Students Who Participated In A Strike At Temple University Are Being Told They Will Lose Their Tuition And Health Care Benefits

© Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images Temple University denies graduate students its low-wage health benefits and tuition waivers. Bastiaan Slabbers/NurFoto via Getty Images

• Temple University has suspended free tuition for graduate students joining the strike.
• The student shared the letter a month after her school asked her to pay the semester fees.
• In a statement, Temple confirmed that students would not be denied tuition "during the strike."

Temple University, a Philadelphia public school with about 40,000 students, confirmed Wednesday that faculty and staff participating in the minimum wage strike will be denied health insurance and must pay tuition. He condemned what he called unfair retaliation by unions and local authorities.

Temple alumni who teach classes, grade and support academic endeavors, such as TAs and PAs, have been on strike since Jan. 31, paying salaries that don't cover the school's cost of living.

These workers earn an average of $19,500 a year, according to the Temple University Graduate Student Association (TUGSA), a union that represents about 750 injured workers. In recent negotiations, the university proposed increasing the base salary to $22,500 by 2026.

The strike forced a six-week walkout by about 50,000 graduate students who worked on UC campuses last year, and a new agreement that would raise the minimum wage to 23,000 workers by 2025. It raised $34,000.

The temple is strong in its impact.

Stephen Orbank, director of communications at the university, told Insider that those who choose to participate in the graduate student strike will not only lose their salary, but also their tuition. According to the school, most of the temple's graduates go on to work.

"TUGSA members who choose to work and strike will no longer be able to receive benefits, including work-related compensation and tuition waivers," Orbank said in a statement. "Since the striking workers are not exempt from tuition fees, the university is reminded that it is their responsibility to accommodate other students without tuition fees."

Madison Ingram, a graduate student studying history at Temple, tweeted Wednesday that she received a letter from the school saying she had just one month to pay her spring semester fees or face a $100 fine. Annual tuition is estimated at $20,000, according to Temple.

"Due to your participation in the TUGSA strike, your spring semester classes have been suspended," the letter said.

Temple confirmed that striking workers will no longer receive health insurance.

"Subsidizing student health insurance is a job opportunity," said Orbank. "Since they are not working, this subsidy is suspended."

Temple is not the first institution to cut health benefits for laid-off employees. In 2019, General Motors cut health insurance for about 48,000 workers, reversing the decision after a week of public outcry.

Manasa Gopakumar, a philosophy student at Temple, said she was disappointed with her school's response to the strike.

"It is not surprising, but we are shocked," he said in one of the interviews. The decision to reduce not only the tuition fee, but also the health insurance was "grossly unfair".

Gopakumar, a member of their union's negotiating committee, says student workers struggle to pay for room and board while focusing on their studies. A graduate TA, she is responsible for teaching her class, a job that pays more than 20 hours a week, paid for by the temple that allows people like her to work for free. He wants the working conditions to improve and the salary to reach $32,000 a year.

"We think our questions are fully justified," he said. "A 3 percent increase from Temple is not enough to make a living in Philadelphia."

Meanwhile, state and local politicians have slammed the university.

"It's very reprehensible," state Sen. Nikhil Sawal, a Democrat, said on social media Wednesday. Democratic Congressman Chris Raab added:

US Senator John Fetterman, who was elected as a Democrat, also expressed his support for the striking workers last fall. "It's time for Sanctuary to sit at the table and offer these workers a good contract, fair pay and better benefits," he said earlier this month.

Got a news tip? Email this reporter at cdavis@insider.com

TUGSA gathered for a meeting leading to an uncertain walk