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Old 10-09-2009 at 12:30 AM   #31
Mowicz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Taunton View Post
That argument is BS. The union doesn't take cost of living differences into account. A TA in Toronto will have a much higher cost of living, and so even though their wage is higher, they still see the same amount, or even less, than a TA in Hamilton.
To settle this, I'll use my own figures and do a calculation:

Like I mentioned in a previous post, McMaster offered me a TA-ship worth $7600 for an 11 month period (September - August). My cost of living (strictly rent, since food costs the same in Toronto) is about 500 a month including utilities here in Hamilton. Multiply by 11 months, that's $5500, out of $7600 that's about 72.3% of my TAship going just to rent. Let's leave union dues out of this, since those may vary from university to university.

UofT offered me a TA-ship worth $15,600...72.3% of that is $11289, which comes to about $1026 per month.

You can't tell me rent is double what it is here in Hamilton...a bit higher yes, but not double.

So yes...we are paid less here in Hamilton, than in Toronto, and yes, we do ultimately see less of the money.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kathy2 View Post
Yes, I know all this.
I would still be a TA for minimum wage.

...

I would LOVE to mark papers and organize/lead tutorials for $10 an hour. This is no joke. I would love to do this job and make an insanely small fraction of what the TAs make (and complain about).

There are so many jobs that pay so much less. There are so many jobs that require you work more hours than scheduled, without getting paid. I would love to be a TA, even if it only paid $10 an hour.
You'd be in the minority, that's all I'm saying.

There are desperate people who would sit there engraving tylenol tablets by hand for 30 cents an hour...doesn't mean it's realistic, or that it's sufficient pay. The fact that minimum wage exists, that some such people can't get jobs for 30 cents an hour, is both a benefit, and flaw of having a capitalist society.

Quote:
Even if I only ended up getting $30 a week.. (even though they make over $5000 for 8 months so where you got that figure is beyond me)
I 'got that figure' by calculating with minimum wage...which is what you're suggesting you would work for (please keep up). Minimum wage is less than 10 dollars, so let's round up to 10...times approximately 3 scheduled hours per week (regardless of how much time you actually spend) = $30 per week.

You don't get to say "I'm going to work minimum wage" and make the $40/hour.

Last edited by Mowicz : 10-09-2009 at 12:43 AM. Reason: Fixed the formatting
Old 10-09-2009 at 07:38 AM   #32
PTGregD
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Actually Mike, your rent IS double in Toronto. I know plenty of people who pay upwards of $1000 a month to live near U of T.

T-dot is expensive
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Old 10-09-2009 at 08:53 AM   #33
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Using figures that I personally know for fact:

Hamilton rent: Approximately $400-$600 depending on where you live and who you live with... I personally spend $350 per month.

Ottawa rent: Approximately $600-$800 depending on where you live and who you live with. Toronto and Ottawa are comparable, although looking at where students in Toronto live, a higher rent average is feasable.

So yes, rent in Toronto can actually be double what it is here. The cost of living expenses argument is valid.
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Old 10-09-2009 at 09:08 AM   #34
Mowicz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Taunton View Post
Using figures that I personally know for fact:

Hamilton rent: Approximately $400-$600 depending on where you live and who you live with... I personally spend $350 per month.
I'm not quite sure where you're getting 600 as the upper limit for Hamilton...I've turned down places which were about 800, and have seen some as high as 1200, depending on the area. Sure, these probably aren't places which are reasonable on a student income which is why I turned them down, but half the battle for a student is finding an affordable place to live.

If you live in close proximity to any major landmark (like U of T or otherwise) in Toronto you're paying more than the typical rent. If you find an affordable place to live, it'll be as low as 6, 700 bucks, but you'll have to take the subway every day. If you demand that it's right next to U of T, then your income is going to that because you made that a priority worth spending on. Saying Toronto rent is double (at least to Taunton, Greg wasn't saying this) because the 'upper limit' of Toronto's limit is twice the 'lower limit' of Hamilton's isn't quite right...you'd have to look at typical rent.

(Not to mention, I know a guy who did his Co-op at Cadbury and so got a place in Toronto near U of T for 350-ish a month...so there are definitely those 'outliers' on either side)
Old 10-09-2009 at 06:47 PM   #35
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There's also people who have 1 bedroom apartments but they convert the den into a room, they basically just put up a curtain to seperate the room. My brother tells me a lot of people do this and he has friends that do this.
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Old 10-09-2009 at 08:29 PM   #36
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But for Math 1LS3 we have TAs that just mark and supervise the tests, do they still make what a normal undergrad TA makes?
Old 10-09-2009 at 09:06 PM   #37
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Toronto Residence fees is actually twice that at McMaster! A few of my Friends living at Chestnut Residence(Behind the City Hall/Eaton) are paying $11,500ish plus for a double!

Even the traditional on campus residences when I was checking them in 2008 were like $9500 for a Triple!

The most we have at Mac is the high end Mary Keyes at 6k was it?
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Old 10-09-2009 at 11:59 PM   #38
britb
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The Math TAs have hours in the help centre too. I think it's about once a week. (grrr... t1 is SO late...I have to commute home) But I see what you mean, so TAs do seem to have a lot more work to do than others. I want to say science TAs have it rough, but I'm not sure if they have the same TAs running tutorials as supervising labs - it seems like a lot of work, labs are three hours, sometimes every week, plus the tut sessions...

And TAs SHOULD be ready to help any student that asks them, so they should have done whatever questions are assigned almost immediately. Plus there are the endless e-mails they have to answer. It's not an easy job, and I think it takes a lot of patience, esspecially with panicky 1st year courses.

Still, I don't mind doing the work, I probably won't see $20/hr for years after I graduate, esspecially if I win the med school lottery.

But, back to topic, now that we have quite a dicsussion going on,
Anyone ever TA'd for the Biology, English or History departments? I'd be good to have some subject-specific info before I talk to the profs. Those three are my best shot, since I don't feel confident enough in Chemistry to stake another student's mark on it. Same with math, even though it is the lazy math.



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