranney Lily Belluz Caleb Smolenaars Christopher Silvestri Rumi Iqbal Ally Moore Ally Moore Easton McGillicuddy Alastair McPherson meredith Andreanne Veillette isabel talbot Moises Herrera-Parra Joleen Awad Carissa Faria May Montero-Rios Ivana Rodriguez Kiisha Okezie Elizabeth Hofer Patrick Speissegger Kaitlin Blanchard Skade Fernando Janice Yan Chimaobi Orji Michael Kalu Pamela Penawou Patricia Ogba Sherly Kyorkis Joshua Bell Scott Morris Muhammad Khan Joonsoo Sean Lyeo Jesse Pazdera Ali Solhi Hannah Luong Yara Soliman Fazle Rabbi Milad Farjadnasab Harshvir Bali Derek Woods Libby Tunney Wouter van den Berg John Fast Celine Lajoie Tess Wilson Caroline Seiler Sarah Oresnik Vivian Tan Katherine Lee Emily Current Isaac Jiang Ghazaleh Dadashi Zadeh Nandhitha Ragunayakam Alanna Wade Mohammad Chaposhloo Emily Current Brenna Sobanski Harshvir Bali Akacia Propst Amanda Cooke Fulden Aydin Natasha Swiderski Sarah Oresnik Afroza Hoque Jess Hider Dana Thacher Shannon Crewson Stephanie Studer Christine Quail Jason Balaci Samuel Joseph Crawford Gregory Verkaik Nora Mossman Nikki Pangborn Shima Rafiei Kirstin Webb Qazi Mustabeen Noor Sahrish Masood Marina Floris David Guitman Sarah Schellekens Trevor Dugdale Vaitheeka Nallasamy Lucy Kendrick Eimear Boyle Aneesa Rabbani Shima Arian Ahmadinejad Rinka Ito Ashtyn Burkitt Brooj Mishal Viboo Hemanshi Bhandari Ursula Chui Richard Li Leon So Joy Xiao Vaitheeka Nallasamy Javid Nafari Yasaman Niazi Parham Kazemi Fatemeh Derakhshani Amin Goudarzi Zahra Sadeghi Keivan Nalaie Ursula Chui kiana noroozi Yeganeh Nasrollahzadeh AmirHossein Yazdanpour Caterina Apa Riley Morgan Kimia Asadi Sarah Adjekum Fardowsa Abdi Colin Mohr Fateme Navazi George Efstathopoulos Hamed Hasibi Sarah Elshahat Megan Devoe Reta Meng Mick Zewdu Emma Wood Mohammad Mahdi Azarbeik Moein Mehralian