I have a friend who's received an offer for $17/hour as a co-op in NY. My friend is a masters student in Computer Engineering doing advanced AI and machine learning.
I'm trying to figure out if this guy responding to my friend is out of his mind. Cause I scuffed at his responses.
In my experience undergrad students (2 years in) in software engineering get averages of $20 per hour in the area I live.
So I told my friend to ask for a higher salary, as they do have expenses and the nature of the work is more technical than a simple web dev job.
My friend sent an email to the hiring manager and the co-op office official. Asking for $22/hour and looking forward to the next meeting.
The co-op office official replied all to the email.
They said something like:
I understand your desire for a higher rate however the rate offered is comparable to what other co-ops get paid and cost of living has nothing to do with rate. I leave it to the hiring manager to decide.
In a follow up reply, my friend explained their financial picture more. And remarked that the nature of the work is different from an average co-op student. I'm assuming "other co-ops" means everyone doing them.
The co-op office replied again:
Your expenses have nothing to do with it!
The hiring manager hasn't replied yet.
Overall in my friends calculation, it's an additional $400. $1760 for two months of work (10 hours a week). Their expenses are $1322 a month.
What do you guys think? Do you think cost of living is excluded from the hourly rate calculation? And shouldn't be considered when negotiating wages?
I told my friend to ignore the co-op official and wait for a reply from the hiring manager.
EDIT:
My friend is graduating soon and a foreigner. The job offer looks like it is extended beyond graduation. But they have to go through the co-op office through school because of legal reasons.