The Postdoctoral Association (PDA) met with members of the Rockefeller University (RU) administration to discuss plans to add electrical utility charges to the rents of Scholars Residence tenants. The PDA requested the meeting with the position that additional utility charges are an effective rent increase at a time when NYC rents are decreasing and, as such, should the utilities be added, we asked that the rents be decreased by the amount RU will be saving in electrical costs.

John Tooze, Vice President, Scientific and Facility Operations, stated that RU housing is priced by determining the lowest possible rent that the IRS will not consider as to be an employee perk¹. While NYC rents as a whole are decreasing, those rents tend to have started high in the first place; Rockefeller properties have remained stable. Additionally, the rent estimates have been made with the assumption that utilities are not included in the price. RU did not initially charge for utilities at Scholars Residence, while charging rents at Faculty House, because they did not believe that they had meters set up to determine the electrical usage in individual apartments. Recently RU found that they do have these meters and hence have decided to add electrical charges to Scholars Residence rents².

It is the PDA’s position that while the above argument is rational, it fails to take into account that a sizable portion of the postdocs at RU, particularly those with children³, are at their financial breaking point. While financial advisors recommend that people spend no more than 30% of their income on housing, over 40% of our survey respondents spend more than 40% of their incomes on rent. Approximately 8% of the respondents are already looking for alternative housing — which is a challenge for foreign-born postdocs — and another 37% said they would begin looking if their rents were increased by $200. The past years have been marked with RU both discontinuing its postdoctoral rent subsidy and cutting the financial assistance it provides for childcare⁴. The financial consequences of this are reflected in the fact that 74% of our survey respondents contribute less than five percent of their income to retirement. Approximately 60% of the respondents are concerned about retirement, and many individuals commented on their financial struggles. While the PDA cannot directly say that this reflects an overall lack of savings, Virginia Huffman, Vice President, Human Resources, mentioned that there has been an increase in the number of postdocs asking for financial help.

Given this financial reality, the PDA made its aforementioned request that Scholars Residence rents be decreased by the anticipated amount that utilities will increase, i.e. that RU passes the savings it will get on utilities back to Scholars Residence tenants. John Tooze is forthright, and, to paraphrase, said that RU will not grant this request. In part, he mentioned that on the whole RU gives its postdoctoral employees a pretty good deal, that RU is in a difficult financial situation, and that, prior to coming here, many of us knew the economics of being a postdoc in NYC, whether with or without children.

Although John Tooze did not agree to decrease rents in an equivalent amount to the expected utility-price increases, he did express appreciation for the difficult climate that postdocs live in and the value that postdocs contribute to the university. As a compromise to the PDA request, Alex Kogan, Associate Vice President, Physical Facilities and Housing, agreed to look into a means by which current tenants of Scholars Residence can apply for alternative RU Housing prior to the mandatory two-year waiting period, particularly if they are interested in moving to the less expensive housing on Roosevelt Island. John Tooze also agreed to look into, with Rockefeller’s Chief Financial Officer, a means by which the utility charges could be phased-in. Finally, for those who choose to remain in Scholars Residence, Alex Kogan agreed that any request for an energy-efficient air conditioner would be filled as soon as possible (that is, limited only by the availability of maintenance staff).

On the whole, the meeting set clear that we postdocs remain responsible for our own current and future well-being and need to do what that necessitates. That said, if the cost of living at RU concerns you, the PDA encourages you to ask your laboratory head for a raise or to ask them to lobby the PDA administration on your behalf.

References:

1. RU rents tend to be 48-50% below market rates; likewise, the median postdoctoral salary is approximately 50% of Upper East Side per capita income. It is noted that unlike other universities in NYC, RU does not seek to make a profit from its apartment rentals.
2. Part of the logic was that it is unfair to charge tenants in Faculty House rents while not charging tenants in Scholar’s Residence apartments the same.
3. Thirty percent of survey respondents replied that they have children.
4. Despite cost increases at the Child and Family Center (CFC), RU still subsidizes over half of the CFC expenses.