Graduate students are juggling disruptions to their research, teaching, and own classes as well as uncertainties over their funding and future as the fall semester starts in the US amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the Washington Post writes.
"It's emotionally exhausting," Colin Sweeney, a doctoral student and graduate teaching associate at Ohio State University, tells the Post. "There was a moment last week where I just felt spent. I'm worried about undergrads. I'm worried about grads. I'm worried there is not enough testing."
The Post notes that grad students there and elsewhere say they have felt pressured to teach in-person classes; an Ohio State spokesperson tells it that it is working to accommodate high-risk employees.
As Wired reported in August, some graduate students and postdocs are also worried about how immigration policies may affect their ability to stay in the US. Indeed, Nazmus Sakib, a doctoral student at Texas Tech University, tells the Post that he is teaching in-person classes in part due to the hope that it will help him stay.
Others, meanwhile, are concerned about whether their graduate student health insurance will cover if they do get sick, the Post adds, noting that some graduate student groups have negotiated for additional sick leave and a coronavirus relief fund.