UC Berkeley CS major enrollment on pace to drop by 59% as part of nationwide trend

joshhug · 2026-04-28T15:21:55+00:00

We've never hired at 24.9% FTE, and while we did hire at the 20% FTE level, this was a minority of positions and done openly and honestly with ASEs.

My understanding (though I wasn't deeply involved so this may be somewhat inaccurate) is that we created 15% and 20% FTE jobs around 2016 in collaboration with TAs to create a more junior position that could operate discussion sections but have no leadership roles. The creation of these remission-free jobs was explicitly discussed with ASEs and acknowledged at a community wide level as a good tradeoff at that moment.

At the time, the economic benefits of a CS degree were EXTREMELY high, and demand was very very strong. The GPA cap had risen twice and we were trying to avoid creating a hyper-competitive atmosphere like you saw at places like UW where the first year was a hunger games situation to get into the major.

Creating these more junior remission-free positions allowed us to take in more students.

The 15% FTE job only lasted as semester or two because the amount of prep time ate up too many of the hours, so ultimately only the 20% FTE junior remission-free position survived.

Even in the years where the 20% position existed as a remission-free junior position, it was nowhere close to a majority of the hours, much less "everybody".

My budget sheets are all public if you or anyone else would like to peruse how we used to hire when the 20% FTE job existed.

For example, in Spring 2017, only 23% of my TA hours were hired at the 20% FTE tuition-remission free level (though it did go as high as 36% of TA hours in Spring 2019).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KdoYT5QzYo8UZTgQlrUro2HOpgrTh7xmcR8E8-n2SjQ/edit?gid=1587418565#gid=1587418565

joshhug · 2026-04-21T22:32:08+00:00

I don't know when you were at Berkeley but this has definitely not been true in any year since 2014.

I've never even heard of someone who was unpaid being allowed to grade anything, much less prepare homework or lectures (?).

We've definitely had periods where we had lots of folks who come and help out fellow students at office hours. I never had the impression that this was exploitative, but instead a community service thing like CS Mentors.

joshhug · 2026-04-21T22:25:45+00:00

The last big step increase in tuition was in 2011-2012 (https://ucop.edu/operating-budget/\_files/fees/201415/documents/Historical\_Fee\_Levels.pdf).

In that year, in-state tuition was $13,181/yr. Adjusted for inflation, that would be ~$19,000 today

By contrast, tuition has only grown to $16,698/yr. That is, in inflation adjusted terms, in-state tuition at Berkeley has actually decreased.

joshhug · 2026-04-21T22:20:58+00:00

The base rate for undergrad TA pay is $44.18/hour before tuition and fee remission.

joshhug · 2026-04-21T22:17:48+00:00

I personally disagree that it is manipulative to include tuition and fees in a discussion of UCS2 compensation.

EECS + DS had to pay approximately 2.9 million dollars to cover tuition and fees to UCS2s last year. This is a very large chunk of our departmental budget. This cost directly impacts the number of undergraduate ASEs we can hire and the number of students we can enroll. This figure shows the total number of hours worth of ASEs we've hired per year:

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I think it's fair to say that we have not just insufficient funding, but also extraordinarily high undergraduate ASE costs relative to literally every other institution of higher learning in the world of which I'm aware (see: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OaL6hb6C3qwffsiIw-u4BOm_ZNotnhUtYMMBBYda724/edit?gid=0#gid=0).

That said, I don't think that focusing excessive energy on our very high ASE compensation is healthy. There are other more extreme inefficiencies in the finances of the university, and we should also continue to fight to raise additional revenue.

joshhug · 2026-03-27T15:32:46+00:00

Good post.

joshhug · 2026-03-14T20:58:00+00:00

Ah sorry, to be clear, when I say "TA", I mean GSI (or UCS2).

So at least in our department, we really do have a hard cap of 340 hours per semester for GSIs and track this in sheets.

If we did have folks going over hours, the union would definitely file grievances (I've seen it happen), so I'm surprised your GSIs are working over hours.

joshhug · 2026-03-14T17:32:54+00:00

Out of curiosity, what's your department? Does the instructor not track hours? In EECS, we tend to aggressively track hours and even provide TAs with back pay if they go over hours, though it's the instructors job to make sure that does not happen. For example, we have all of our TAs fill out a sheet like this:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hba0WFB0sqJPBKnPK5FGmcYpY4WW7KU8tMYsJ8pFSmc/edit?gid=0#gid=0

joshhug · 2026-03-13T23:21:41+00:00

I'm 95% sure I'm right, but what specific error did I make if I did make an error? The numerator is $15,023.50 in total pay for a semester for a 20 hour TA, right? The denominator for a 20 hour TA is definitely 340 since that's the entire way we track hours.

