The salary of graduate students is really low. If we consider the value created by graduate students' participation in the tutor's project to the society, the monthly return of several hundred yuan to several thousand yuan is still low. In fact, the basic income of researchers nowadays is very low, because although the scientific research results are of great value, most of the value is manifested in positive externalities. Scientific research achievements cannot directly benefit from the market economy. Therefore, for the results with positive externalities, the labor of researchers can only be subsidized through government research funds. Because in China, due to the extreme inequality of power, many graduate students have become cheap laborers who are bullied by their tutors at will, and the monthly service fees sent to our card are returned to the tutors intact (but in the view of the Ministry of Education, the service fees of the fund are all sent to graduate students), so the income from researchers to graduate students is definitely lower than that of professionals in the free market. Graduate students are also a profession, and the supply of labor in this profession is far greater than the demand. Look at how many students are enrolled each year. How many people signed up for the exam? In the human geography major of a certain institute of China Academy of Sciences where I am located, a doctoral supervisor will recruit 1-2 doctors a year, and there may be more than 2 candidates applying for the exam. In this case, of course, the salary is not up to the graduate students. Even it is reasonable for graduate students to pay back the money (that is, to pay tuition fees). Value always comes from scarcity. Just now, I said that graduate students' labor is external, but conversely, graduate school experience is also beneficial to graduate students. You receive training and guidance, and your ability is improved by participating in the boss's project. Your degree title adds luster to you, so are you willing to pay the cost for this part of your income? Compared with income, the strength improvement brought by further study is what graduate students value more. Graduate school is also a transaction, balancing people's hearts.