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UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

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Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#21

Post by mistrial9 »

readingnews wrote: post #17

I am no astrophysicist, but he notes: “Hi everyone, my name is Daniel, and I’m an astrophysics professor at UCLA. I’m only being paid $70,000 for this academic year,” McKeown says in the video. McKeown, listed as a lecturer on UCLA’s website, says he had to move out of his apartment because he could no longer afford the rent. McKeown says his rent was $2,500 a month. According to RentCafe, the average rent is $3,700…

his taxes in total are more than thirty six percent in California, and there is no mention of debt service costs.

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#22

Post by cute_boi »

orionsbelt wrote: post #11
avg_dev wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course you are correct, nobody is ever promised anything like the ability to fulfill their dreams or to live a decent quality of life. But maybe the universities could pay them a living wage for teaching six classes a week.

$70k is a living wage in Los Angeles; he his homeless by choice. To be clear, I’m not saying he is not underpaid. He might need a roommate and to live in a crappy apartment and not in Westwood to make it workable, which does not seem fair for a PhD teaching physics. But it’s not homeless level.

People seem to think it is easy to have roommates. My roommates were horrible, they wouldn't clean anything, blast music and always a privacy risks.

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#23

Post by mistersquid »

McKeown should be paid more, without question, but he is a lecturer, not a faculty member. His title and appointment is not as a "Professor". [0]

This is due to the hierarchical ranking system of academic institutions. McKeown's qualifications may be the same as his more highly ranked colleagues, but the tiered system which rewards research does not pay as much for lecturers whose primary assignment is to teach.

[0] https://www.pa.ucla.edu/lecturers.html#:~:text=physics.ucla....

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#24

Post by jcranmer »

cute_boi wrote: post #20
readingnews wrote: post #17

I am no astrophysicist, but he notes: “Hi everyone, my name is Daniel, and I’m an astrophysics professor at UCLA. I’m only being paid $70,000 for this academic year,” McKeown says in the video. McKeown, listed as a lecturer on UCLA’s website, says he had to move out of his apartment because he could no longer afford the rent. McKeown says his rent was $2,500 a month. According to RentCafe, the average rent is $3,700…

You haven't done anything extra like insurance, mobile bills, other loans etc... which is also costly. If he is married, has obligations to support parents, you are out of luck.

> If he is married

If he is married, then his spouse (especially given the marital demographics of people holding advanced degrees) is quite likely also contributing income, and decently likely to be contributing income at least as much as he is. Now married with kids is a different ballgame, but married per se isn't going to be a financial burden.

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#25

Post by [deleted] »

mistrial9 wrote: post #21
readingnews wrote: post #17

I am no astrophysicist, but he notes: “Hi everyone, my name is Daniel, and I’m an astrophysics professor at UCLA. I’m only being paid $70,000 for this academic year,” McKeown says in the video. McKeown, listed as a lecturer on UCLA’s website, says he had to move out of his apartment because he could no longer afford the rent. McKeown says his rent was $2,500 a month. According to RentCafe, the average rent is $3,700…

his taxes in total are more than thirty six percent in California, and there is no mention of debt service costs.

[deleted]

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#26

Post by CuriouslyC »

poincaredisk wrote: post #10
delichon wrote: post #7

This is a physicist who could likely make much more in the private sector. That's a compromise I've had to make too. I spend my weekdays doing work that I have little interest in and has less chance of improving the human condition, but it let me buy a house and pay the taxes and fees. If I instead choose to do what I'm interested in I'd be lucky to afford renting a room in someone else's house. I admire the guy for…

>But I'm not owed a decent salary in return for following my own dreams rather than my employer's dreams. Nobody is. Of course. On the other hand, one has to wonder which of this two occupations helps humanity more, and it's this the one that's paid better. And if not, should we rethink the way we reward work to prioritize things that help society instead.

In the age of precision psychological influence and constant bombardment with low grade mind control, Capitalism is trash. To the most rapacious, the loudest, the most insidious go the spoils. If we're gonna keep the current system we need to slam the ban hammer on advertising and marketing with righteous fury.

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#27

Post by stavros »

cute_boi wrote: post #22
orionsbelt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$70k is a living wage in Los Angeles; he his homeless by choice. To be clear, I’m not saying he is not underpaid. He might need a roommate and to live in a crappy apartment and not in Westwood to make it workable, which does not seem fair for a PhD teaching physics. But it’s not homeless level.

People seem to think it is easy to have roommates. My roommates were horrible, they wouldn't clean anything, blast music and always a privacy risks.

> People seem to think it is easy to have roommates

It seems to me that they think it's easier than being homeless.

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#28

Post by Cheer2171 »

delichon wrote: post #7

This is a physicist who could likely make much more in the private sector. That's a compromise I've had to make too. I spend my weekdays doing work that I have little interest in and has less chance of improving the human condition, but it let me buy a house and pay the taxes and fees. If I instead choose to do what I'm interested in I'd be lucky to afford renting a room in someone else's house. I admire the guy for…

> I admire the guy for choosing to do more important work and making sacrifices to do it. But I'm not owed a decent salary in return for following my own dreams rather than my employer's dreams. Nobody is.

Students at public universities deserve good instructors. Stop applying a capitalist market rationale to public services.

Are you one of those people who thinks that whatever price the market offers for labor is axiomatically fair?

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#29

Post by winter_blue »

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #9

Man with highly educated background ignores basic economic situation that also affects millions of other people. Slow news day.

You mean an artificial economic situation that NIMBYs have created by making it nearly impossible to build new homes.

It’s not a fair situation from any perspective. NIMBYs are slowly destroying California’s heart, and turning it into a place where only people with a 100k+ (and soon 200k+) income can afford a home.

Re: UCLA professor says he's homeless due to low pay

#30

Post by beezle »

Per smartasset.com:

70K salary in Los Angeles - Gross $5,833/mo, filing single, including federal, state, fica, state disability gives a monthly take home of $4,447

So find it hard to believe he is "homeless", seems to be more by choice. And if the take home after paying rent is still too high, do like most others do - get a roommate to share expenses.

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