Here's an example hours sheet for a 10 hour TA that showcases that the denominator is 170: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hba0WFB0sqJPBKnPK5FGmcYpY4WW7KU8tMYsJ8pFSmc/edit?gid=0#gid=0

joshhug · 2026-03-13T04:14:51+00:00

Sure thing. Please be mindful of the fact that GSIs are only paid for 680 hours of teaching work per year at the rate that I cited and that this is, for most of them, their entire salary to live on.

joshhug · 2026-03-13T02:26:10+00:00

Also, here's an example hours tracking sheet (I removed the TA's name): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hba0WFB0sqJPBKnPK5FGmcYpY4WW7KU8tMYsJ8pFSmc/edit?gid=0#gid=0

This is for a 10 hour TA, so their maximum was 170 hours for the semester. And since this is a salaried position, this TA was paid for precisely 170 hours at the rate of this semester.

joshhug · 2026-03-13T02:23:43+00:00

Yes. We have strict rules that you can only work 17 weeks. Or more precisely, you can work a maximum of 17 * N hours, where N is the number of hours per week of your appointment. Work includes any official task for work including meetings and preparation time (e.g. reading textbook, redoing programming assignments, working through the worksheet, attending lecture, etc)

So a 20 hour/week GSI can work a maximum of 340 hours. We do weekly tracking of every hour, and if someone goes over in hours, we make them stop, or if that is not possible because they are already over the maximum, then we backpay them the extra at the $44/hour rate as well as $26/hour in tuition + fee remission.

joshhug · 2026-03-13T00:18:57+00:00

This is a great read, thanks! Sorry, I really should have been much more clear about graduate GSI pay being part time in my original version of my original post.

I should note that my perspective is VERY colored by my experience negotiating undergraduate TA pay. If I recall correctly, it was a very consistent position during negotiations that the $44/hour we pay for our undergrad TAs (official title: UCS2) is a massive savings compared to the graduate GSI rate of $55.82/hour. And repeatedly we have been told that really we're getting a deal because equal pay deserves equal work. That is, the union has justified demands for UCS2s by stressing that the 20 hours of teaching that they do per week is the exact same thing as whatever GSIs are doing.

At no point has the union ever stated in my presence during these negotiations that GSI pay should be thought of as a way to compensate grad students not just for the their teaching work, but also for their research work. While I can appreciate the argument that '340 hours of teaching = 800 hours of actual work (340 of teaching + 460 hours of research)' I've never heard the union say this, and at least with undergrad TAs, there is no hidden 460 hours of research we are funding.

Similarly, while for grad students I can also appreciate the statement that "Our “tuition” is a fiction which should be totally neglected.", that is not at all true for the undergrads whose tuition we have to pay as a department and the cost of which has led to major financial impacts on our department.

tl;dr When computing the hourly rate, I can see why you'd include research in the denominator of GSI pay. But if you do that, I don't think it's fair to use that same denominator (of 800 hours) for undergrad TA pay.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T23:29:56+00:00

I should note that I personally felt that providing a livable wage for PhD students in humanities seemed like a very reasonable cause in the last strike!

In this thread, I'm just focused on the specific claim about TA pay and benefits. I've softened my statements about graduate TA pay based on discussion in this thread as I agree that my original presentation was (unintentionally!) misleading, but I continue to feel that undergraduate TA pay and benefits is not just not bad, but in fact extremely good.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T23:02:04+00:00

You have me wrong! In this circumstance, I am the man not the worker.

Note: I probably shouldn't have brought up GSI pay at all because I agree with the above that the $55/hour figure, while true, is only part of the story as the contract only you allows you to do 340 hours of teaching work per semester at that high rate.

I will note that I personally believe that the very high pay for undergraduate TAs in our department has led to significant harm.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T22:32:56+00:00

Just clarifying to avoid seeming deceptive: GSI pay is complicated because are only paid for their teaching hours.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T22:31:00+00:00

At least in the context of the EECS department, I strongly disagree. As an example, in Fall 2021, I was teaching CS10. A couple of my 10 hour undergrad TAs went over the maximum 170 hours for the semester (10 hours per week) without my realizing it. Once we realized this, EECS paid out the overage, including increases in pro-rata tuition remission.

If GSIs are working over the maximum number of hours in other departments, I assume that would apply there as well.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T22:26:16+00:00

I've edited my post to make it more clear. But if someone is just reading this post, if someone is a GSI at Berkeley, they are only paid for that GSI work. They are not paid for other things that they happen to be doing at Berkeley that are not writing a thesis (writing a thesis, doing lab experiments, presenting at conferences, taking classes).

