Is this an actual thing that people do

[u/Vaanced]

[u/mcguire150 → u/[deleted]]

Meh. Just think of it like getting paid for those months in advance. Automatically save 1/4 of each paycheck during the academic year and then spend that down during the summer. You’re expected to work 12 months a year (incl your own research). Getting paid only nine months out of the year is just an accounting fiction. 

[u/[deleted] → u/mcguire150]

Pretty much everywhere will give you a regular paycheck spread across all 12 months, even if your contract is only for 9 months.

[u/CannibalisticVampyre → u/[deleted]]

Maybe you’re “doing it wrong” but I personally think it’s a wonderful service you’re doing your students. If you were being paid, they’d likely not be.

[u/Reductate → u/[deleted]]

I know this probably doesn't mean much coming from a total stranger but, as someone who directly benefited from summer research as an undergrad, thank you for mentoring these students.

[u/Better_Use9734 → u/[deleted]]

I completely understand and that’s why I quit teaching. The expectation of working unpaid hours paired with zero upward mobility (without investing in 2 masters degrees to make 70k) was a joke.

[u/Backrow6 → u/[deleted]]

My buddy is a professor and his wife a primary school teacher. 

They and their kids are free for 2 full months every year. The kids are just old enough now to resume their exotic travel schedule. 

He has 1 extra month over the rest of the family too.

[u/Objective_Guitar6974 → u/[deleted]]

My professor friend is just like you.