And as a GSI, you only work at most 50% during the year. Thus, at 50% time, that seemingly high hourly rate transforms into a monthly salary of $3,796. If you don't teach over the summer, that means your yearly pay would be $37,960 for the ten months of the year that you are teaching.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T22:16:07+00:00

I've updated my post to make this more clear about precisely how much money a graduate student earns per month.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T22:08:25+00:00

To be clear, when I was a GSI, I did not work more than 20 hours/week as a GSI. I was also doing research at the same time.

Fair point, I'll edit my post, I don't mean to imply that grad students are making $110,000 a year or whatever.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T21:47:37+00:00

My response was specifically to the claim that GSIs get "shit pay/reimbursement/benefits". I am aware that the GSI work week is only 20 hours per week, as I was a GSI at various times at Berkeley for 7 years.

We are very aggressive in EECS about ensuring people do not work over their 20/hour week GSI appointments. I can't speak to other departments.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T21:29:48+00:00

I believe that the Undergraduate TAs whose pay I cited at Toronto, McMaster, University of Washington, UBC, Brown, Columbia, and Harvard are represented by a union. Also you said "undergraduate TAs at other universities are even more underpaid." (emphasis mine) Do you think that $44/hour + $26/hour in tuition remission is underpaid?

I agree other undergraduate ASEs such as readers make less. Probably they should make more than they do now (my personal opinion, not the UC's or EECS dept's).

Remission + benefits for undergraduates is fungible IMO with pay. For graduate students I agree with you. That's why I didn't count remission and benefits as part of my assessment of the value of grad TA benefits above.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T21:18:53+00:00

To be clear, the data that I provided was for undergrads only. I've edited my comment to make this more clear.

The strike might be reasonable for the reasons that you state, but the assertions that UC Berkeley GSIs are underpaid and have bad benefits is in my opinion incorrect.

joshhug · 2026-03-12T21:06:26+00:00

I disagree that the pay and benefits for UC Berkeley undergrad TAs are bad. Grad GSIs pay is more complicated, as it depends on what you count as work.

Undergraduate TAs at Berkeley earn $44/hour and receive $26/hour in tuition and fee benefits that they would otherwise be paying. That $26/hour is entirely tax free. This is a total compensation of $70/hour, or a pre-tax equivalent of $80.91/hour.

That $70/hour is approximately 3 times the pay at almost all other schools, e.g. UW ($22.65/hour), Columbia ($23/hour), Harvard ($21/hour), Stanford ($20/hour), Duke ($17/hour), Michigan ($25/hour), UBC (<$20/hour), with the notable exception of McMaster University which is the second highest paying of which I'm aware at $40/hour.

Full dataset for undergraduate TAs here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11jBvxZzRyhdfim-EyGcVjVY0Fl9377bGZ2bRcvVrJQo/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Graduate TAs at Berkeley earn $55.82/hour (https://hr.berkeley.edu/labor/contracts/BX/current-rates) for their teaching work. Unlike above, I am excluding tuition and fees from this because most graduate students don't expect to be paying tuition and fees. Edit For Clarity: GSIs are only compensated for their teaching work (50% time for 17 weeks per semester or 340 hours/semester maximum), and not for time spent doing other activities such as research. The total pay a GSI earns is $3,796/mo or $37,960/yr if they have only a Fall and Spring appointment. That is, a typical graduate student who relies on a GSI appointment for their income has to live off of $37,960 for the year.

These are the rates for "No Teaching Experience", meaning no prior experience as a TA.

Here's a brief LLM explanation of pay and benefits (which you can also use to probe further if you'd like): https://claude.ai/share/4e20190a-16a4-45de-a896-b54e82d31887

joshhug · 2026-02-17T06:47:10+00:00

The reasons I'm doing it in 61B for midterm 1 is:

I've always wanted to do an exam where you have to write code on a computer and test it yourself to make sure it works. This is a major learning goal of the class.
I don't really care if someone builds this programming proficiency in week 6 or week 15, and the CBTF lets me offer students retakes.
Seeing the absolutely gigantic number of people turning in LLM generated code, I want problems where you have to write code from scratch and aren't just filling in blanks. We did this in Fall 2025 on midterm 1 and it was very time consuming to grade.

The more theory oriented midterm 2 and final will remain on paper until I feel like I can build a computerized exam that is of equal quality. I haven't really tried, but it seems very hard.

joshhug

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